IDS recognized as Care Champion by global agencies

IDS was recognized as a Maintenance Champion at the 2024 Asia-Pacific Maintenance Champions Special Event held on November 21 as part of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Beijing+30 Review.

‘Maintenance is not a burden’

Deepta ChopraIDS Professor of Gender and Development, feminist social scientist and expert on unpaid care and domestic work and the empowerment of women and girls, attended the event to receive the award on behalf of IDS.Academic analysis of ‘Care is not a Burden’ In the ‘Knowledge Catalysts: Leading Care Research and Insights’ category.

In response to the reward, Professor Deepta Choprain question:

“This recognition as a ‘Champion of Care’ is an important recognition of the critical value of research in identifying practical, achievable policy entry points and steps towards outcomes that transform gender and care.

“Our study is critical in redirecting attention to the quality of care delivered and received; distinguish the ‘care crisis’ from the negative view that care is a burden or obstacle; and provide practical advice on how to apply the 3R approach to care (Recognize, Reduce and Redistribute).

“This recognition demonstrates that knowledge actors such as IDS, in collaboration with like-minded policy actors, can catalyze a movement towards the development of alternative principles and the underlying ethics of care necessary for building caring societies.”

Working with partners

Working with policy and program partners globally, IDS has helped bring international recognition to the critical role of care. This work has been further enriched by the voices of women and girls in identifying barriers and solutions to the care crisis.

The most important intervention in this area has been to propose the 7-4-7 framework for action by Prof Deepta Chopra and her co-author Dr Meenakshi Krishnan, which encompasses 7 core principles by which we can keep care as an integral part of all policy interventions. ; 4 policy categories as entry points; and 7 action tools that can promote transformative solutions on gender and care.

The role of care in promoting collective action

Going forward, Prof Chopra wants to work on developing principles and components for a holistic care system and reinvigorate debates about the care economy, which is messy and politically based, given the growing gender backlash and the emergence of multiple crises. Prof Chopra believes this helps to envision care as integral to building solidarity through material, spatial and labor practices and flows of support. The role of care in encouraging and strengthening collective action is at the heart of new IDS report ‘Building Solidarities: Gender Justice in a Time of Reaction’.

Maintenance Champions Special Event Organized by UNESCAP and the UN Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (UN Women), with the support of the Global Care Alliance and in collaboration with Oxfam, the World Bank and the International Labor Organisation. Organization.