Knowledge Transfer in Global Gender Programmes: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and Gender-Biased Sex Selection

Project Information

GlobalKnoT

Grant agreement ID: 894029

DOI

10.3030/894029

Project closed

EC signature date 24 March 2020

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 30 September 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 239 956,80

EU contribution

€ 239 956,80

Coordinated by

CEU GMBH
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GlobalKnoT (Knowledge Transfer in Global Gender Programmes: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and Gender-Biased Sex Selection)

Reporting period: 2023-08-01 to 2024-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Globally, hundreds of millions of women and girls face harmful practices such as child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), and gender-biased sex selection. These practices violate fundamental human rights and hinder gender equality and sustainable development. Despite some progress, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.3 which targets the elimination of all harmful practices by 2030, remains off track.

To address these challenges, the international community, supported by the European Union and the United Nations, has launched global gender programmes. These multi-stakeholder initiatives unite governments, international organizations, NGOs, and communities to raise awareness and build political commitment to end harmful practices. However, the mechanisms by which these programmes influence policies across diverse socio-cultural contexts remain underexplored.

The GlobalKnoT project investigates how global gender programmes mobilize and transfer knowledge to influence policies addressing harmful practices. Its key objectives are to:
• Advance understanding of global governance and transnational knowledge transfer.
• Provide empirical insights into knowledge diffusion in global gender programmes targeting child marriage, FGM, and gender-biased sex selection.
• Share findings with academics, policymakers, and the public to identify factors enabling or hindering knowledge translation into policy.

The project employs the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to study the constantly shifting networks of relationships in global gender programmes. It uses mixed methods such as key informant interviews, participant observation, and social network analysis to reveal how harmful practices—commonly seen as regional or cultural-specific—are framed as global public challenges requiring global collective action. Knowledge transfer plays a vital role in justifying global action through:
1. Demographic Evidence: Demonstrating the global nature of harmful practices.
2. Best Practices: Identifying ‘solutions’ to be ‘scaled up’ and transferred across contexts.
3. Collective Knowledge Sharing: Facilitating multi-stakeholder, multi-level collaboration.

The Global Programmes to End Child Marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, and Gender-biased Sex Selection followed different approaches to knowledge transfer:
• Localization: Outsourcing to regional hubs faced challenges related to quality and sustainability.
• Centralization: Internalizing transfer within international agencies yielded mixed results due to limited public accessibility.
• Co-creation: Collaborative efforts with influential partners proved most effective in fostering knowledge uptake.
While similar actor networks operate across programmes to share knowledge and resources and facilitate learning, global programmes face challenges in adequately measuring the efficacy of their interventions. Investments in robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and attention to the unintended consequences of social norm change interventions are crucial. Emphasizing feminist, youth-led evaluations can help strengthen evaluation efforts and better capture community-level impacts.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

This interdisciplinary project integrates global governance, political demography, cultural anthropology, sociology, gender studies, and science and technology studies. It applies ANT to examine how entities such as people, research evidence, technologies, financial resources, institutions, and regulations jointly shape global governance. The project focused on EU-funded, UN-led Global Programmes addressing FGM, child marriage, and gender-biased sex selection. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including: a literature review on ANT and global programmes; participant observation at international conferences (e.g. CSW66 and CSW67); key informant interviews with global, regional, national, and local stakeholders; and Social Network Analysis using Twitter (now X) data to visualize knowledge mobilization within online networks. The analysis identified four key processes through which global programmes influence policy production:
1. Knowledge management: Creating, assembling, and synthesizing knowledge, storing it in repositories, and sharing it via knowledge hubs.
2. Knowledge brokering: Engaging in policy advocacy and advice.
3. Knowledge uptake: Providing technical assistance and capacity development.
4. Knowledge translation: Supporting the design, implementation, and evaluation of context-specific policies.
The empirical model accounts for enablers of knowledge transfer such as strong actor-network constellations and advanced knowledge management systems that are resilient to fluctuations (i.e. staff, leadership, political will, funding). However, constraints like limited resources, short programme durations, insufficient monitoring and evaluation, as well as barriers linked to language, technology, power dynamics, and resistance hinder global programmes impact on policy production.
The results of this project have been widely disseminated via peer-reviewed and open-access publications, conference and research presentations, and public outreach activities. The most important publication on this research is a forthcoming monograph, contracted by Bristol University Press, titled ‘Ending Gender-Based Violence: The Global Governance of Harmful Practices,’ In Transnational Administration and Global Policy, (Series Eds. Kim Moloney, Michael W. Bauer, Meng-Hsuan Chou), Bristol University Press, Bristol.

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)

The GlobalKnoT project advances theoretical and empirical understanding of global governance and knowledge transfer. By applying ANT, it provides new insights into transnational actor networks and the role of knowledge hubs in fostering policy coherence and learning across levels. Comparing three global programmes, the research offers practical recommendations for decision-makers on improving knowledge diffusion in gender policy.

The project underscores the critical role of knowledge transfer, with investments in production, dissemination, and uptake central to programme success. Findings reveal that localization of knowledge transfer failed due to quality and sustainability concerns; centralization yielded mixed outcomes, with limited access to centralized knowledge; while co-creation with strategic partners enhanced knowledge uptake and policy relevance.
Despite these efforts, inadequate measurement of social norm change interventions hampers programme effectiveness. Recommendations include strengthening M&E systems and integrating feminist, youth-led approaches to better capture community-level impacts.

By turning global policy networks “inside out” (Riles), the GlobalKnoT project highlights the complexities of transnational governance. Its findings have significant implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda, particularly SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The research provides actionable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars working to eradicate harmful practices and promote gender equality worldwide.

Photo of GlobalKnoT researcher Laura Rahm

GlobalKnoT Logo

Woman, Knowledge Transfer, and Global Connectivity