This event will present a south feminist framework for economic empowerment for women and look at some of the ideas that are emerging out of BRICS and how they related to or can promote women’s economic empowerment.

The panel will include:

Ms. Gizem Sucuoglu, Turkey,  Network of South ThinkTanks (NeST)
Ms. Sucuoglu will present on the South South Corporation framework  and how it relates to women’s economic empowerment.

Ms Graciela Rodriguez, Equity,  Brazil
Ms. Rodriguez will present her research on status of women in BRICS countries

Ms.Rebecca Perkins, Russia  women and the new development bank

Ms. Cai Yiping  — DAWN, (Development Alternative for Women in New Era)  China
Ms. Yiping will share her paper on BRICS and the whole concept of good governance. China has announced good governace as the theme for next BRICS Summit

Ms. Govind Kelkar, Energia and Landesa, India  – Women and Renewable energy and BRICS – as all the BRICS current project funds renewable energy
Ms. Kelkar will particularly give her paper on what are energy needs of women and how renewable energy impacts women’s lives and livelihoods.

The panel will be moderated by Ms. Priti Darooka, Executive Director PWESCR and is supported by Heinrich Boll Foundation of Germany and Axel Harneit Sievers of HBF will do the initial welcome.

BRICS Feminist Watch is a new alliance that got formed last year, October during BRICS Summit in India. A group of feminist, and women’s organisations from BRICS countries that met in Rio de Janeiro in September 2016 and in Delhi during BRICS Civil in October 2016 to explore the idea of forming an alliance which brings together the collective strength of feminist analysis and activism to the larger global political economy debates. There is an emergence of a new alliance called BRICS Feminist Watch.  The group plans to position itself as a think tank that will focus on the distributional consequences of economic growth and the concept of economic justice to support the lower end of production, inclusive of unpaid work and decent work. The Watch also plans to push for greater critical perspective and analysis on South-South, intra BRICS and BRICS Global South cooperation as qualitatively different from North-South cooperation. The alliance is currently in the process of finalising the strategy and priorities.