Community
Collaboration, consultation and participation are central to the work of the AGEE project. Our research is underpinned by an ongoing process of critical participatory discussion at local, national, and international levels. Our activities seek to bring together a diverse range of practitioners who work on evaluating and measuring gender equality in education to exchange views and expertise. These include representatives from national and local government, multilateral and bilateral organisations, civil society organisations, researchers and activists. Consultation, discussion and participation comprise a core feature of AGEE’s innovative research design. We aim to build and sustain a global ‘community of practice’ to support the Sustainable Development Goals and agendas to ‘build back better’ after the COVID-19 pandemic. The AGEE project is currently working with communities of practice in two countries – Malawi and South Africa – and with a number of international policy research networks. In each country and for the global community there is an advisory committee, which includes representatives from governments and civil society who have knowledge on gender and education issues. Each committee advises AGEE on aspects of research design and analysis as well as commenting on papers prepared at each stage of the project. Find out more about our advisory committees.
In each country, engagements and discussions about the project have helped build insight into local conditions. These have included:
- Introductory seminars hosted the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Malawi, attended by key representatives from the academic community, government, and relevant civil society organisations
- Workshops to discuss the draft AGEE Framework
- Interviews with key informants inviting reflections on particular local contexts, challenges, and strategies, and feedback on the AGEE Framework
- Participation in academic conferences and workshops
Presentation of the AGEE Framework at international seminars and workshops has helped us gather feedback and refine ideas. At the international level, engagement activities include:
- Active engagement and discussion with key international organisations, including UNGEI, UNESCO GEM Report, GCI, SIGI and GPE
- Annual international advisory committee meetings
- Interviews with key informants inviting reflections on gender equality and inequalities cross-nationally, accountability processes and the AGEE Framework
- Technical meeting, January 2019, jointly organised with UNESCO GEM Report
- Perspectives for the G7, May 2021
- Technical meeting, June 2021