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The African Gender Institute (AGI) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) is a teaching, learning and research institute which focuses on issues of gender, development, and the politics of sexuality on the African continent.
Since its inception, over 20 years ago, the AGI has grown into a globally respected and continentally vibrant organisation which has built networks and collaborative partnerships with academic institutions and non- government organisations across Africa. Renowned for collaborative research projects that marry theory, practice and activism, the AGI has delivered innovative integrated outcomes on gender justice, sexuality and human rights, peace and conflict studies and capacity building in relation to gender and women’s studies knowledges.
Through its 20 year history of feminist writing, teaching and research, AGI has extensive experience in engaging with issues of feminist teaching and research; feminist movement building in academia; and engaging with sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) including sexual violence in the university context. The AGI believes that the struggle for gender justice is central to the social and political transformation of the African continent. The teaching, training and research activities that make up gender studies are the intellectual backbone of a political struggle dedicated to the transformation of gender relations and to the transformation of oppressive structures of power and their practices.
Today, the AGI is a department within the School of African & Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town and is responsible for delivering a full suite of undergraduate and graduate degree programmes in gender and women’s studies. We have graduated up to 15, 000 students since 1999. In addition, the AGI is committed to practice-based research and designs and implements projects which strengthen research, networking, capacity-building and knowledge-creation throughout Africa.