movements & organizations – unraveling the relationship srilatha batliwala scholar associate,...

Movements & Organizations – Unraveling the relationship

Srilatha Batliwala Scholar Associate,

Building Feminist Movements and Organizations (BFEMO) Initiative,AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development)

23-04-19 SBatliwala AWID-YFA 2011 1

What are organizations?• At its simplest, an organization can be defined as a group of

people joining together intentionally and creating a structure to accomplish a common set of goals.

• In business management language, organization is defined as “A social unit of people, systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis. All organizations have a … structure that determines relationships between functions and positions, and …. delgates roles, responsibilities, and authority to carry out defined tasks. Organizations are open systems in that they affect and are affected by the environment beyond their boundaries.”

(see http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organization.html)


In the social movement context:

• Organizations have most of the above characteristics, but in addition, must be seen as sites from which movements are built, supported, serviced and governed – and sometimes, destroyed!

• They are also the structures in or through which movement leaders, activists, and members are organized, trained, capacitated, and protected to pursue the transformational work of their movement


So to sum up, social movement organizations are:

• Structures intentionally created by a group of people to accomplish particular social change goals

• Sites from which movements are built, supported, serviced and governed – they are essential infrastructure for movements

• Spaces in which movement leaders and activists are located, trained, capacitated, and protected while they perform the transformational work of movements


Some critical facts about organizations:• Organizations are NOT rational entities, that are

invariably logical, equitable and efficient• They are microcosms of the social / power relations

contexts in which they are created• Consequently, they reflect and reproduce the power

relations (inequalities, discrimination, hierarchies) of the societies in which they are located

• So gender-biased and socially-unequal societies produce inequitable organizations, though these imbalances are often hidden, in what is called the “deep structure” (the invisible structure of the organization )

• But organizations are also sites from which power relations are challenged, internally an externally; they are also the only way we know to organize our


Assumptions about power in feminist organizations • Because we’re all women, we don’t have to worry about power in

our organization (yes we do)• We don’t have any hierarchy (because you have a hidden / invisible

one)• We are all equal here (no, we’re not – there are always hierarchies

of age, ability, experience, class, education, sexual orientation, etc. etc.)

• Formalizing decision-making power and systems is patriarchal and bureaucratic (no, it’s often more democratic, accountable and transparent)

• I don’t have to be accountable to you because I am accountable to “the movement” (Which one? Where? How?)

• If you are a feminist organization, you should allow me to get away with murder (come to work at any time I please, not meet deadlines, spend all my time on facebook or twitter, mope instead of work because my personal life is a mess, etc. etc.)


What are Organizational “Deep Structures”?

Invisible / informal decision-making processes that influence / lead to formal organizational decisions (think of an example)

Informal groupings, “cliques”, that become sites of influence or hold/exercise informal power (think of an example)

How different work and roles are valued and measuredThe hidden vs formal work culture – working late hours,

weekends, etc. Sites of building / damaging people’s credibility,

reputation, etc. (gossip, smear campaigns, etc.)More positively, sites where conflict / tension gets

mediated or resolved informally


Organiza

tional Deep

Structures


Work culture / informal norms

Valued work / behaviour Informal / invisible

decision-making processes

Informal power / influence groupsCultural distance “walked”

from personal/informal biases to formal

organizational norms

Positive influences / personalities

• Organizations are not Movements, but movements are built, supported, managed, and sometimes destroyed, by organizations

• Movements contain two types of organizations:– Formal organizations (legally constituted)– Informal organizations – not legally constituted,

but often equally powerful, and can be highly sophisticated and organized!


Relationship of organizations to movements

Formal Organizations legal entities regulated by

laws and financial accountability

Can be external to movements, or created by them, and may be focused on:

1. Building movements – “movement-building organizations”

2. Serving movements – “movement-serving organizations”

Informal Organizations Not legally constituted -

Networks, women’s collectives, savings/credit / self-help groups, etc.,

Usually an organizing structure within movements

May exist alongside formal structures such as federations, unions, etc.

Informal doesn’t mean simple, disorganized, less effective, or inferior to formal organizations!


Roles organizations play in movements:

Services to movement members (education, child care, health care, etc.)

Strategic Support : ideas, political and policy analysis, strategic advice, convening spaces

Capacity-building: leadership development, need-based training, organizational development, advocacy skills

Advocacy


Key types of movement-organization relationships

23-04-19 SBaweretliwala AWID-YFA 2011 12

Key types of movement-organization relationships


Movement-Organization Relationship Dynamics

Can be of the following types: Equilateral / circular / symbiotic (existing for each other) Paternalistic / instrumentalist / clientelist (using,

leveraging, exploiting) Short-term, issue or goal-specific Long-term, agenda-related

Can fall anywhere on a continuum of formal to informal.

Is based on the strength of the “glue” that binds the relationship (loose coalitions, tighter networks, tightly bound alliances, etc.)

Is often also based on the financial relationship between the two!


Movements & organizations – a relational view (hypothetical)

Grassroots women’s movement

Grassroots women’s

federation (registered)

National women’s

federation (registered)

Service providing NGO (health, micro-

credit, child care, etc.)

Int’l grassroots women’s

federation (informal network)

grassroots women’s informal

collectives

movement-building NGO


A real case: GROOTS

SSP India

KDVE Turkey

COMITE HondurasGROOTS

KENYAMINE

Europe

Grassroots Women’s Groups

Community Mothers Centers

GROOTS International

GRASSROOTS WOMENS

MOVEMENT


Movement-building & supporting NGOS

Formal International network organization

Exercise:

• Pick an organization (it could be your own, or one you know well)

• Map / Analyze the organization’s relationship’s to a movement or movements

• Which category does it fall into in terms of its relationship to movement building?

• How would you advise that organization to strengthen its role in movement building?


movements & organizations – unraveling the relationship srilatha batliwala scholar associate,...

Documents

sbatliwala awidyfa

movements organizations

social movement organizations

feminist organizations

inequitable organizations

awid association

organizations bfemo

feminist movements