COL supporting Srilankan Universities for Gender Mainstreaming through UGC Sri Lanka

COL supporting Srilankan Universities for Gender Mainstreaming through UGC Sri Lanka

Commonwealth of Learning organised a workshop on “Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Higher Education in Sri Lanka” in a Train the trainer mode through UGC Sri Lanka from 5-7 June 2018 at Colombo, Sri Lanka to help Universities in Sri Lanka linked to University Grant Commission develop an effective draft action plan to strengthen gender mainstreaming in their Universities. The objectives of the workshop are Recapture important gender concepts and relate it to higher education in Sri Lanka, Familiarize themselves with gender analysis frameworks to assess gender issues in higher education, Familiarise themselves with international tools and good practices to mainstream gender in Universities, and adapt them to Sri Lankan Context, Evolve draft action plan for facilitating a similar process in the participants’ Universities, and mainstream gender in participant universities, identify future steps and interventions that may be required at the collective level, and support expected from the University Grant Commission.

Around 26 participants (17 Female and 09 Male) from 7 Universities of Sri Lanka were nominated by the respective universities to participate in the workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Ms. Ranjani K. Murthy, Researcher and Consultant for Gender and Development from Chennai.

Workshop began with an ice breaking session to introducing each other and all participants listed their expectations from this workshop which helped resource persons to understand the gap where they will put filler. Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi from Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) participated in the workshop and introduce the COL and its work with the participants. Professor Uma Coomaraswamy, Director, Center for Gender equality and equity, University Grant Commission of Sri Lanka welcomed all the participants and resource persons to the workshop. In her introductory presentation shared role and status of the center at UGC. Appreciating the support of COL she also informed how this workshop will help to the universities for gender mainstreaming in higher education level. The business sessions started with the Ms Ranjani K. Murthy presentation on gender concept and relationship with higher education reflecting on Sex and Gender, formal and substantive gender equality, gender division of labour, gender division of resources and gender and leadership. Followed by her presentation, the participants engaged in the groups to discuss the situation in higher education given to them, and analyse which gender concept it relate with their context and reflection. Similarly the participants engaged to learn different gender analysis frameworks and tools like change matrix, 12 box framework, Harvard framework and Moser framework using Sri Lanka Case Study on Higher Education. The groups presented their work for further discussion.