Networking Centres of Gender in Higher Education: The growth of gender centres in Africa: how they may serve as empowerment tools for the African continent"

IFUW Seminar: Networking Centres of Gender in Higher Education: The growth of gender centres in Africa: how they may serve as empowerment tools for the African continentProfessor Shirley K RandellVice President, International Federation of University WomenDirector, Centre for Gender, Culture and Development Kigali Institute of Education, Rwanda54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, 5 March 2010 Centre for Gender, Culture and Development, Kigali, RwandaApproach with members of the Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW) to Rector and Vice Rector Academic March 2009Appointment of Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations and Management in the Faculty of Education - AprilAllocation of a room in department in April and then an appropriate space and IT support in MaySenate approval to establish CGCD and to appoint Professor Randell as Director in June

CGCD Vision An internationally known centre of excellence producing professionally qualified academics and leaders for the public service, private sector and civil society, in a high-quality research environment that engages in policy development, multicultural exchange and community service.

CGCD Vision (cont)Thus CGCD aims to beRecognised internationally as a centre of academic excellence in GCD studiesRecognised for our strategic and applied GCD research, especially with respect to informing national GCD policy and practiceResponsive to the needs of individuals, communities, government, employers and other stakeholders in Rwanda

CGCD ProgressOver 30 volunteers from USA, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Rwanda have supported the development of curriculum, research, teachingBachelors, Masters and Continuing Professional Development programs have been written and validated.Two research reports have been published

Volunteers

CGCD ProgressVolunteers now writing curriculumMOUs with -Department of Womens Studies, ODU, USA-Gender Studies, University of Buae, Cameroon- Gender & AA Unit, Kenyatta University, Nairobi-University of Texas, El Paso, USA-Women Studies, University of Scranton, USA-Development Studies, Victoria Uni, Australia

CGCD Funding PartnersNearly 20 grant applications submittedTwo proposals to the Australian Government successful one for a conference to set directions for CGCD, USD 7,000 and a USD 50,000 grant for a communication strategyOne proposals to the South African Government for support for conferenceOne proposal for Norwegian Aid for USD250,000 to start the Masters program

Speeches/PublicationsThe Education of Girls in Africa: Opening Address, Federation of University Women of Africa Conference, Lagos, Nigeria, July 2009 (Randell & Gergel)Promoting the Retention of Women Faculty and Students in Higher Education: The Rwandan Case: FUWA Conference (Randell and Fish)Advancing the Status of Women through CGCD in Rwanda, Zonta International Conference, Sydney, Australia (Randell)Lessons on Gender Equality from Africa, VGIF and Indian FUWA Conference, Kolkata, India (Randell)

Speeches/PublicationsWomen say Yes to Power: personally, in Rwanda and globally, University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, 2010Rwandan Women say Yes to Power, Helvi Sipila Seminar, CSW, New York, 2010 Networking Centres of Gender in Higher Education: The growth of gender centres in Africa: how they may serve as empowerment tools for the African continent, CSW, New York, 2010

Department of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, UgandaFirst gender centre in AfricaFounded following the Nairobi International Womens Conference, 1985Supported by the Uganda AUWBased on desire to even out male/female positions in Ugandan leadership and civil lifeHigh standards set with development partners

Gender and Affirmative Action Implementation Centre, Kenyatta University, KenyaSet up in 2007 following a government mandate to create gender desks for gender mainstreaming in all aspects of operations in government departments and corporationsAwareness, training seminars for students and faculty, gender analysis, gender disaggregated data, gender and sexual harassment policies, influencing curriculum, pedagogy and teaching materials, posters, lobbying for women in senior management

Institute of Development Studies, University of Dar-es-Salam, TanzaniaAn interdisciplinary academic departmentIDS Gender Cluster designs teaching gender programsIDS Women Studies Group is a networking forum that collaborates on gender researchA Masters in Gender Studies is being createdWorkshops and conferences

Department of Women and Gender Studies of the University of Buea, CameroonBegan in 1998 as a full department for three degree programs, BSc, MSc and PhD 550 graduates, 430 studentsShort term training and consultanciesResearch activities and publicationsRadio, TV, seminars, advocacy, popular ednVisiting staff and studentsGrants

Gender Expertise as a Building Block for Peace in Eastern DRC

High exposure to programs by humanitarian NGOs and GOs that promote gender equalityCongolese gender experts and professionals lack specific training on gender analysis, methodology, research ethics, tools for gender budgeting and gender planning, setting impact indicators, academic writing and publishing.Academic institutions offer little if any training and resources to fill this knowledge gap.Gender centre is needed

Thank you and see you soon Women in the Congo!

