Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) has introduced and launched a capacity building programme working towards the professional certification of gender equality changemakers in Africa. The Gender Equality Changemakers Programme has been established in partnership and consultation with two leading international universities: The Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender at the University of Pretoria, Stanford University, and with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Gender Equality Changemakers Programme has been developed in response to the need and demand for gender equality change agents in organisations around the world to address the gender inequalities and discrimination. This community-building online-learning programme seeks to engage a global network of highly skilled and gender-conscious changemakers who will accelerate progress towards gender equity within their organisations through policies, gender inclusive initiatives, products, and services.
Through a carefully curated and localised curriculum, which includes interactive faculty-led live sessions and assessments that use multimedia and questions, changemakers are equipped to enact profound and lasting change. The curriculum offers a deeply engaging, highly personal, and immediately applicable learning experience in the African context.
The programme aims for an inclusive student body and consists of six courses aimed at two distinct audiences:
One standalone course targeted at senior-level leaders (directors, executives, partners, presidents, or other equivalent). The Leading Equitable Organisations course guides participants through personal reflection and authentic dialogue among peers on gender issues and the practice of leadership, helping them uncover how they can foster more equitable organisations.
Five interrelated courses targeted at mid- or senior-level managers and professionals.
The first two of these interrelated courses, Foundations for Gender Equity and Organisations and Gender, guide participants through personal reflection and authentic dialogue among peers on questions around gender and the gendered nature of organisations, helping them discover their role in bringing about change.
The next two courses, Frameworks for Gender and Organisational Change and Practical Skills for Leading Gender Transformative Change, provide a focused and applied specialisation in leading gender equitable change projects within an organisational context. As they progress through these two courses, participants will complete hands-on assignments that will culminate in the final, Capstone, course. In this final course, participants will draft a cohesive action plan that they will go on to initiate within their own organisations. Gender Equality Change makers must complete all five courses to earn a certification and become certified Gender Change makers.