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Paper short abstract:

Exploring civil society advocacy legitimacy in the Global South is crucial, especially in the absence of government ownership towards gender justice. The paper suggests that the global-local space is both constraining and empowering for local actors, allowing alternative definitions of legitimacy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to explore the legitimacy of civil society advocacy in the Global South, focusing on the case of gender mainstreaming. The development field has evolved into a sophisticated industry, with jargon like ownership and accountability overshadowing the goal of achieving social justice on the ground. While the concept of local ownership emerged to highlight developing countries' autonomy in shaping their own strategies, its interpretation becomes complex, given that it is frequently vested in recipient governments rather than in local constituencies. This poses a particular challenge when governments exhibit disinterest in societal agendas, with gender justice being a representative example. Gender inequality problems are intricately tied to deeply entrenched traditions unique to each society, making them challenging to address through technical assistance offered by the industry alone. This calls for the recognition of local constituencies capable of genuinely owning the gender agenda in Global South countries. Based on interviews with civil society actors and gender experts in Vietnam and Cambodia, the paper posits that national gender specialists in development projects with strong ties to local civil society can play a crucial role in translating practical gender interests into strategic ones in the long term. The paper defines the local as the space of interaction between donor agencies and recipient governments of aid, encompassing government ministries and consultants. This space reveals both constraining and empowering aspects for local constituencies as they contribute their own translation of what gender mainstreaming means, thus paving the way to alternative definitions of legitimacy.