20 August 2024: A delegation from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, Ms. Caroline Ford, Director of Democratic and Inclusive Governance, and Dr. Kundan Mishra, Senior Program Officer at IDRC, Delhi, visited the Gender and Development Studies (GDS) program at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). IDRC has funded a number of projects under GDS. Currently, GDS has three ongoing projects with IDRC: Center on Gender and Forced Displacement (CGFD), Toward Gender and Democratic Justice (GenderLab/K4DM), and Gender in NbCS Aquaculture (GeNA/AQUADAPT).
The delegation was warmly welcomed by students of the GDS program and interns of the CGFD at AIT. Prof. Kyoko Kusakabe, Head of the GDS program and co-editor-in-chief of the Gender, Technology, and Development journal – a Q1 journal published by Taylor & Francis – introduced the delegation to the program’s ongoing efforts and collaborative projects funded by IDRC.
Prof. Paula Banerjee, IDRC Endowed Chair and Director of the CGFD, elaborated on the Center’s mission to address gender gaps in forced migration and displacement, focusing on generating local data and knowledge for global dissemination. She provided an overview of the Center’s achievements, ongoing projects, and collaborations with various stakeholders, emphasizing the importance of addressing these complex issues in South and Southeast Asia.
Prof. Banerjee further highlighted the urgent need for extensive research in the region, especially given the political situation in Myanmar. She called for stronger collaborations with IDRC to expand research initiatives that address forced migration and displacement challenges. She discussed the two future publications proposed by the Centre. The first will be on Gender, Geopolitics, and Forced Migration, and the other on IDPs in South and Southeast Asia. The Centre’s Outreach Officer, Ms. Sristy Sen Gupta, showcased three short documentaries filmed by the interns on the Centre’s activities. This discussion was joined by Prof. Shobhakar Dhakal, Professor of Sustainable Energy Transition, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development, Dr. Malay Pramanik, Assistant Professor of Urban Innovation and Sustainability and Dr. Priya Singh, Post-doctoral Researcher.
The delegation discussed the future of diaspora, protracted migrations, and the evolving role of governance in addressing these challenges. It highlighted gaps in current research and the need for innovative governance approaches to better support migrant populations.
The next session focused on the progress of the IDRC-supported initiative, Toward Gender and Democratic Justice: Support for Capacity Development of Civil Society and Academia in Myanmar. This project, part of the Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar Program (K4DM), is implemented by the GDS program in collaboration with the Gender Equality Network and the Socio-Economic and Gender Resource Institute Myanmar. This discussion was joined by Dr. Joyee Chatterjee, Prof. Kyoko Kusakabe, Ms. Zar Chi Thwe, Coordinator of GenderLab, and the master’s and certificate students funded by IDRC’s K4DM project.
The project aims to build a community of gender scholars to support civil society in Myanmar, enhance research capabilities in gender and democratic justice through graduate training programs, and develop a network of scholars, researchers, and activists. Key highlights include the establishment of GenderLab, a space for dialogue and learning that has engaged over 800 participants. The project also offers scholarships to women human rights defenders, politicians, and civil society members for certificate and master’s degree programs in GDS.
The project will introduce new initiatives, including a talk series on Gender and Transitional Justice and research conferences to empower young Myanmar scholars. Ongoing collaborations with the Karenni State address issues like gender-based violence and women’s security, aiming for a just society in Myanmar. Ms. Ford noted that IDRC applied lessons from AIT’s K4DM project to Afghanistan, highlighting its impact. GDS informed that the GenderLab platform will be replicated in Nepal, showcasing another success of the IDRC project.
The delegation also met with Prof. Nitin Tripathi, Acting Vice President of Academic Affairs, where both parties reaffirmed the importance of continued collaboration between AIT and IDRC to advance research on gender, development, and forced migration in the region.
