Feminist Edge

Professional Development for Gender Trainers

Feminist Edge offers professional development for gender trainers that re-captures and re-imagines gender training, as a feminist project, establishing a new approach to training for gender equality. We reposition training for gender equality as a strategy to challenge and engender mainstream development and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

The programme addresses the need to (re)claim autonomous spaces for feminist knowledge production and challenges development policy makers and practitioners to re-think how to address social and gender inequity to ensure that “no one is left behind.” Feminist Edge focusses both on the practice of gender training and on its conceptual underpinnings. 

Start date
12 February 2024
End date
9 August 2024
Duration
Six months
Location
Blended course (online + 1 week face-to-face at KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam)
Course fee (2024)
EUR 5.950
Language
English
Applications open
1 June 2023
KIT application deadline other funding
27 November 2023
Contact
feminist.edge@kit.nl

“I am transformed personally and as a gender trainer. I have a new way of seeing the world and my role in it. And I also have gained skills on how I can advance the feminist project in the face of so many constraints. I am truly grateful for this experience. This programme should be mandatory for all gender trainers.”

Feminist Edge participant 2022

Content

This six-month certificate programme offered by KIT and UN Women Training Centre aims to:

  • Sharpen training skills and knowledge of gender and development concepts as a gender equality trainer
  • Enable participants to better employ learning and knowledge strategies
  • Support participants to re-claim training for gender equality as a political feminist process
  • Refresh participants skills and knowledge as gender equality trainers and renew commitment to gender training as a transformative process.
  • Combining lectures, guest presentations and practical activities and assignments, Feminist Edge strengthens capacities across three interrelated domains: 

  • Conceptual depth and clarity: gender and development theory and practice in various themes; and global approaches to gender and development.
  • Training skills and methods: training design, delivery and evaluation; communication skills; and learner-centred pedagogy.
  • Feminist Practices: gender knowledge, knowledge making and power; reflexivity; change and resistance; and, global governance of development and client relations.
  • Check our brochure to learn more about the programme structure, approach and learning objectives.

    Audience

    The programme works in a co-creation process with experienced gender trainers from both the global South and North.

    Participants need to meet the following criteria to qualify:

  • Minimum of three years of training experience on gender issues
  • Knowledge of gender and development and/or gender in public policy
  • Institutional affiliation/experience: UN agencies, international and national NGOs, national governments, academia, etc.
  • Demonstrate commitment to completing the six-month program
  • Background

    Gender training is an important tool for advancing gender equality. Since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, gender training has been embraced as a means to make gender mainstreaming effective. However, when used as a ‘cure-all’ to address all gender mainstreaming challenges and limitations, the critical and transformative potential of gender training is blunted. When gender training is approached as a singular short-term event there is little room for reflection, yet reflection is critical to allow participants to reconsider their own gendered behaviours. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated all forms of inequality – including gender inequality – revealing an urgent need to re-imagine how inequalities are addressed in development. With this in mind, UN Women Training Centre and KIT Royal Tropical Institute designed a professional development programme for gender trainers, which brings a feminist edge back into gender training. 

    Feminist Edge offers professional development for gender trainers that re-captures and re-imagines gender training as a feminist project, establishing a new approach. We reposition training for gender equality as a strategy to challenge and engender development and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The programme addresses the need to (re)claim autonomous spaces for feminist knowledge production and challenges development policy makers and practitioners to re-think how to address social and gender inequity to ensure that “no one is left behind.” Feminist Edge focusses both on the practice of gender training and on its conceptual underpinnings. 

    Application procedure

    The application package is due 27 November 2023.

    Please upload your application online. The following 4 documents should be uploaded:

  • A letter of motivation
  • Copies of your diplomas
  • Copies of academic transcripts
  • An up-to-date curriculum vitae
  • Your motivation letter (maximum two pages) should include:

  • Formal and/or informal professional development related to gender training
  • Experience as a gender trainer (e.g. number of years, types and duration of gender training, types of participants and organisations) and the context of the gender trainings and your specific roles (e.g. training design, curriculum development, training delivery)
  • Professional affiliation as a trainer (staff, consultant, trainer for organizations)
  • Motivation to participate in Feminist Edge
  • Your expectations from participation in the programme
  • Indication of how you will manage your personal and professional schedule and work load
  • Planned financing of the programme fee, travel, accommodation and subsistence in Amsterdam
  • If seeking a (partial) scholarship, please specify the costs that you can co-fund
  • FAQ Online Application System

    Do you have questions about our Online Application System? Find answers in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Online Application System.

