Blog

On 11^th December, 100+ staff, students and alumni of LIDC member institutions, as well as civil society representatives joined us in John Snow Lecture Theatre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, to explore whether #MeToo has taken off in international development. We were thrilled to have Lucy Lamble, Executive Editor of the Global Development desk, The Guardian, chair the debate. What’s more, we were delighted to welcome the following distinguished panellists:

• Frances Longley, CEO, Amref Health Africa-UK and Co-chair of the UK NGO Steering Group on Organisational Culture for Safeguarding
• Sarah Maguire, Director, Technical Services, Governance, DAI
• Deniz Kandiyoti, Emeritus Professor, SOAS
• Shaista Aziz, Co-Founder, NGO Safe Space, and Journalist
• Meghna Ranganathan, Assistant Professor, LSHTM

Claire Heffernan, LIDC Director, kicked off the debate by explaining the context of the event. She then handed over to Lucy Lamble who asked each panellist to give their opinion on whether #MeToo has really taken off in international development.

According to our panellists, there was a consensus that the #MeToo movement has opened discussions around sexual harassment and abuse, especially in the UK, but a lot more needed to be done.

“Yes and No” is the overwhelming answer.

– Great that safer spaces to speak out
– Many issues such as prostitution in “field” ongoing
– Women from global south under represented

So still lots of work to do! #devdebate

— Libby Ducharme 🍉 (@libcharme) December 11, 2018

General agreement among the #devdebate panel at @LIDC_UK that #aidtoo has given more people a space to speak out, but that more work needs to be done to eradicate the issue.

— Humanitarian News (@HNResearchNet) December 11, 2018

‘#Women from the global South have been erased from this discussion’ @shaistaAziz #devdebate

— LIDC (@LIDC_UK) December 11, 2018

https://twitter.com/O_Orife/status/1072557760418586624

Following this, there was a lively discussion where our panellists brought different perspectives on how we can effect wider cultural change both in UK NGO sector and abroad, differing attitudes to reporting violence against women and girls, the need for a perpetrator-centred approach to tackling sexual assault and harassment, and much more. Our attendees also asked fantastic questions on subjects including whether NGOs have a responsibility to educate their beneficiaries about sexual assault, comparable #MeToo movements in developing countries, and the challenges that people who identify as LGBTQ face in reporting assault.

https://twitter.com/O_Orife/status/1072571664829988865

This is the heart of the change we’re striving for in the #NGO sector. #Leadership and #Culture are vital #Safeguarding #AidToo https://t.co/22YAAoiV9j

— Frances Longley (@frances_longley) December 11, 2018

‘Women prefer to report sexual violence to their families and friends’ #devdebate Meghna Ranganathan @LSHTM #devdebate

— LIDC (@LIDC_UK) December 11, 2018

Code of conduct matters, we expect you to behave with respect and to act inclusively, this is the basis of our work @VSOPeople we can influence the system #callitout #act https://t.co/gRdBAAoJNb

— Kathryn Gordon (@KGHRDVSO) December 11, 2018

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our Development Debate! We’re especially grateful to our chair, Lucy Lamble, and outstanding panellists.

Here is a link to the audio recording of the debate.