Ancilla Nyirenda
On 18-19 June 2013, the Centre for Defence and Security Management (CDSM) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted a workshop aimed at reviewing the gender components of academic programmes on defence and security offered by members of the Southern African Defence and Security Management (SADSEM) network. It was the second in a series of three workshops organised in collaboration with DCAF as part of an agreement to support security sector capacity building in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The previous workshop was held in Botswana in May 2012 and the subsequent one in Malawi in August 2013. It was attended by representatives of SADSEM member institutions in nine countries, DCAF and academics and other experts on gender and defence/security training and education in southern Africa.
More specifically, the workshop was aimed at considering the draft findings of a DCAF gender curriculum review of the University of the Witwatersrandâs Postgraduate Diploma in Management in the Field of Security, and the University of Namibiaâs Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic and Security Studies. It also provided an opportunity to gain and share knowledge on the integration of gender into academic programmes on security and defence and exchanging lessons learnt about incorporating gender into SADSEMâs education and training programmes.
Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Kristin Valasek