CCIC, via the Next Generation program, is launching a collaborative research project with the University of Ottawa examining how CCIC members and their partners in the Global South address gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Funded by Mitacs, this research initiative is led by Sheila Rao who is a postdoctoral candidate at University of Ottawa. She is currently doing a secondment at CCIC for this project through the Next Generation program.
Sheila will conduct a survey and interviews with CCIC members to get an overview of members’ existing organizational and human capacity to address gender equality and women’s empowerment in current programming overseas. She will also assess how this might have been influenced by current activities and progress around Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. The project will run until December 2019.
About Sheila Rao
Sheila Rao is an anthropologist and international development consultant based in Ottawa. Her recent doctoral thesis examined interventions in nutritional health and agricultural development in Tanzania through a feminist political ecology lens. Prior to completing her doctorate, Sheila worked in Canada and overseas for over fifteen years in project management and research communications, including several years with Farm Radio International.