Nkumba University’s management team, led by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jude T Lubega, today, 18th June 2024 met with ENGENDER Project coordinators at the Vice-Chancellor’s Boardroom to ascertain and discuss the project modalities, objectives, and implementation strategies.
Representing five partnering institutions, including Nkumba University, Gulu University, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Johannes Kepler University – Austria, and Debre Markos University – Ethiopia, the coordinators engaged both the university management and student leaders.
Prof. Jude Lubega welcomed the delegation, emphasizing the importance of gender mainstreaming as a cardinal tool in fostering an inclusive academic environment. “This is good for us, we are deliberate and intentional in ensuring a community that works in unison to foster gender parity,” he said.
Dr. Nicholas Gregory Okello, Project Investigator from Gulu University, lauded Nkumba University Management for accepting to take on the project. “Nkumba University Management has shown great commitment to this project, and we appreciate their willingness to take on this important initiative,” he said, further revealing that Nkumba and Gulu are the only two institutions selected in Uganda to implement this project.
In her submission, Lamaro Gloria, the Gulu University Project Coordinator, stressed the need for institutions to design a framework for gender mainstreaming, recognizing that sometimes those in authority are the perpetrators of gender inequality. “Institutions need to design a framework for gender mainstreaming, stringent enough to address gender-related bottlenecks,” she said.
The project coordinators later engaged student leaders in a focus group discussion to identify loopholes necessitating the project’s implementation relevance and ensure their involvement and support in promoting gender parity on campus.
The acronym ENGENDER which refers to “Engage for Non-Gender Discriminative Higher Education” is a capacity-building network seeking to promote gender equity in educational programs through curriculum development and inclusive pedagogy.
The ENGENDER project’s implementation started in December 2023 and is expected to have a significant impact on promoting gender equity in education within it’s span.
