Home > Projects > Linking Gender, Equality and Economic Sustainability for Community Advancement

PI: Agbényiga, D.L.

The Strengthening Leadership Capacity and Professional Skills:  A Women’s Economic Empowerment Program – A Tanzania, South Africa and U.S. partnership is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State–Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  The program includes a partnership between Michigan State University, the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (South Africa).  The program’s aim is to promote mutual understanding and partnerships among key organizations and institutions in the partner countries.

The program was designed to support women from Tanzanian and South African (N=28) develop their leadership capacity and professional skills through a four-week program in Michigan and Washington, DC.  During the program, Fellows examined the roles of institutions in the U.S. devoted to economic development, community engagement, and gender equity. Fellows were also provided examples of leadership firsthand through internships and dialogue in seminars and meetings led by U.S. leaders in these fields.  Themes and issues covered during the program included best practices, leadership skills, ethical standards, program development and evaluation, and empowerment in relevant areas such as community development, public health, employment services, counseling, economic stability, gender-based violence prevention and advocacy.  A significant goal of this program is to establish a long-term partnership among representatives from private sector, community, governmental and non-governmental, and education organizations from all three countries to combat factors interfering with women’s economic stability and gender equality and their intersection with gender-based violence throughout their respective communities.

Agbényiga, D.L. (PI), Glew, R., & Ferguson, A. Connecting the Linkages between Gender, Equality and Economic Sustainability for Community Advancement and Capacity Building: A Women’s Economic Empowerment Program, a partnership among South
Africa, Tanzania and the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs, Office of Citizen Exchanges. $450,000. 2012-2014.

About RCGV

MSU’s Research Consortium on Gender-Based Violence faculty and staff are dedicated to research and outreach initiatives related to ending and preventing gender-based violence and improving the community response to survivors. RCGV faculty are committed to mentoring the next generation of gender-based violence researchers by providing substantial educational and employment opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a significant and widespread social problem internationally, devastating adults, children, families and societies across the globe. It includes any form of harm that is both a consequence and cause of gender power inequities. It can be physical, psychological, sexual, economic, or sociocultural, and includes but is not limited to sexual abuse, rape, intimate partner abuse, incest, sexual harassment, stalking, femicide, trafficking, gendered hate crimes and dowry abuse. Gender-based violence intersects with race-based, class-based or religiously oppressive forms of abuse, and cross-cuts many other social problems (e.g., poverty, substance abuse, mental and physical health, crime).


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