Shirley Randell

Gender and Learning in Rwanda Shirley Randell

An account of the establishment of an innovative and culture-shifting approach to leading and managing cultural change in Rwanda, following the devastating Genocide of 1994.




This book shows how a feminist approach to education in an innovative Master's program in Gender, Culture and Development at the Kigali Institute of Education fostered a critical approach to the development of an inclusive society and supported the role of women as leaders in Rwanda.




The book contains the scholarly reflections of the academics invited to implement and teach the program from 2011, and the accounts and recollections of the first students to undertake the course.



This book presents an unparalleled mix of aspiration and achievement, of feminist theory and practice. It does not claim to be complete or final, nor is it a snapshot of a single point in time. It falls into two parts. One part containing scholarly chapters written academics involved in developing and teaching in the innovative Master's program in Gender, Culture and development offered from 2011 at the Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda. The second part contains statements written by students in the first cohort, most of which have been revised and updated. All the contributions are informed by a set of common experiences, but each writer presents her (or his) own perspective. This is most clearly evident in the short chapters written by the women who brought their diverse scholarly backgrounds together in their passion for the scholarly development of other women and men, in an empowering, feminist, educational experience. This mix of experiences and the diversity of writings make the book a challenging read and an invaluable resource for anyone interested in research-based approaches to social change, the weaving of personal experience into scholarly reflections, and in insights into leaders in working towards gender equality, a policy area which affects social relationships throughout a society, including at the most intimate level.