    Practical Information

    Module dates and location

    Feminist Edge is a blended learning course. Classes are held virtually for Modules 1 and 2 and face-to-face at KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam for Module 3:  

  • Module 1: virtual workshops extended over three weeks, 12 February – 1 March 2024
  • Module 2: online moderated sessions and assignments, 11 March – 26 July 2024
  • Module 3: face-to-face workshops in Amsterdam (Netherlands), 4 – 9 August 2024
  • Accommodations

    There is a severe shortage of student accommodation in Amsterdam. KIT endeavors to assist participants in their search for accommodation. Contact KIT for information.

    Visa requirements

    Visit the Nuffic website for the latest information on visa requirements.

    Applicants requiring a short-stay visa (for up to three months) through the Netherlands embassy (or consulate covering the applicant’s country) will need a letter of admission to the course and proof of sponsorship or sufficient funds to cover the course fee, travel and accommodation. Note that in some countries this procedure can take several months.

    Insurance requirements

    Course participants are required by Dutch law to have health, accident and third party insurance. If a participant’s current insurance policy does not cover a stay abroad, then they must be insured in the Netherlands by a Dutch insurance company.

    Funding and Scholarship Information

    The arrangement of financial support to cover all study costs is the responsibility of the applicant. KIT does not offer financial support or scholarships. You can find more general information on our scholarship page.

    Scholarships for participants from low and middle income countries (LMICs)

    Feminist Edge is generously supported by a private foundation which allows us to provide a number of selected participants from low and middle income countries (LMICs) with a scholarship. If you are seeking a (partial) scholarship, please indicate what aspects you can cover yourself (or through your employer) and where you still need to mobilize resources in order to participate. Co-funding is desirable.

    Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP)

    Unfortunately the OKP programme has ended. For 2024 there are no scholarship rounds. 
    Read more on the OKP page.

    KIT Gender, UN Women Training Centre and Faculty

    Director: Rhiannon Pyburn, Team Lead, KIT Gender

    Rhiannon brings 30 years of experience working on gender dynamics in agricultural and environmental research and development, social learning, and cross-cultural and non-formal education. She is a skilled and thoughtful facilitator and is well-published. Rhiannon lead the CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research (2017-2019) and recently edited the landmark book (2021): Advancing gender equality through agricultural and environmental research – past, present and future. She leads KIT’s Gender Team.

    Coordinator: Camilo Antillon, KIT Senior Gender Advisor

    Camilo is highly skilled in quantitative and qualitative research methods, the planning, monitoring, evaluation and management of social projects, and in formal and non-formal education. He brings twenty years of experience of social research, social projects and education, focusing on gender and sexuality, SRHR, violence, and urban cultural studies. Camilo uses constructivist, participatory and popular education approaches to collectively generate learning based on participant interests, knowledges and experiences.

    Tutor: Felice Davids, KIT Junior Gender Advisor

    Felice is an anthropologist and Gender & Development specialist with a MA in Social Anthropology of Development from SOAS University of London. Felice is an intersectional feminist with a passion for women’s rights and empowerment, global health and SRHR, and LGBTQIA+ equality. She is keenly interested in storytelling, journalism, and the use of theater for social change. Highly aware of the role of power dynamics in development, she is committed to “putting the power back into empowerment”.

    KIT Royal Tropical Institute has an international team of gender specialists with a demonstrated track record of capacity strengthening for gender equality and has been a pioneer in gender training theory and practice. We offer organisation-wide and tailor-made stand-alone training to support of gender mainstreaming, to government ministries, international organisations, UN agencies and NGOs.  Thematic and sessional contributions will be made by several KIT Gender Advisors (TBD), including: Ana Victoria Portocarrero, Diana Lopez and Sandra Quintero.

    The UN Women Training Centre is dedicated to supporting the UN and other stakeholders to realize commitments to gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s right through transformative training and learning. We provide high quality training courses, programmes and resources on key issues related to UN Women’s priorities as well as emerging topics. Module 2 includes a set of virtual sessions presented by UN Women staff.

    In addition to KIT Gender Advisors and UN Women Training Center contributions, the programme has previously included sessions by renowned resource persons including: Naila Kabeer, Ann Whitehead, Christine Okali, Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, Franz Wong, Nandinee Bandyopadhyay, Lucy Ferguson, Anne Marie Goetz and Noemi Gonda.

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