Get Involved: Shaping an Inclusive Feminist Foreign Policy

For a long time, the cookbook for great solutions to complex problems was perceived by many in the foreign policy field, as containing the following main ingredient: expertise. The recipe was simple, just add enough of it, may stir once or twice, and voilà, problem solved.  Expertise is, of course, crucial for certain sectors - most recently demonstrated by experts globally collaborating to produce a vaccine for Covid-19. I’m not arguing that there is no collaboration among these experts, there has never been more. However, the focus remains limited; If problems are simply addressed within small circles of privileged experts who are considered “the best” in their fields, the solutions that emerge will be limited. 

There are some shortcomings to this kind of political recipe. In the field of domestic and international politics, we often lack another fundamental ingredient: the inclusion of multiple viewpoints. As a bachelor’s candidate in International Relations at the University of Geneva, I am passionate about iterating inclusive policy making processes. This is what has led me to become an active member of the Swiss Think Tank foraus (Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy) as well as Interview Contributor here at WiFP. Policies affect all of us unequally, be it on the domestic or international level, yet they are only created by a handful of people. Women and traditionally marginalized groups – such as the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color and those with disabilities – have been historically underrepresented in government, policymaking and in foreign policy. 

‘Policy Kitchen’ is a policy crowdsourcing methodology developed by the Swiss Think Tank Foraus. Aiming to include as many people as possible in the process of policymaking, Policy Kitchen is built on a crowd innovation platform, a series of Policy Cooking Workshops organized in different cities, and a support process to bring the best recipes to policy impact. The process is initiated when a pressing foreign policy issue needs solving. Through virtual ideation workshops and by submitting policy proposals online, solutions are collaboratively developed and selected by the crowd and/or a jury. The chosen ideas are later on developed into policy recipes with the help of expert guidance and finally promoted to decision-makers and the wider public.

Foraus, as part of the Open Think Tank Network consisting of five European Think Tanks, is hosting the workshop series “What should a feminist foreign policy look like in the 2020s?”. Being part of the organizational team and the group of facilitators, it was amazing to see how the ideas and experiences of the participants from all around the world converged into concrete policy proposals. One idea that kept coming up was that a feminist foreign policy can only be effective if it develops processes to include the informal sector in trade agreements since these economic sectors mainly involve women and marginalized groups. At the same time, it was repeatedly stressed that intersectionality must be given an important place within a Feminist Foreign Policy by analyzing different levels of privilege and aspects of exclusion other than gender.

Global challenges affect us all in different ways and it is crucial to bring these different perspectives into a comprehensive and inclusive policy process. This cannot be stressed enough, especially during this global pandemic we are facing. Covid-19 affects women and marginalized groups disproportionately, therefore it is crucial to take their viewpoints into account. We may all be hit by the same storm, but we do not all sit in the same boat, and this must be taken into consideration when developing a Feminist Foreign Policy. I invite all of you to participate actively in this feminist foreign policy challenge by submitting your policy proposals until the 15th of May on Policy Kitchen. Although we often hear that too many cooks spoil the broth, this bottom-up, participatory process is necessary to develop inclusive policy making, especially in times like these.

Lara Twerenbold is a WiFP's Interviews Contributor who co-organises Feminist Foreign Policy virtual workshops for Policy Kitchen.