UNRISD is an autonomous institute of the United Nations concerned with and interested in social development and, more specifically, in producing cutting-edge evidence and data to form the basis of policy making.

In order to develop this ambitious task, we have five research programmes, including the Gender Justice and Development programme. In fact, it was while we were analysing in detail our position on gender justice (which is not the same as gender equality), and on the relationship gender justice has with development, that we highlighted that in developing the most rigorous perspective possible it was crucial to integrate an intersectional approach to our existing gender analysis.

An intersectional dimension contributes a deeper understanding of discrimination and a necessary nuance that a gender perspective alone is unable to provide. Until now the prevailing paradigm has tended to tackle each form of discrimination separately (that of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, age, etc.); the problem is that this paradigm generally disregards the fact that these forms of discrimination can, and indeed do, exist in an interconnected way, and when a gender (or any other) perspective does not take these circumstances into account it is normally the least privileged sectors of any given discriminated group who are the most invisible, and as such, those least taken into account. Therefore, correcting the blind spots produced by these combined forms of discrimination was the inspiration for our interest in intersectionality. 

A constant concern of ours when developing this course was that apart from being theoretically rigorous and accessible, it should be an example of significant learning, meaning that on completing the course the participant would easily be able to take it on board and apply it to their particular organisation and their day to day work, and particularly to their respective projects and priorities. In other words, we wanted to create a course that would have a practical impact, that would leave a mark on its participants and their projects and programmes, their agencies and/or organisations. 

An essential element of this learning impact includes integrating the question of reflexivity into the course, so that all participants understand the importance of locating themselves within the issues analysed. The course encourages them to examine their own intersectional identities, their privileges and disadvantages, their ideas and attitudes, and above all their unexamined assumptions and stereotypes relating to different types of people and social categories in different parts of the world. The incorporation of reflexivity is crucial in understanding how unintentional discrimination and exclusion often occur in, and are even produced by, development cooperation programmes and policies due to unexamined assumptions and stereotypes rather than due to overt discriminatory attitudes and positions. For example, historically women living in poverty in the global South have always been assumed to be heterosexual, an assumption that has formed the basis myriad international development policies that are heteronormative, and that consequently discriminate against and exclude women and girls living outside heterosexual norms.

The course is available online and is organised in six units (usually one unit per week), with six different themes:

1. The presentation and history of the concept of intersectionality;
2. Identities and social categories;
3. Advantages and disadvantages of identity politics;
4. Social norms and stereotypes;
5. Reflexivity and intersectionality;
6. A fresh look at strategies, programmes and policies from and intersectional perspective. 

Format: Each unit, offered as an asynchronous online session, provides students with theoretical content and audiovisual materials for them to can carry out in-depth analysis with concrete case studies, as well as giving them the possibility of a synchronous connection to group sessions to clarify doubts and/or debate the themes presented in the course. The students can therefore adapt the course to their own timeframes, enabling them to fit the course into their other responsibilities (professional, personal, etc.). We estimate that each student will dedicate about 90 minutes to each unit/week, making this course lower in intensity than many others. It is important to note that the group discussion also provides a virtual space for interaction where students can share their doubts with the other students as well as the experts and facilitators

Targeted audience: The creation of the course was funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and is currently being used as a training tool to enable AECID’s staff in Madrid and other offices to introduce a feminist and intersectional perspective into all their policies and projects. In this sense the course is aimed at people who work on sustainable development. In addition to being theoretically rigourous, it has been designed to be easily translated into day-to-day practice. 

(Photo: by Korenchy László / FORTEPAN )

The course has sparked a lot of interest, not only among the agencies that form part of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE), but also among various International Development agencies. The course contents are a contribution provided by UNRISD and AECID to the United Nations family and to other agencies, so can be made available at cost to other interested entities.

All entities are encouraged to adopt the course, as we think it is a great way to contribute to our mandate to leave no one behind. They can simply contact us (email Francisco) anytime and we can take it from there. The course is provided at cost, and we can make access as broad as possible.