Step Up Managing consultant Michael Canares attended the joint conference of the Development Studies Association and the European Association of Development Training Institutes last 19-22 September at York University in the United Kingdom.  Mr. Canares presented a paper in the Gender and Development working group on his work on women’s access to economic opportunities.

The conference theme was “Rethinking Development in an Age of Scarcity and Uncertainty” and was attended by more than 75o academics and practitioners.  There were four plenary sessions, over 100 panels, and more than 400 papers presented.  The conference sought to find new ways of doing things, new approaches in development work, no theories from which to learn new ways of doing.

Mr. Canares’ paper was entitled “Investing in the Local: Rethinking Gender Mainstreaming Approaches for Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Philippines”.