GRÓ GEST participated in a seminar in Makerere University
On 10 June representatives from GRÓ GEST participated in a seminar at Makerere University facilitated by the Dean of the School of Gender and Women Studies at Makerere. The seminar was organized in two sessions, one on gender and climate change and the other on the Icelandic women’s movement and gender equality in Iceland, in a global perspective.
Stella Tereka, a 2016 GEST alumna from Uganda gave a presentation on the early findings of her PhD research. She was introduced by Jón Geir Pétursson, an Assistant Professor at the University of Iceland, who supervises her project together with Dr. Auður H. Ingólfsdóttir, a GEST faculty member and Patrick Byakagaba, Associate Professor at Makerere University.
Stella’s PhD research topic is “Gender and Climate Change in sub-Saharan Africa: Gender Transformative Climate Proofing in Agriculture and Natural resources in Uganda”. The objective of her research is to advance understanding of the gendered perceptions of climate change for effective gender transformative climate proofing in the agriculture and natural resources sectors in Uganda. The research focuses on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in three regions of Uganda (Northern, Eastern and Central Uganda) from which six districts are identified as vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The study consists of four interconnected sub-studies that each put focus on different aspects of small-scale farmers coping strategies to climate change, impacts on livelihoods and its gender dimensions, hence, a) on water governance for consumption and production; b) on the nexus between energy, land tenure rights and forestry; c) on the climate change adaptation strategies in small scale agricultural systems; d) on the policy environment at the different levels and how that translates to the local communities.
Her research is progressing well, both the data collection and first steps in analysis. The first paper sets focus on water governance, because of the growing attention to the importance of water for climate change adaptation and its multiple social aspects.
This is a novel study of Uganda. Importantly, it follows and expands on earlier GEST engagement on gender and climate change with partners in Uganda, with a focus on policy- relevant capacity building and training on the subject.
In the second session, Dr. Irma Erlingsdóttir, Director of GRÓ GEST and Professor at the University of Iceland, gave a presentation on the Icelandic women’s movement and gender equality in Iceland from a global perspective. She showed that even if the Nordic countries have been seen by many observers as a model, their gender equality performance is still not perfect and needs to be analyzed and presented critically – like in other geographical and political spaces. The strengths of Icelandic society with respect of gender equality are many. The objective is to discuss these strengths but at the same time give an account of what could be done better. Irma Erlingsdóttir offered insights into the feminist struggles in Iceland, whose trajectories differ from those of the other Nordic countries, and shows how gender equality has, in the last decade, become a central part of Iceland‘s foreign policy.
The seminar took place in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Makerere University and was in a hybrid format. It was attended by around 100 guests in total: students from women and gender studies and from environmental sciences, Professors, GEST alumni, and others.