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esponsible for the provision of basic needs like firewood, water, education or health.Furthermore, it is majorly women who work in the sectors trade, service and industry whichare essential for the economy of developing countries. (Kerner 1999: 62f.). Every aspect ofdevelopment cooperation has to be seen in a gendered perspective in order to define andimprove existing problems (Lehnherr 2003: 41). Development strategies should be developedby analysing gender relations in the particular context. Then the affected people should workout appropriate strategies themselves (Pichler 2003: 70). NGOs can only support theempowerment process because “[e]mpowerment cannot be given, it must be self-generated”(Kabeer 1994: 97).The women of DAWN criticize the `Sisterhood` model that Western feminists created toshow solidarity with Southern women. The problem resides in the assumption that all womenhave the same needs and interests which symbolizes a non-existent unity between Westernand Southern women, instead of them pleading for feminisms that adapt to the individualsituations of different women considering aspects like ethnicity, class, nationality and religion(Kerner 1999: 63 ff.; Tasli 2007: 30). The principle of DAWN is, that the situations of womenare different, but they all pursue a common goal. The group of women is diverse, but the mainaim is to eliminate subordination and make women and men equal participants in all parts oflife (Sen/Grown 1988: 70 in Kerner 1999: 68). Critics also think that the empowermentapproach is too demanding for some NGOs because they want easy quantifiablemeasurements and outcomes over a defined period, which are not available when workingwith the empowerment approach and its complex situations (Tasli 2007: 76).After WID, GAD and DAWN were adopted in the 1970s and 80s, in the 1990s the theory ofpractical and strategic gender needs was established. This theory constitutes the theoreticalframework of this study and is therefore introduced in the following section.2.3. Practical and Strategic Gender NeedsIn the beginning of the 1990s Caroline Moser, a development expert of the World Bank,introduced the strategy of Gender Planning with the goal of an “emancipation of women fromtheir subordination, and their achievement of equality, equity and empowerment“ (Moser1993: 1). Gender planning considers the different roles of women and men, the triple burdenof women in reproduction, production and community management and women´s needs.23