title: Adopting, manipulating, transforming: tactics used by gender practitioners in South African NGOs to translate international gender policies into local practice.
abstract: This paper looks at what is lost and gained through the process of translating international policy from a global to a local space. It does this by sharing results from a multisite ethnographic study of gender practices in foreign-funded South African health organisations. This study identifies a number of tactics used by practitioners to deal with the funding constraints and unique knowledge systems that characterise local spaces, including: using policy to appeal to donors; merging gender with better resourced programmes; and redirecting funding allocations. These tactics point to how practitioners are adopting, manipulating and transforming international policies in order to suit their everyday working realities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK; Research Associate, Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. Electronic address: j.c.mannell@lse.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jenevieve
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mannell
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005378:Financial Support; D058016:Health Facility Administration; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D008297:Male; D009938:Organizations; D063507:Sexism; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa
keywords: De Certeau; Gender inequality; Non-governmental organisations; Policy translation; Strategies and tactics