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| Country: | Italy |
| National Context: | Download |
| Region: | Lazio |
| Name of Organisation: | Sapienza University of Rome |
| Main implementing organisation: | Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca per lo Sviluppo sostenibile (CIRPS) Interuniversity Centre for Sustainable development” Sapienza University of Rome |
| Line of Business: | The activities of CIRPS are aimed at researching, developing and disseminating of scientific knowledge, technological solutions and methods of work, of organizations of the society that foster sustainable development. |
| Start Date: | 2005-09-04 |
| End Date: | Still Ongoing |
| All | Women | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Employees | 5 | 60 % |
| Employees in R&D | 42 | 2.38 % |
| Number of Employees in Top Positions | 1 | 100 % |
| Students | 19 | 57.89 % |
| Transferability of the initiative | Programme is considered to be transferable to another context |
| Type of initiative referring to strategic objectives | awareness |
| gender in research |
| Type of initiative, located on the stage of career progression of women scientists | Qualification (Higher Education) |
| Professional experience |
The overriding objective of CIRPS Sped is to contribute to the production of practices, knowledge and policies for the empowerment of women within the sphere of international cooperation for development.
In particular:
On a short term basis, the initiative aimed at establishing a new research group who should have to develop CIRPS competences in Gender and Development.
Gender studies are not recognized as a scientific field by the Italian academy.
No or little resources are allocated for research in Gender and Development, meaning all the studies that aim at reducing economic and social, human poverty.
Short term objectives have been attained:
As for long term objectives, the staff have already presented several projects to funding bodies where new methods and tools are proposed for innovating international initiatives for the empowerment of women.
The main reason for implementing the new section was to adjust the competences of CIRPS to its mission as a research centre for sustainable development. Gender competences are currently needed for working in the field of sustainable development.
Consequently, when a CIRPS member proposed to create a new section specifically for developing research in Gender and Development, the advice of the scientific board was completely favourable and the executive board immediately found the resources needed.
None
Direct target groups: researchers and practitioners working for the achievement of the third of the Millennium Goals (Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women) in both global South and global North
Indirect target groups: women and their organizations committed to implementation of the 1995 Beijin Platform for Action (notably gender mainstreaming of public policies).
Silvia Macchi, associate professor of Urban Planning at Sapienza University of Rome, was responsible for conducting the initiative. A new section of CIRPS was created and she was named as coordinator of it.
She was the only employee conducting the initiative, sided by PhD students (currently 5) and graduate trainees from CIPRS master program.
A fully equipped room with two workplace was provided and operating expenses were covered by CIRPS. A full time PhD scholarship was also assigned to the Section’s activities. Additional resources came from external funding of the Section’s research projects.
The initiative was managed by the section’s coordinator under the supervision of the executive board of CIRPS.
Besides 5 PhD researches supervised by the coordinator and external experts, the section developed the following research proposals that have been funded:
2008 Innovating regional planning in a gender perspective, funded by Lazio Region through ESF and implemented in collaboration with Giacomo Brodolini Foundation and the Women’s International House of Rome.
2008 Preparatory study to the Gender Budgeting of Province of Rome, ordered to the Women’s International House of Rome by the Equal Opportunities Provincial Office.
2007/08 The gender approach in the Italian Government’s International Cooperation for Development, scoping study in collaboration with Action Aid Italy- 2007/08
2006/07 Provision of services for the implementation of an University laboratory of documentation and analysis for the empowerment of women, entrusted to CIRPS by UNDP/UNOPS in the frame of ART Initiative (Appui aux Réseaux Territoriaux et Thématiques de Développement Humain).
2006 Women's networking" across borders: cooperation, diaspora and migrations between Italy and the Middle East, International seminar organized in collaboration with UNDP/UNOPS and funded by MAE – Rome, 14-15 December.
The Section was also coordinating the “Gender Policies” working group in the frame of Stati Generali della Cooperazione e della Solidarietà process , in 2006/07, and providing monitoring and evaluation consultancy to MAE/DGCS for its programmes on women’s empowerment.
As a results, members from the Section were invited to hold lectures on Gender and Development in University courses, and workshops on Gender Mainstreaming by local councils and women organizations.
From the beginning, the Section was not considered as a “special” one. It was ruled as any other section at CIRPS and it received the same support (mainly working space and PhD scholarship) that the others had. This was fundamental for being positively accepted within the organization.
Moreover, the fact that 7FP calls for proposals were asking for a gender evaluation was a decisive factor for establishing such a section at CIRPS
At the starting stage, there was some hostility by similar research group working in other organizations, acting as a “competing groups”.
Once established the section on women had to face the fact the staff hardly accepted gender related research because they did not consider Gender in Development issues (i.e. energy, climate change, spatial planning, budgetary policies).
The initiative was accepted as organisational standard and the Section is now well established and an integral part of CIRPS.
Similar initiatives have been already undertaken in other EU countries (notably in Germany) by several universities and research centers. It has not been transferred nor it is planned to transfer it to other contexts. It is in principle conceivable to transfer this initiative to another context.
CIRPS has not really a strategy to promote equal opportunities, nor is gender balance an objective for the organization.
Rather, CIRPS encourages and supports research in Gender and Development. By doing so, gender culture is gradually spreading among CIRPS’s research staff, and positively affecting both working relationships between male and female staff and the way research projects are conceived
In Italy, university research groups on Gender and Development are quite few and they are usually part of Social Sciences schools. The Sped is unique for being completely integrated in a research center that is strongly related to the Faculty of Engineering, at Sapienza University of Rome, and whose main field of work is renewable energy.
This initiative is a good practice because it succeeded in establishing a new research group on Gender and Development in a short period of time (less than 5 years) and by using ordinary university resources.
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