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4/12/2005
Strengthening the women research and training center (wrtc) at the university of aden in yemen
WRTCAU

Information leaflet on

'Strengthening the women research and training center (wrtc) at the university of aden in yemen'

Through the Netherlands Programme for the Institutional Strengthening of Post-secondary Education and Training Capacity (NPT)

October 2004- October 2008

University of Aden
July 2005

The University of Aden in Yemen has seventeen Faculties and ten Research Centers.  One of the Research Centers is the Women Research and Training Center (WRTC) that was established in 1995 and formally approved in 1998.

 The WRTC mission:

‘To contribute to the improvement of the position of women in Yemeni society through curriculum development (BSc and higher diploma level), by providing training & advisory services and by conducting research in order to mainstream gender in policy formulation and create awareness on women’s issues’.

Objectives:

1.     To raise awareness among BSc students on the importance of incorporating a gender perspective in their academic studies by integrating Women and Development issues in the curricula;

2.     To contribute to policy development and gender-awareness by educating present and future Gender Practitioners on Women and Development through a higher Diploma Programme;

3.     To raise awareness and contribute to policy development by conducting applied academic research on women and development issues to be disseminated widely;

4.     To contribute to mainstreaming gender in policies and organisations by providing advisory services for governmental and non-governmental organisations on Women and Development;

To contribute to promoting the importance of gender and development issues by providing easy access to a high quality library and website.

The administrative board of the Center consists of the Director of the Center and four heads of departments. The departments are:  Research & Applied Studies; Training; Curriculum & Post graduate Studies; Documentation & Information; and Administration & Finances. The Center is advised by an Academic Council in which lecturers of the main faculties are represented.

The project aims at making the WRTC financially, organizationally and programmatically sustainable. The project is a collaboration between the Aden University (Yemen) and the following three institutions in the Netherlands: The Wageningen University, Maastricht School of Management and the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.

The Project, through the Center, aims to implement various activities in order to achieve the following six objectives:

1) The organisation and management capacity of the WRTC has been strengthened.

A strategic plan will be formulated that outlines the major objectives of the Center, the threats, the major activities and the strategies in order to become sustainable. The team will be trained in management skills and training materials will be developed.

2) A Gender/Women & Development course for all undergraduate students of Aden University is developed and conducted.

Various strategies will be explored in order to integrate women and development issues in the faculties of the University. If the University decides to implement the new Education Population course as a University requirement, then gender will be part of that course. 

In the meantime gender will be integrated in existing courses or short courses on women and development issues are developed and those are adjusted to the specific scientific areas of each Faculty. A curriculum committee of different representatives from different faculties assists the Center in formulating the strategies.

The regional linkages will be strengthened in order to use up to date gender research and literature from the Arabic region. Teaching material will be developed and lecturers from different faculties will be involved in the integration of gender at BSc level.

3) A one-year practical higher Diploma programme in Gender/Women Studies and Development is developed for gender practitioners at the WRTC and conducted as of academic year 2006/7.

The higher diploma programme will aim at delivering a gender practitioner who will be capable of conducting research in the area of women and development; mainstreaming gender issues in policy formulation and raising awareness and provide training on women and development issues. The Center aims to formulate a higher diploma programme that is demand driven. For this purpose a training needs analysis was conducted in Aden among organisations and University students.

Based on the assessments and the project plans, regional and international experts will assist in formulating the content of the courses. Various workshops will be organised in order to discuss the content with representatives of the University and different organisations.

The higher diploma programme will have the duration of one year but the Center aims at transforming the higher diploma into an MSc programme on women and development. In total, the higher diploma and MSc will cover a period of two years.

4) Five new Ph.D. staff members and 2 new MSc members have been qualified and have joined the WRTC.

Candidates were selected in the following areas:

Ph. D. Gender and Social Development

Ph. D. Gender Law and Civil Society

Ph. D. Gender and Public Health 

Ph. D. Gender, Environment and Water

Ph. D. Gender and Commercial Law

MSc Gender and Computer engineering 

MA Gender and media

Educating Ph.D. and MSc’s is important, because those women will be leading actors in the educational and political domains when they have graduated. They will be able to influence the status of women and women’s participation in society.

5) A consultancy service is established and in operation at the WRTC, offering services to third parties in policy and strategy development, training and research in gender issues.

The Center’s capacity for demand-oriented and highly qualified research will be developed, through the formulation of a Research Programme and a Research Strategy. The capacity of the WRTC to conduct acquisition for research on Gender/ Women and Development issues will be gradually developed and other consultancy services will be provided.

6) The WRTC information and communication unit is established, and the library has been expanded and stocked.

The Center will establish a computer unit with ADSL connection. All staff and students, who are interested in women and development issues and follow courses or do research in that area, can make use of the computer unit.

A library management and marketing plan will be developed for a well-stocked high-quality library with links through the website and the intranet to respectively other libraries outside the AU and the libraries of the AU.  The WRTC has initiated a publication series entitled 'Journal of Women Studies and Development'. Each year, several issues will be published.

STAFF of the Center:

 @ Dr Rokhsana M. Ismail, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Russia), Director WRTC (mobile: 77123518; Tel/fax office: 00-967-2-235237), Email:

 @ Dr Shifa Abdul Kader Bafakih, Ph.D. in Education (Germany) - Head of the Curriculum & Higher Studies Department

 @ Dr Nadia Sallam Moh, Ph.D. in Education (Germany) - Head of the Training Department

 @ Dr Asma A. Remi, Ph.D. in History (Russia) - Head of Research and Applied Studies Department

 @ Dr Farial Al-Gabr, Ph.D. in Engineering (France) -Head of the information Department (library and computer unit).

Senior advisor of the project:

Dr Carin Vijfhuizen, Ph.D. in Rural Development Sociology and Gender Studies (Netherlands).

Mobile: 77401961; Tel/fax office: 00-967-2-239540

Email: ;