Kelly Ann Krawczyk, Auburn University
Visit to Liberia
Kelly Ann Krawczyk
Associate Professor
Program Director, PhD in Public Administration & Public Policy
Program Director, Political Science
Auburn University
Women’s Contributions to Development in West Africa: Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives
Palgrave Macmillan Singapore, 2023
“This edited volume zooms-in on the human-centric aspects of sustainable development, illuminating the various barriers that women in West African countries face in social, economic, and political spheres … The many lessons drawn from this work offer practical insights and ideas for future research that are applicable to a variety of developing democracy contexts beyond the African continent.”
—Alisa Moldavanova, University of Delaware, USA
Women’s Contributions to Development in West Africa, edited by Kelly Ann Krawczyk and Bridgett A. King (Auburn University), examines women’s participation in social, economic, and political development in West Africa. The book looks at women from the premise of being active agents in the development processes within their communities, thereby subverting the dominate narrative of women as passive recipients of development.
The volume features all women contributors from the global North and South. It illuminates women’s significant contributions to development in West Africa and provides insights for the future. The book offers a valuable resource for students, academics, practitioners, and policymakers.
Kelly Ann Krawczyk’s research investigates the potential role of civil society in promoting democracy and development. She examines how civil society can foster sustainable development in local communities, and the role of civil society in strengthening democracy and increasing civic engagement. She is specifically interested in how civil society impacts political behavior. Her research has been published in journals of public administration, civil society, and local governance, including Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, and the Journal of Civil Society. Her co-edited volume, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives: The Contributions of Women to Development in West Africa (2023) is available from Palgrave Macmillan. She has also authored book chapters, as well as governmental and professional publications for the Governance Commission of Liberia and the World Bank.
Krawczyk teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at Auburn University on a wide range of nonprofit topics, including Nonprofit Law & Governance, Nonprofit Management, and International Nongovernmental Organizations. She also teaches graduate courses in public administration and nonprofit management in the MPA and Ph.D. programs. She is currently serving as the Ph.D. Program Director.
Krawczyk earned her Ph.D. in political science and a Masters in Public Administration from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Before beginning an academic career, Kelly worked with a wide range of nonprofit organizations, both domestic and international, and has applied experience in nonprofit management and leadership, governance, capacity building, fundraising and development, volunteer and event management, and proposal writing. She designs and delivers outreach initiatives in West Africa, including curricular design and implementation of training and professional development workshops, impact evaluations and assessments, policy analysis and recommendations. She served as an international election observer for multiple national elections in Liberia and Ghana. She has also worked with The World Bank Group in Liberia on projects related to decentralization and civil society. She is a Founding Committee Member of the Strengthening Research on Civil Society in West Africa project, an initiative of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), funded by the Ford Foundation.
