Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GlobalKnoT (Knowledge Transfer in Global Gender Programmes: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and Gender-Biased Sex Selection) Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-07-31 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project Around the world, millions of women and girls face harmful practices that hurt them physically and emotionally. These practices, like female genital mutilation, child marriage, and gender-based sex selection, are internationally recognized as severe human rights violations. They rob women and girls of their futures and threaten societies at large. To combat this, the international community, with support from the European Union and the United Nations, has launched global gender programs. These multi-stakeholder partnerships aim to increase awareness and political commitment to ending harmful practices by 2030, as part of Sustainable Development Goal 5.3.However, there is limited understanding of how knowledge is shared through these global programs, especially across diverse socio-cultural contexts. This project seeks to shed light on knowledge transfer and policy development in global programs focused on ending female genital mutilation, gender-based sex selection, and child marriage. The key objectives include expanding our understanding of global governance and the actor-networks involved in knowledge transfer, examining the effectiveness of these global gender programs, and providing guidance to decision makers and international organizations to protect women's and girls' rights and accelerate the eradication of harmful practices worldwide.Harmful norms and practices are major obstacles towards gender equality and sustainable development at large. Understanding global governance for more effective interventions is therefore an urgent priority for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at the critical midpoint towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far The GlobalKnoT project employs the Actor-Network Theory to conceptualize how various entities such as people, research evidence, technologies, financial resources, institutions, and regulations work together to jointly shape global governance. With the Sustainable Development Agenda, a plethora of global programs have emerged that pool resources and expertise to address common (policy) problems at global, regional, national, and local levels. These multi-stakeholder partnerships generate and mobilize knowledge for (policy) change across diverse socio-cultural and political systems. This project focuses on the EU-funded, and UN-led Global Programs to End Female Genital Mutilation, Gender-biased Sex Selection, and Child Marriage as case studies. By thematically analysing policy and program files and drawing from expert interviews and participant observation during global convening between 2021-2023, the project explores how knowledge is generated, processed, and transferred within and between these programs, as well as which knowledge becomes influential over time. It also looks at the actors and networks involved in transferring knowledge and identifies factors that facilitate or hinder this process.The project reveals that knowledge transfer is a vital component of these global initiatives, where significant investments are made in knowledge production, curation, dissemination, and uptake. Different approaches have been tried to optimize knowledge transfer, including localizing it through partner institutions, centralizing it within the program, and co-creating it with influential partners (terms borrowed from ‘three modes of governance’ by Cairney et al. 2020). Results show that localizing knowledge transfer faced challenges related to quality and sustainability, centralization had mixed outcomes, and co-creation with strategic partners appeared the most promising.Overall, the effectiveness of knowledge transfer is hindered by the programs' inability to adequately measure the impact of their interventions. The project provides valuable insights into actor networks and governance structures related to knowledge transfer for shaping policies and norms in a globalized world, with important implications for the Sustainable Development Agenda, particularly Goals 5 and 17. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) By investigating knowledge transfer in global gender programs, the ultimate goal of this interdisciplinary project is twofold: 1) to contribute new knowledge to a range of disciplines, from sociology, political science, global governance, science and technology studies, to gender studies, and 2) to lay the foundations effective knowledge transfer in global programs seeking to eradiate harmful practices and promote gender equality. Tackling gender inequality, violence, and harmful practices against women and girls is priority for the European Commission as set out in the political guidelines of President von der Leyen. The European Union has made important financial contributions to the three global programs under their Development Cooperation Instrument, as well as through the Spotlight Initiate. The research project is therefore of direct relevance to the EU’s policy objectives. The project finds that the weakest point, the “Achilles' heel” of global programs is linked to the attribution problem, the inability to causally connect (global) policy to (demographic) outcomes. It calls for enhanced monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of social norm change interventions to overcome existing challenges. During the final year of the project, research will be completed on the knowledge-policy transfer in global gender programs and its implications for shifting harmful gender norms. A book proposal has been signed with Bristol University Press and a book manuscript on the global governance of harmful practices shall be drafted by the end of the fellowship. The results will also be disseminated via seminars or workshops and conference presentations. Photo of GlobalKnoT researcher Laura Rahm GlobalKnoT Logo Woman, Knowledge Transfer, and Global Connectivity
