In this episode, Emily speaks with Dr. Ines Smyth who has an MSc and PhD in Social Anthropology. With 10 years of experience working as a University Lecturer and Researcher, she has an extensive publication list, and has also been the Senior Gender Advisor in Oxfam Great Britain, and the Senior Gender Expert at the Asian Development Bank. She is now a Gender and Women Rights consultant with over 30 years of professional experience in the fields of gender equality, Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and gender mainstreaming, around the world, especially in East Asia.
In particular, Dr Smyth has over 10 years of practical experience in Myanmar, working on the full gamut of issues and methodologies pertaining to gender equality and social inclusion in the context of a country prone to ecological and other crises.
Since engaging in consultancy work, she has engaged in the identification, design and formulation of standalone women’s rights programs and gender mainstreaming strategies in development and humanitarian settings. She has also used intersectional research for the purpose of influencing governments and other development actors on issues of women’s access to natural and other resources, food security, livelihood and governance. She has prioritised collaboration with individuals and civil society organisations, including Women's Rights Organisations, in developing and delivering innovative capacity-enhancing curricula on gender and women's transformative feminist leadership, gender mainstreaming in humanitarian settings, gender and Disaster Risk Reduction, safeguarding and GBV, gender and localisation, feminist MEAL, and engaging men.
To her private and professional life she has brought a commitment to gender and social justice, which translates into feminist activism as well as, in the last 4 years, in active engagement with Extinction Rebellion, for a transition to a just and fossil fuel free society.