The Gender and Diversity Centre at the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University (DHLTU) is to develop an inclusive culture where individuals will feel able to be themselves and thrive.
Professor Hamidatu S. Darimani, Director at the Centre, said inclusion was a choice that needed to be consciously cultivated and reinforced to become part of the University culture.
This requires an ongoing focus challenging non-inclusive behaviours and letting others feel comfortable to also change those behaviours.
She said the Management of the University would encourage more women and girls into science-based programmes, leadership roles and in gender and diversity activities for national development.
Professor Darimani said this during the inauguration of the Centre to advance gender and diversity issues and committed to championing gender and diversity balance at the University.
She identified low female enrolment in the University programmes, especially in Science, Technology, English and Mathematics (STEM) programmes, unfriendly environment for the differently able people, and disproportionate representation of females in leadership positions, as some of the key gender and diversity issues in the institution.
“We know that advancing gender and diversity and wider inclusion requires a cultural change and that this takes time, but we can say that we have started the journey and are well down the road”, she said.
Dr Constance Awinpoka Akurugu, a Lecturer and Gender Activist at the SDD-UBIDS, in a keynote speech, said gender and diversity issues had become central workplace issues across the globe, which needed collective efforts towards achieving greater inclusivity and leaving no one behind.
She encouraged the authorities of the Centre to support the generation equality campaign and make their voices heard to push for the full implementation of the Affirmative Action Bill in the country.
She pleaded with management of the University to resource the centre and come out with gender and diversity policy to reach out to the communities within the region and beyond for others to acquire skills to benefit a larger society.
Professor Marco Turco, Regional Coordinator and Adviser of German Cooperation for International Development (GIZ), said gender and diversity issues must not be considered as European agenda but to be seen as a global agenda, and all must collaborate and work together to address its challenges.
