Catherine Overholt
Encyclopedia
Catherine A. Overholt is a health economist who has assisted many development agencies with gender issues, health economics, case writing and case method training. She is part of the team that developed the Gender Analysis Framework (1984) in cooperation with the Harvard Institute for International Development
and the USAID Office of Women in Development.
school of public health, where she obtained a doctorate in Health Economics.
She became a Lecturer at Harvard's School of Public Health. She has taught workshops on discussion teaching and has directed case development projects.
Overholt has undertaken fieldwork in Africa and Latin America.
For example, in 1981 Overholt and Richard Goldman published a study of the nutritional impact of a project to increase the productivity of small farmers by introducing a high-yielding maize. The study found that the increase in income had very little effect on increasing calorie intake and made no measurable difference to nourishment of preschool children. The same year she participated in a study of subsidized milk in Mexico.
Between 1980 and 1985 Overholt was involved in development of the Harvard Analytical Framework, used to determine how to efficiently allocate resources between men and women in aid projects.
Mary B Anderson and Overholt formed Collaborative for Development Action (CDA) as a small consulting company in 1985, working in the areas of health policy, primary and secondary education, rural development, alternative technologies and evaluations.
Overholt was Vice President of the company.
In 1986 as a consultant for the USAID Technologies for Primary Health Care (Pritech) project she undertook an evaluation of aid projects in Haiti with Polly Harrison and Maggie Huff.
CDA, primarily government-funded, developed the People Oriented Planning Framework for refugee programs and was also involved in work that led to the Do No Harm, Reflecting on Peace Practice, and Corporate Engagement projects.
In 1991 Overholt was co-author with James Austin and Ann Sweet of an essay called To See Ourselves as Others See Us: The Rewards of Classroom Observation. This explores the value to a teacher of taking the difficult step of bringing a colleague into the classroom to observe and provide feedback, and has been widely quoted.
Overholt retired from CDA to run a small farm that supports reforestation in rural Mexico.
This book documents the Harvard Development Framework, or Gender Analysis Framework, a groundbreaking approach to allocating development aid based on gender analysis
.
Development of the framework began in 1980 when the World Bank
Women in Development
(WID) Adviser requested help from Harvard to provide training to World Bank staff. James Austin, a case-method trainer at Harvard, headed the team, and brought in Catherine Overholt, Mary Anderson and Kathleen Cloud, all of whom had WID experience.
They developed the four-part framework for analyzing the division of labour between men and women, and determining their access and control of resources. The neutral, fact-based approach with its emphasis on economic efficiency played a leading role in helping aid providers to understand the importance of allocating resources to women.
Over a ten year period CDA worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to develop an approach for programs to assist women refugees, the People Oriented Planning Framework (POP).
Overholt, Mary Anderson and Anne Brazeau co-authored A Framework for People-Oriented Planning in Refugee Situations Taking Account of Women, Man and Children: A Practical Planning Tool for Refugee Workers, published by the UNHCR in 1992.
The POP is adapted from the Harvard Framework with modifications to deal with refugee situations, and attempts to overcome some of the weaknesses in the earlier framework.
Harvard Institute for International Development
The Harvard Institute for International Development was a think-tank dedicated to helping nations join the global economy, operating between 1974 and 2000...
and the USAID Office of Women in Development.
Career
Overholt studied at the Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
school of public health, where she obtained a doctorate in Health Economics.
She became a Lecturer at Harvard's School of Public Health. She has taught workshops on discussion teaching and has directed case development projects.
Overholt has undertaken fieldwork in Africa and Latin America.
For example, in 1981 Overholt and Richard Goldman published a study of the nutritional impact of a project to increase the productivity of small farmers by introducing a high-yielding maize. The study found that the increase in income had very little effect on increasing calorie intake and made no measurable difference to nourishment of preschool children. The same year she participated in a study of subsidized milk in Mexico.
Between 1980 and 1985 Overholt was involved in development of the Harvard Analytical Framework, used to determine how to efficiently allocate resources between men and women in aid projects.
Mary B Anderson and Overholt formed Collaborative for Development Action (CDA) as a small consulting company in 1985, working in the areas of health policy, primary and secondary education, rural development, alternative technologies and evaluations.
Overholt was Vice President of the company.
In 1986 as a consultant for the USAID Technologies for Primary Health Care (Pritech) project she undertook an evaluation of aid projects in Haiti with Polly Harrison and Maggie Huff.
CDA, primarily government-funded, developed the People Oriented Planning Framework for refugee programs and was also involved in work that led to the Do No Harm, Reflecting on Peace Practice, and Corporate Engagement projects.
In 1991 Overholt was co-author with James Austin and Ann Sweet of an essay called To See Ourselves as Others See Us: The Rewards of Classroom Observation. This explores the value to a teacher of taking the difficult step of bringing a colleague into the classroom to observe and provide feedback, and has been widely quoted.
Overholt retired from CDA to run a small farm that supports reforestation in rural Mexico.
Gender Analysis Frameworks
Overholt is co-author of Gender Roles in Development Projects: A Case Book (1985) with Mary Anderson, Kathleen Cloud and James E. Austin.This book documents the Harvard Development Framework, or Gender Analysis Framework, a groundbreaking approach to allocating development aid based on gender analysis
Gender analysis
Gender analysis is a type of socio-economic analysis that uncovers how gender relations affect a development problem. The aim may just be to show that gender relations will probably affect the solution, or to show how they will affect the solution and what could be done...
.
Development of the framework began in 1980 when the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
Women in Development
Women in Development
Women in Development is an approach to development projects that emerged in the 1970s, calling for treatment of women's issues in development projects...
(WID) Adviser requested help from Harvard to provide training to World Bank staff. James Austin, a case-method trainer at Harvard, headed the team, and brought in Catherine Overholt, Mary Anderson and Kathleen Cloud, all of whom had WID experience.
They developed the four-part framework for analyzing the division of labour between men and women, and determining their access and control of resources. The neutral, fact-based approach with its emphasis on economic efficiency played a leading role in helping aid providers to understand the importance of allocating resources to women.
Over a ten year period CDA worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
(UNHCR) to develop an approach for programs to assist women refugees, the People Oriented Planning Framework (POP).
Overholt, Mary Anderson and Anne Brazeau co-authored A Framework for People-Oriented Planning in Refugee Situations Taking Account of Women, Man and Children: A Practical Planning Tool for Refugee Workers, published by the UNHCR in 1992.
The POP is adapted from the Harvard Framework with modifications to deal with refugee situations, and attempts to overcome some of the weaknesses in the earlier framework.