International Organisations

You are asked to write a policy brief of 1,500 words for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office diplomats.

Choose one International Organisation and one of the topics below.
Your policy brief should cover the following: Does your IO have specific gender policies? If so, how is your IO including gender in its policies? If not, should it include a specific agenda to deal with gender inequalities? You can use the idea of gender mainstreaming or the other theories we have explored. You need to show that you have considered the advantages and limits of gender mainstreaming.

– North-South relations. Your policy brief should cover the following: Is your IO reflecting the global imbalance between Global North and South? Or is your IO actively reducing these global inequalities of power? You should reflect on the design of your IO and its functions, as well as the normative choices it promotes .

– Knowledge-production: Your policy brief should cover the following: How does your IO ‘know’ about the world? Does it use reports, consultations , statistics ? Is it relying on quantitative knowledge? Are these tools giving your IO an accurate representation of the world or is it a ‘biased’ representation? Is your institution ‘constructing’ the world in specific ways? Is it overlooking important realities?