A CENTRE FOR CHANGE

Established in 2004, with core funding from the World Bank as the first gender centre in a tertiary institution in Ghana, the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) has the overarching goal of ensuring that gender equity is enshrined in various aspects of the institutional culture of the University of Ghana, the Ghanaian society and Africa, through quality research, teaching and learning, mentoring, advocacy and extension work.

The Centre works with a pool of highly qualified multidisciplinary, gender experts and gender enthusiasts known as affiliates.

CEGENSA’s approach to gender work goes beyond tokenistic, piecemeal, and compensatory interventions, to transformational and systematic approaches to addressing gender injustices in Africa’s social and political systems and institutions. CEGENSA acknowledges gender dynamism and account for the heterogeneity of women and girls’ experiences in Africa, the changing manifestations of gender over the life course, and the intersectionalities of gender in research and practice.

More broadly, CEGENSA is mandated to institutionalize gender as a legitimate business of the University by:

• Promoting research on gender-related issues in Africa;
• Providing documentation on, and dissemination of, gender-related research;
• Providing services and facilities to meet some of the unique needs of female staff and students;
• Promoting advocacy and initiating policies on gender in the University, Ghana and beyond;
• Generating linkages with, and providing extension work on gender with key stakeholders in government, NGOs, civil society and the donor community.