gender

We’re going to celebrate International Women’s Day this week, and when we do, the ceremonies will focus on outstanding women. These women will be heroes for all of us - every man, woman and child around the world. When women are able to play more useful and important roles in our societies, everyone benefits, and our horizons keep expanding.

Between International Women’s Day on the 8th and March being Women’s History Month, this is a time for IREX to reaffirm our ongoing commitment to gender equality and to examine how we and our partners around the world are advancing “The Gender Agenda.”

At this year's 16 Days Against Gender Violence kicks off on November 25, we're reminded of how complex and painful the issue of gender-based violence (GBV) is. Human trafficking, domestic violence, child marriage, anti-LGBT violence—GBV affects women, men, and children in every country and at every socioeconomic level.

When you think of a library, what comes to mind? Row after row of books? The Dewey Decimal System? Kids but no adults? Those stereotypes are outdated. Around the world, libraries are on the front lines of innovative development.

When I was a young, gay rights activist more than two decades ago—the term LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) hadn’t emerged yet—I never thought I’d see the progress we’re witnessing on a truly global scale today. Now as a “seasoned” international development professional, this year’s LGBT Pride Month has a particular resonance with me.

Last year, Karen Bovard, a teacher from Connecticut, traveled to Indonesia as a fellow of the TEA-ILEP U.S. Teacher Exchange Program. Upon returning, she created an advanced high school course called “Women in a Global Context” to cultivate an understanding of worldwide gender issues in her students. In this blog, Karen discusses the evolution of the course and what she learned from preparing and delivering it.

The Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), a nonprofit network of research and training centers in the South Caucasus, recently released a report by Georgian journalist Mariam Naskidashvili that provides some fascinating insights on Georgians’ attitudes toward work, education, and behaviors as they relate to gender.

The Youth Theater for Peace (YTP) team is very excited to share some more impact news from the program in Tajikistan!

I’ve just returned from a series of meetings in New York. With the UN General Assembly  and the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) conference taking place, the energy in the international development community was palpable.

I was especially excited to learn about the new Girls Not Brides initiative launched at CGI by The Elders in partnership with the Ford and Nike Foundations, as gender is one of IREX’s core focus areas.

On behalf of IREX, I am pleased to announce that 22 diligent Azerbaijani students and their mentors won netbooks and flipcameras in a recent national contest for the ‘Best Research Essays Using Internet.' One hundred and sixty nine candidates entered from all over the country, notably Sumgait, Guba, Shirvan, Imishli, Ganja, Gazakh, Sheki, Zagatala, Ismayilli and Mingachevir. Plagiarism was penalised, with positive results.