Interview with Sue Turrell, WOMANKIND Worldwide
WOMANKIND Worldwide believes that women in developing
countries are a powerful force for change.
What inspired you to work in the sector?
While I was at school, I didn't really know that an international development sector even existed. I wanted to have a gap year before going to university, maybe getting some work experience. One of my teachers gave me a book about different gap year options and I applied to an organisation called Project Trust. Six 6 months later I was living in rural Kenya teaching chemistry and physics at a community secondary school. I never looked back - I cancelled my university place, got a degree in development instead, worked overseas for eight years and then came back to the UK and worked for INGOs managing programmes in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.
What motivates you to go to work every day?
I'm lucky as I still love working in international development! It is the impact WOMANKIND and our partners' work has on women's lives in Africa, Asia and Latin America that keeps that love going even in difficult times. I am lucky enough to travel and meet some of these women - hearing their stories, the improvements in their daily lives, is inspiring and endlessly motivating. It is all too easy to give up on situations like that in Zimbabwe, but when you talk to partners and their beneficiaries and hear their determination, there is no option but to continue standing alongside them.
What projects are you are working on at the moment?
At the moment I am working with WOMANKIND's Head of Programmes to set up a small projects fund. This fund will aim to help our partners meet the challenges of the worsening economic situation by offering small, flexible amounts of funding for their current work or new work to tackle unexpected problems.
I am also working on our programme in Ethiopia. We currently work with one partner on a large programme aimed at reducing harmful traditional practices. We are trying to expand the number of partners we work with in one of the poorest countries in Africa. But the Ethiopian government has recently passed a law that makes it illegal (for all INGOs and local NGOs which receive more than 10% of their funds from outside of Ethiopia) to work on human rights and equality issues. This could have a devastating effect the level of impact we will be able to have on women's lives in the country and I am spending lots of time with WOMANKIND's programme staff trying to find out how we can overcome this problem.
What impact do you hope this work will have?
Ethiopia is a very poor country and harmful traditional practices such as FGM (female genital mutilation) and widow inheritance remain widespread. WOMANKIND and its partners want to improve women's lives in a practical daily sense by providing training and basic resources in the parts of the country that are suffering from drought. But we also want to change the context in which women live, through influencing attitudes and legislation that have a negative effect on women - and it is this work that is threatened by the new legislation passed by the Ethiopian Government.
Do you think the status of women in developing countries has changed over the last decades?
Women's human rights and development have come a long way. December 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which set out the basic principles at the heart of the human rights movement and has enabled improvements in the lives of millions around the world. This year, 2009, marks the 30th anniversary of CEDAW - the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women - which is often referred to as the ‘international bill of rights' for women which most governments around the world have signed up to. In 1995, the Beijing Platform for Action, which identified 10 critical areas of concern about women's rights, following which governments committed themselves to a range of measures to improve women and girls' lives.
But despite all the conventions and treaties, commitments and hard work, we still have a long way to go: 70% of the world's poorest people are women and girls, one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused - and women account for just 17% of all parliamentarians worldwide.
WOMANKIND has been engaged in the struggle for women's rights and development for 20 years and alongside our partner organisations we are continuing this vital work.
What are the main challenges of the work of WOMANKIND?
The countries and regions in which we work are facing many challenges, from increasing insecurity and violence in Afghanistan, to complex political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, and civil unrest in Bolivia. WOMANKIND's experience is that as the situation in which development takes place deteriorates, the lower the importance and emphasis is placed on women's human rights and development - often at the time that there is the greatest opportunity to tackle inequalities.
And like every other charity, we are worried about what effect the economic crisis will have on our work. At a time when the need for international development is likely to increase, the funding available may decrease.
What achievement at WOMANKIND are you most proud of?
It is WOMANKIND's 20th anniversary in 2009 and in the 20 years that the organisation has existed, we have supported 10 million women and their families in 71 countries - this is an amazing achievement for an organisation which has never had more than £3 million a year and never more than 20 staff. It is a great testament to the women's organisations - often small, under resourced but determined and highly skilled - we have worked with around the world.
Are there specific skills that you need to do your job well?
You need to be comfortable with change and be a creative problem-solver. The world in which WOMANKIND and all INGOs operate in is complex and constantly changing and if we are to continue to have a positive impact on the most marginalised people in the developing world, we need to constantly find better ways of operating.
What lessons have you learnt from your career so far?
Prioritise and collaborate - an individual INGO, no matter how large, cannot solve all the world's problems. Only by each agency clearly prioritising a specific issue or geographic area and NGOs, international and local, collaborating with each other whenever our work overlaps can we maximise the impact we have on people's lives on the ground.
What is the best professional advice you have been given?
Listen to everyone and never dismiss an idea of how to do something better -one person never has all the answers.
What is the key challenge for the sector in the coming year?
The worsening economic situation in the UK means that all INGOs have to explain to donors and the public why it remains essential to tackle poverty in the developing world - and we need to do this together!
Sue Turrell is Executive Director at WOMANKIND Worldwide.
