Paper short abstract:

This paper considers whether the concept of cultural borderlands can enhance critical research and understanding of how and why the bridging efforts of philanthropic organisations work or not.

Paper long abstract:

The Nike Foundation's promotion of the technology based Girl Effect and subsequent influence on development policy have been the subject of excitement by some policy makers and intense criticism by feminist and post colonial scholars. This paper uses the bridge metaphor to examine these positions and to analyse Girl Hub, the organisational entity established to 'bridge' the different cultures and competencies of Nike's philanthropic foundation and a traditional aid bureaucracy, DFID. I highlight the risks of the Girl Effect's advocates and detractors overestimating the effects of philanthropic foundations and the ease of constructing bridges for ideas to travel between institutions. In addition, the paper considers whether the concept of cultural borderlands can enhance critical research and understanding of how and why the bridging efforts of philanthropic organisations work or not, as well as creating possible spaces for resistance.