Virtual Book Launch Program
November 15/16th, 2021
Gender and Learning in Rwanda
ed. Shirley Randell, Hilary Yerbury, and Astrid Escrig-Pinol
The event celebrates the publication of the book to encourage readership, to promote and strengthen programs on gender, culture, and development globally, and to raise scholarship and other support for Rwanda’s master’s degree program, now housed in the Centre for Gender Studies at The University of Rwanda.
Agenda
1. Greetings and welcome, Dr. Sharon Meagher, event facilitator
2. The master’s degree program past and present, Professor Shirley Randell, Ph.D., AO, with a statement by current director of the Centre, Dr. Josephine Mukabera
3. The book project: documenting the work
a. Overview of the book, Dr. Hilary Yerbury, co-editor
b. Chapter contributors:
i. Taking a feminist pedagogical approach, Dr. Sharon Meagher
ii. Feminist Research in Rwanda: Challenges and Importance, Dr. Anita Clair Fellman
iii. Teaching gender research methods, Dr. Jaya Dantas
iv. Teaching transitional justice, Dr. Gertrude Fester-Wicomb
v. The importance of educating girls and women in the sciences, Prof. Verdiana Grace Masanja, Ph.D.
c. Student voices:
i. Members of the first master’s degree cohort (now graduates):
1. Angelina Muganza
2. Egidia Rukundo
3. Jean Damascène Gasasira
4. Viviane Kalumire Furaha
ii. Current students and scholarship recipients:
1. Alice Umuhire
2. Wilberforce Ninsiima
4. Sustaining the work: Empowering Women in Education, Eileen Menton
5. Q & A (please post any questions you have at any time in the Zoom chat and Sharon Meagher will ask as many of the questions that we can during our time allotted. If we do not get a chance to answer your question live, we will make every effort to do so via email following the program
6. Thank you!
Access to the book: In the interest of social justice and accessibility, UTS has made the book available as open access. You can download or view the book for free here: https://utsepress.lib.uts.edu.au/site/books/e/10.5130/aag/
Royalties for hardcopies purchased by individuals and institutions will continue to support the work of UTS Press to provide universal access to books. We ask those of you who can afford to do so and those who are affiliated with institutions to please request that your institution purchase a hardcopy of the book.
If you wish to make a donation for a scholarship, please click here.
Presenter Notes
1. Professor Shirley Randell, AO, Ph.D. served as the founding director of the Centre for Gender, Culture and Development at the Kigali Institute of Education. After over 20 years of senior policy and administrative work at Commonwealth, State and Local Government levels in Australia, she has provided specialist technical assistance to governments and agencies in Africa and the Asia Pacific Region over the last 20 years. She is a leading expert in public sector and institutional reform, teacher education, gender mainstreaming and human rights in developing countries.
2. Dr. Josephine Mukabera, Director of the Centre of Gender Studies, University of Rwanda, earned a PhD in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies from Seoul National University/ South Korea, an MA degree in Development Studies from Kimmage Development Studies Centre in Ireland, and Advanced Diploma in Mental Health Nursing from Kigali Health Institute (University of Rwanda). She has a work experience of 15 years in trauma counseling and community development and 8 years of teaching at Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences. She is experienced in research related to women’s participation in leadership and politics. In her professional career, she has participated to international scientific conferences on Gender equality where she made oral presentations in South Korea 2013, 2014, 2015 and at GENEVA in 2018. She got an Award of BEST ESSAY on African Development in South Korea in 2013. [Dr. Mukabera is unable to participate live, but we will read her statement on her behalf.]
3. Dr. Hilary Yerbury has worked on programs to support the development of researchers, both as students and as established academics. Appointed Adjunct Professor and formerly Associate Professor in Information Management at the University of Technology Sydney, she brings a diverse background in European social and political cultures, anthropology, librarianship and development studies to the important topic of the use of information in everyday decision-making and in social change. She is a passionate supporter of open access scholarly publishing and a mentor to young scholars. She has extensive experience in working with young people on development issues.
4. Dr. Sharon Meagher serves as Professor of Philosophy and former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, USA. Her prior appointments include Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Widener University in Chester, PA (USA) and Chair of the Department of Latin American Studies and Women’s Studies at The University of Scranton (PA, USA). She served as a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Gender, Culture, and Development, Kigali Institute of Education, Kigali, Rwanda, 2010–2011. She has dedicated her life’s work as a scholar-activist and nonprofit and higher education leader to social justice and change, with a particular focus on women, community development, and environmental issues.
