The essential work of the Care Economy Project greatly benefited from private philanthropy. On the closing day of the Concluding Annual Meeting, representatives from the donor organizations, Maria Durano (Senior Program Officer, Women’s Rights Program – Open Society Foundations (OSF)) and Althea Anderson (Program Officer, Global Development and Population, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation), shared their thoughts on the progress made so far, lessons learned, and the road ahead.
Going first, Durano extended her congratulations to the researchers of the Care Economy Project led by Dr. Elizabeth King and Dr. Maria Floro. Investing in care is crucial for any economy, and the pandemic witnessed the importance of such investments. Yet, Durano expressed disappointment that the leaders of the OSF have decided to reduce their grantmaking to the care economy at the global level. The women’s rights program will also close, but the OSFs regional programs will continue this work. Durano further reported uncertainty on what the new organizational structure would look like, but there remains a commitment to intersectional gender justice.
Anderson also extended her congratulations to the team and the field of feminist economics and shared some lessons learned from working with the Care Work and Economy research team:
- The importance of valuing and investing in feminist-driven evidence generation and solutions for macroeconomic policy making.
- The importance of funding research in a way that integrates the principles of partnership and inclusive decision making.
- The importance of beginning this type of research with potential use cases and pathways to engage evidence users clearly in sight.
To listen to the messages from the doners, see link below.
Written by Praveena Bandara, Research Assistant for the Care Economy Project and PhD student in Economics at American University.