3/11/2010 3:29 PM 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

22Africa Gender InstituteUniversity of Cape Town, SAGWSAfrica (Teaching Website)www.gwsafrica.org/home African Gender Institute(Academic) http://web.uct.ac.za/org/agi/ (website under construction)Feminist Africa (Journal WS)www.feministafrica.orgHosting & Updating

At the Africa Gender Institute we have 3 websites.One is : Gender and Women Studies Teaching Resource WebsiteTwo - AGI Academic website - Three Feminist Africa - journal website ===========

Why are ICTs important? address the structurally weak position of women. Bring in a mobilising aspect challenge to activate membership to take up this issue; is also a publishing avenue and one in which they can engage in scholarly dialogue. (Reiterate the mobilising aspect in the conclusion).Information Communication Technologies can be used to as a tool for social empowerment. Over the past two decades, most developed countries have experienced significant changes as a result of ICTs (Thioune, 2003). We are now in the information/knowledge society. There is a substantial gap between developing countries in Africa.Networks formal and informal have been around since the beginning of time. New ICTs are being used and adapted to enhance networks which are successful in their own right (Radloff & Primo 2002). However, one doesnt want to go down the path of re-introducing age-old inequalities and exclusionary practices with the use of new ICTs (Radloff & Primo 2002). The challenge then is to seek to enhance womens ICT capacities and access whilst bearing the reality of limitations grounded in economics, location, class, culture etc.Challenges to Information Access for African WomenThere is a serious dearth of African knowledge generated by African women. The knowledge that does exist, is often generated by Northern-based women who have very little insight into the realities of women on the African continent. Further, the internet is also used to the detriment of African women in that African knowledge can be easily disseminated and used by those in the North, while African women struggle to gain access to information on very basic levels. This is very closely tied to the GWS commitment of ensuring and protecting African indigenous knowledge and the access to it. It is evidenced by our approach to electronic and hardcopy dissemination of information on the continent, While at this point we cannot control access to a website without disadvantaging our African sisters.Language content is another issue. French, Portuguese and Arabic which are among the major African languages, are largely under-represented on the internet, particularly the latter two.Ways to overcome the challengesWomens involvement in ICT policy arenas, ensuring that women rights and needs are carried over into implementation. Also, womens involvement in other policy areas such as Nepad and the AU.Womens actual engagement with ICTs is another. By women actually engaging with the technology, barriers to access will be broken down.In using new ICTs for advocacy work towards social change, Internet rights in the form of the right to expression, information, association and communication on the internet have to be lobbied for at national, regional and global levels.23

African Centre for Gender and Social Development (UNECA), EthiopiaAdvocacy on designing gender and social policies to promote development - gender mainstreamingMonitoring and reporting on progressProviding advisory services to member states on womens economic empowermentGender and macro-economic programsThe Enterprise Development Facility for Women EntrepreneursAfrican Gender and Development Index

Gender in ICGLR Pact on Peace, Stability and DevelopmentGender is a cross cutting issue in all areasGender Observatory to be established within the Lusaka Regional Provide gender expertise in the regionDevelop knowledge sharing publications and outreach materialsShare learning materials related to GCDCollaborate with research

Central and Eastern Europe

Peace Institute for Contemporary Social and Political StudiesGender MainstreamingWomen in Transition CountriesHuman Trafficking and ProstitutionGender and Equal Opportunities PoliciesUnpaid WorkMale StudiesGender based violenceIntersectionalized inequalities and discrimination (gender, race, ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation)

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Challenges for Gender NetworkingLimited resources constant search for fundsInadequate buildings and infrastructureCommunication processes cumbersomeLimited data availabilityLimited capacity in collaborating institutionsLimited time huge demands on facultyLimited staff and student mobilityWeakness in feminist scholarship and production of locally grounded knowledgeGender Centres as Empowerment Tools for the African ContinentDesigning academic programs and short continuing professional development courses on gender, culture and development issuesGraduating researchers and academics who can make a contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in their countriesBuilding up gender materials and resources in institutional librariesConducting home-grown gender research that addresses the poorly understood realities of African gender relations and culturesEncouraging joint research studies on gender issues, including joint South- South and South-North collaboration

Gender Centres as Empowerment Tools for the African Continent (cont)Establishing regional linkages across the ContinentSharing and enhancing curriculum development Encouraging the collection of sex-disaggregated dataProviding opportunities for E-learning coursesImproving gender consciousness and gender mainstreaming in faculty, curriculum, or research across institutionsPromoting international, national and regional conferences and seminarsSupporting home-grown gender policy developmentGender Centres as Empowerment Tools for the African Continent (cont)Sharing competent lecturers from the North and South to teach academic courses. Supporting South-South and South-North student exchangeProviding gender e-journals and other publications with widespread disseminationDeveloping gender publicity programs and media connectionsAttracting funds for gender studies and programsChanging the cultural narratives which are responsible for male-dominant pedagogy and practices

AcknowledgementsMs Camila Nevin, Voluntee r with CGCD at KIE