Ebook: Women's Informal Associations in Developing Countries: Catalysts for Change?

Informal associations among women in developing countries constitute an
important source of vitality and integrity for women. This· book evaluates the impact
of development programs on women's informal associations and sharpens our
understanding of them. The participation of women in development via their
informal networks presents a dilemma insofar as intervention by development
organizations into the informal sphere often forces women to use their associational
resources defensively and, at times, even insulates them from development itself.
The authors look at credit, labor, ritual, and religious associations; compare structures;
describe differences; and assess the capacity of these women's organizations to make
use of developmental assistance. They conclude that mobilizing existing associations
is often an inappropriate development strategy, and they advise the creation of new
associations "by analogy"-using knowledge of informal organizational structures to
generate new groups modeled after the old.