GESI CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP
Workshop on capacity building in Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI)
The Faculty of Educational Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Ghana has organised a two-day workshop from 28th – 29th November, 2022, to build the capacity of stakeholders in her 5 affiliate Colleges of Education in Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) related issues and to enhance the knowledge, capacity and skills of college stakeholders in promoting GESI so that the wider college community can take up and adopt GESI best practices in teaching and learning. These affiliated Colleges are: Tamale College of Education, Tamale, E.P. College of Education, Bimbilla, Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, Akrokerri College of Education, Akrokkeri and St. Joseph’s College of Education, Bechem. The workshop was funded by a GESI project grant worth $8,100 from the Mastercard Foundation with the support of GTEC and T-TEL won by the GESI proposal committee put together by the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Winston Kwame Abroampa comprising of the chairperson, Dr. Stella A. Makafui Yegblemenawo (Department of Language and Communication Sciences, K.N.U.S.T.), with Dr. Dickson Adom (Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology, K.N.U.S.T.), Dr Rebecca Essel (Department of Teacher Education, K.N.U.S.T.), and Ms Juliana Dinko (St. Joseph’s College of Education, Bechem) as members.
The Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Winston Kwame Abroampa, who spoke during the Opening ceremony, explained that the workshop was intended to train various stakeholders to help them contribute to making the various Colleges of Education, GESI responsive. This had become necessary as the key findings from the Deep Dive research into what influences GESI actions and inactions in Colleges Of Education (COEs) in Ghana conducted in May 2022 by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) with support from the Transforming Teaching, Education and Learning (T-TEL) revealed that there was the need to step up GESI responsiveness in the Colleges of Education in Ghana through targeted activities. The Dean also pledged the continuous support of the Faculty to help KNUST’s five affiliate Colleges of Education to become GESI-responsive institutions. He encouraged participants to put what would be learned at the workshop into practice.
This workshop was attended by an 8-member team from each college namely: the Principal or the Vice-Principal, College Secretary, Gender Champion, a member of the GESI Committee, a Quality Assurance Officer, a Quality Assurance Unit member, a Finance Officer and a CEMIS Committee or IT Officer.They were taken through 5 themes namely: Understanding GESI (Pedagogy and Assessment), GESI Committees And Action Plan Development, Implementation, Monitoring and Accountability, Safe Teaching And Learning Space and GESI Advocacy, by facilitators who are well versed on GESI issues. They are: Dr. Stella A. Makafui Yegblemenawo (Department of Language and Communication Sciences, K.N.U.S.T.), Dr. Dickson Adom (Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology, K.N.U.S.T.), Dr Rebecca Essel (Department of Teacher Education, K.N.U.S.T.), Ms Juliana Dinko (St. Joseph’s College of Education, Bechem).
This year’s 16 Days of activism against Gender-Based Violence was also launched by the Dean of the Faculty. He hoped the innovative activities which the various colleges would participate in, would go a long way to reduce, and if possible, completely erase GBV from all campuses.
