ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two civil society organisations (CSOs) from the ReIncluGen project to look at how they approach gender empowerment in their organisation, mainly with migrantised women. Both CSOs are active in Belgium and will be seen in their context of a third-party government regime and neoliberal feminist discourses, whilst taking into account the situated realities of migrantised women. During the ReIncluGen project, both CSOs were observed by attending their everyday practice as well as in their specific projects. Focus group discussions were held with staff and interlocutors, and photovoicing interviews were conducted with interlocutors. The results show that both CSOs play a valuable role in promoting gender empowerment. One has great strengths as a dependable partner with thought-out methodology, but leaves less room for a situated intersectional approach. The other, being more flexible and leaving from the needs of the women, leads to an environment where empowerment is felt deeper. However, this can be perceived as less professional, leading to less trust from the government. We stress the importance of avoiding a top-down approach when focusing on empowering people, whilst trying to maintain a level of professionalism in future good practices.
