Improving the Effectiveness of Gender Mainstreaming Initiatives at UDSM

The mandate of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Gender Centre and its affiliated student organization, the Gender Club, is to mainstream gender policies and programs across the University. The Centre’s work includes student and faculty engagement and research. The Gender Centre requested a Capstone team for a second year to improve external communications and identify University-wide engagement opportunities. The team interviewed staff and students in Tanzania to understand the current barriers to successful Gender Centre and Gender Club programming. Using information from interviews and observations, the team made updates to the Gender Centre’s website and developed actionable tools to improve the Centre’s communications techniques, including a user guide for the long-term maintenance of the site. The team also developed a strategic planning resource for the Gender Club to help students communicate its vision and goals, and the actions needed to achieve them.