5. Dr. Anita Clair Fellman is Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies and former Chair of the Women’s Studies Department at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. Her most recent book is Little House, Long Shadow: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Impact on American Culture (2008, paperback. 2016). In 2011 she was a Fulbright Specialist at the Kigali Institute of Education where she worked with staff members at the Centre for Gender, Culture and Development to organise ‘Focus on Rwanda: A Conference on Gender Research and Activism’.
6. Dr. Jaya Dantas is Professor of International Health and Dean International in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University in Western Australia. Her research and teaching focusses on refugee and migrant health, the social determinants, health equity and gender. Professor Dantas has worked for 30 years in India, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Australia, Timor Leste, Sri Lanka and Singapore. She is a passionate advocate for education of women and youth. As a migrant woman and global health educator and researcher, she has expertise in gender, health and education. [Dr. Dantas is unable to participate live, but we will share a video presentation that she made.]
7. Dr. Gertrude Fester-Wicomb,an anti-apartheid activist, was part of the Women’s National Coalition that contributed to gender-sensitivity in the South-African Constitution. Like many political prisoners she was an MP in the new democratic government. Academic positions include Professor Extraordinaire (Western Cape University), Wynona Lipman Chair (Centre for American Women and Politics, Rutgers, USA), Professor in Transitional Justice (Rwanda) and Sociology (Sol Plaatje University). Currently PhD supervisor (Bishop Stuart University, Uganda) and Honorary Professor (Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town).
8. Prof. Verdiana Grace Masanja, Ph.D., is a Professor of Mathematics at Nelson Mandela Institution of Science and Technology, Tanzania. She holds a Doctorate in Fluid Mechanics from the Technical University of Berlin (TUB), Germany attained in 1986. She has taught and held leadership positions in universities in Tanzania and Rwanda and on short-term assignments in Finland and several African countries. She has gathered wide experience in gender in Education, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
9. Angelina Muganza, MSS, was a member of the first cohort. Her thesis was entitled “The changing gender roles during refugee situations.” She is now executive secretary of Rwanda's Public Service Commission.
10. Egidia Rukunda, MSS, was a member of the first cohort and a graduated with a Master’s degree of Social Social Sciences in Gender and Development (2012) from the National University of Rwanda and a Master’s degree in Development studies with a Specialisation in Projects management (2009) from Université Senghor d’Alexandrie (Egypt). She has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, from the Kigali Independent University since 2004. She has worked with local and International NGOs (FACT Rwanda, Africaire and Actionaid) and with the Ministry of Gender & Family Promotion in Rwanda. In 2013, she joined the African Development Bank, where she works as Principle Gender Specialist.
11. Jean Damascène Gasasira, NPA, BDem, MSS, PMdip, ASRH Social, Gender & Health Research Domain is a graduate of the Master’s Degree Program in Gender, Culture, and Development. His thesis was entitled “The Rwandan Government Family Planning Policy: Muhima Sector Study.” He currently serves as a public servant working for quality improvement of healthcare service delivery. the Resuscitation service quality assurance officer at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK). He also works for the community justice and sustainable peace as a mediator and is an “Infodemic Manager” for the World Health Organization (WHO).
12. Viviane Kalumire Furaha, MSS, was a member of the first cohort and a graduate of the Master’s Degree Program in Gender, Culture and Development. Her thesis was entitled “Sexual risk behaviors and HIV/AIDS risk: perceptions of National University of Rwanda students.” Viviane describes herself as a “woman living openly with HIV , a life strategist coach, an inspirational speaker, a social entrepreneur, and a mother. A Pharmacist and Public Health strategist, she has actively contributed to the establishment and development of community, civil society and activists’ networks, coalitions and movements at national, regional and international levels such as the International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) East Africa. More recently she founded FURAHA TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP and is creating a social entrepreneurship venture aimed at supporting subSaharan African women in the textile and fashion industry.
13. Alice Umuhire is one of the previous scholarship holders. After Ministerial positions, Alice was appointed the first executive secretary of the Public Service Commission when it was established in 2008 and has continued in this role for 13 years. She was a refugee with her family to Uganda in 1964 after her father had been killed and completed her primary schooling in a refugee camp there, so her thesis was built on her experiences as a refugee for many years.
14. Wilberforce Ninsiima is a current student and Shirley Randell scholarship holder. He is an Advocate & Consultant, Ethos Attorneys and Consultants. His proposed thesis is entitled, "Gender inequalities in the workplace, a critical analysis of the Insurance Sector in Rwanda".