About the UNESCO Chair

Vision

Our Chair privileges evidence-based practices informed by gender analysis and drawn from participatory projects. It is grounded in a holistic notion of wellbeing and agency at all levels from the individual, to peer-groups and kinship networks, the state, the ecological commons. Agency is addressed through several parameters:

• freedom from harm
• sustenance and self-renewal
• voice and expression
• constructive engagement
• social protection
• recognition and belonging
• sense of purpose
• participation
• mutual care 
• knowledge exchange

Primary Goal

To contribute to the wellbeing of women and girls in a sustainable way by fostering historically and culturally appropriate opportunities for human sustainable development through knowledge exchange and education, and to foster cultures of peace.

Objectives 

Foster transnational dialogue and collaboration. Gender discrimination and oppression obstruct wellbeing and are structural problems best addressed through joint efforts between higher education, grass-roots actors and policy makers.

Promote opportunities for education and exchange. Enhancing women’s opportunities to learn from and about each other is essential to foster women’s wellbeing, improve quality of life in families and communities, and build cultures of peace. Education and exchange activities will aim at bridging diverse knowledge and educational sectors inside and outside academia; special attention will be given to validating experiential knowledge.

Democratize knowledge and information widely. The disadvantageous access of women to information and knowledge diminishes their capacity for agency and thus is detrimental to their wellbeing. This includes the recognition of many types of knowledge, not only Western or “formal” knowledge; we do not only accept but also legitimize all types of women’s knowledge.

Increase Women’s Leadership in Policy and Practice. Women can and should have leadership in society.