CEDAW 2017

WHRI CEDAW for Change Institute focuses on developing a practical understanding of CEDAW (Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) as a living framework for women’s human rights.  The course is activist/scholar in orientation, looking at how CEDAW can be used as an analytical framework and a practical tool for advancing feminist advocacy, and the role and importance of CEDAW within the context of transnational feminist worganising.  The role of civil society, including activists and scholars, will be emphasised.

Directed by Costa Rican feminist jurist and member of the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women, Alda Facio, the programme offers feminist activist-scholar-oriented training on CEDAW. The Programme started at the University of Toronto and was launched in 2004 in North/South America and in Europe in 2017.

This initiative grows from an innovative cross-regional and cross-movement partnership bringing together a coalition of organizations, academic institutions and governmental bodies and their networks engaging in feminist initiatives that drive change at the local level and have a long-term investment in the rights and leadership of under-represented groups of women.

This programme is grounded in a common feminist praxis that will activate a fruitful collaboration and capacity-building to ground theory, methodologies and practice in the dynamic responses to empower women’s leadership and gender equality in their respective countries and regions.

In September 2017 the ‘CEDAW for Change’ Oxford Programme was implemented thanks to the successful partnership of Women’s Solidarity Fund and WHRI. The Programme was hosted by IGS (International Gender Studies Centre) at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford.
CEDAW FOR CHANGE Oxford Programme hosted 26 participants (from 5 continents). The course lasted for 20 weeks including a 5-day residential course in Oxford. The Open Society Foundation (OSF) granted 6 full scholarships from Eurasia region whereas other participants were self-funded.

Watch CEDAW 2017 Video on Youtube