Brulé Awarded BU Global Programs & Foundation-India Seed Fund
Rachel Brulé, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, has been awarded the 2021 Boston University Global Programs and BU Foundation-India 2021 Seed Fund.
Brulé’s study – titled “Do peer mentorship groups increase the political agency of first-time female politicians?” – aims to see if “peer-mentorship groups that match experienced, active female sarpanches (elected local leaders) with first-time female sarpanches” are able to “improve the political agency of female politicians, defined by their self-perception and centrality in institutional decision-making structures” specifically in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The hope is that the mentorship intervention will “increase the ability of first-time women sarpanches to identify, allocate funds for, and improve subsequent citizen access to goods and services that are vital for advancing the needs of their constituency, in particular for their female constituents.”
The Indian principal investigator (PI) is Dr. Paromita Sen, Research Manager at SEWA Bharat.
“I am incredibly excited about BU Global Programs and BU Foundation-India support, as it will enable us to develop and evaluate the first validated model of peer mentorship as a source of female political agency in the Global South, in partnership with the world’s leading female collective, the Gujarat-based Self-Employed Women’s Association.” said Brulé. “We are honored to collaborate with scholars, policymakers and local elected officials across India, which is a global leader in mandating women’s representation in the most meaningful local elected offices.”
Read the full announcement from BU Global Programs online.
Rachel Brulé is an Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and core faculty of the Global Development Policy Center’s Human Capital Initiative. Her research interests are broadly in comparative politics, international development, political economy, and gender, with a geographical focus on South Asia. Read more about Brulé on her faculty profile.