About The Centre for Gender and Development Studies - Regional Coordinating Unit, The University of the West Indies



	The Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) - Regional Coordinating Unit

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The Centre's Mission

The Centre for Gender and Development Studies is an interdisciplinary institution at the University of the West Indies and is committed to a programme of teaching, research and outreach, which:

(a) Questions historically accepted and contemporary theories and explanations about society, and human behaviour;

(b) Seeks an understanding of the world which takes women, their lives and experiences into account; and

(c) Examines the origins of power differences between men and women, and the division of human characteristics along gender lines.

The specific objectives of the Centre are to:

1. Develop an integrated, interdisciplinary programme of gender studies within the University, at both undergraduate and graduate levels. This includes facilitating the incorporation of gender analysis in all disciplines

2. Produce and disseminate knowledge based on the generation and analysis of research data on women, men, and gender related issues in the Caribbean.
3. Establish and maintain linkages with national, regional and international institutions concerned with Gender and Development, provide advisory services, influence policy directions and assist with capacity building in these institutions.

Historical Perspective

The Establishment of the Centre

The Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CDGS) was established at the University of the West Indies in September 1993. It consists of a Regional Coordinating Unit, located on the Mona Campus in Jamaica and headed by a Regional Coordinator, as well as teaching and research units on each of the three UWI campuses: the Cave Hill Unit in Barbados, the Mona Campus Unit, and the St. Augustine Unit in Trinidad and Tobago. Each Unit is headed by a Senior Lecturer.

The Centre's establishment reflects the commitment of the UWI to institutionalise and support scholarship in the area of gender and development. The Regional Coordinating Unit of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of the West Indies is staffed by a dynamic group of persons from a variety of backgrounds.

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The Centre's Beginnings

The Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) is an outgrowth of the Women and Development Studies (WDS) groups which have existed on each campus since 1982. These groups were formed as a result of an initiative from Peggy Antrobus, the Tutor/Coordinator of the Women and Development Studies Unit (WAND) of the Extra Mural Department of the University of the West Indies (UWI), and Joycelin Massiah, then Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research in the Eastern Caribbean. Membership of the groups consisted mainly of a cross section of university personnel, whose aim was to increase the knowledge base of gender issues in Caribbean life not only through the university curriculum, but also through research and outreach programmes.

The Work of the Centre

The work of the Centre is Teaching , Research and Outreach .

The Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) is now in its eleventh year as an Interdisciplinary Centre, conducting teaching, research and outreach. Although the staff compliment of the Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) has not changed notably since the institutionalization of the Centre in 1993, the volume of its work has very significantly increased. The Centre has continued to grow in stature nationally, regionally and internationally since 1986, when it began as a Project of Cooperation in Teaching, Research and Outreach in Gender and Development Studies, supported by the Government of the Netherlands (GON).

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October 8, 2005October 8, 2005