Computing & IS
Gender Mainstreaming Directorate to set up Day-Care Centres & Men’s Spaces
Most of the conversation in the public tends to portray a picture that when we talk about gender, gender equality and gender mainstreaming, it is about women and girls.
Officials from Makerere University Gender Mainstreaming Directorate observed that, there is a kind of a divide that exists between men and women that need to breach by creating men’s spaces to specifically build what they termed as male allies.
Strategies proposed involve college identification of male champions who passionately love gender equality and conversations around gender to organize, male-only dialogues and discuss men and boys issues and, to prepare male students by grooming them as ideal men through the different male talks.
The Gender Mainstreaming Directorate (GMD) is currently carrying out college tours to solicit support to create men’s spaces as a forum for involving men and boys to speak for gender equality and also deal with issues that affect men and boys in the university.
A team from the Gender Mainstreaming unit led by Director represented by Ms. Susan Mbabazi was on 23rd May 2023 holding a consultative meeting with staff and management of the College of Computing and Information Sciences on the university Gender Mainstreaming initiatives to solicit support to advance the initiatives.
The team also tabled a proposal for the creation of Day-Care centres for nursing mothers and fathers both centrally and at college levels.
The Senior Gender Officer in the Directorate Mr. Eric Tumwesigye said the male allies for gender equality are men that have been identified and trained to enhance conversations for gender equality. In any space in the university where issues of gender equality are discussed, these men will be the mouthpieces that are going to speak for gender.
“But also, we need men’s spaces to discuss men’s issues. One of the things we have neglected is the fact that men have issues as men, and the issues that come from the way they have been nurtured and brought up”, He said
Tumwesigye contends that society is struggling with drugs and many other crimes because of the traditions believed in and the way men and boys are brought up. Men he says, need to sit as men, understand their issues and how they can be resolved.
“Boys are dropping out of colleges and schools because of the way they have been brought up. They are in betting, chewing tuition to take care of their girlfriends and want to keep this high life profiles they cannot sustain. The gender-based violence between the boyfriends and the girlfriends, the sexual harassment issues are because of the way men are brought up”, Tumwesigye explained
Tumwesigye emphasised the need for men to come out and appreciate that the tradition is a privilege to them, and that, in most cases, disadvantages women and girls and, sometimes that kind of entitlement leads men in bad spots very difficult to recover.
Creation of Day-Care centres at Makerere University
The gender officer asserts that it is now a global conversation beyond Makerere and that it is not enough to discuss issues of increasing women faculty and women in leadership positions. The questions of domestic care have a lot to do with women’s ability to succeed in other areas.
The Gender Mainstreaming Directorate wants to see that women and girls with babies who join the university as staff and students do not withdraw from being productive because they have to take care of the baby at home.
Mr. Tumwesigye said, the directorate has had conversations with Norwegians and colleagues from the School of Public Health and would like the centre and colleges to identify administrative units turned into Day-Care centres where staff and students can bring their babies, and take care of them.
“We want to discuss and get the standard of what it would take so that we help our colleagues who have babies to be able to come with them in these facilities with someone to take care of them. So when you bring your baby, you have registered your baby and you know that when you come back you will find them here. But in case someone wants to come with a maid, we don’t encourage it in public service”, Tumwesigye added
Tumwesigye said the plan is to have adult caretakers trained and have basic structures such as a room, beddings and play centres within these day-care centres.
The Day-Care centres for Mothers and Nursing fathers
Most people are mistaken that babies are for mothers. Makerere’s daycare centres will also take care of nursing men.
“We have men who have babies, maybe their mothers are on study leaves, their mothers are gone, their mothers went for other things, maybe even have the mother in the house, but she is occupied and it is the father taking care of the baby.
So instead of the father driving back and forth to check on this baby, he will just come from home with your baby, place them in the daycare centre and in the evening go home with the baby.” Tumwesigye said adding that students will also be catered for.
” Students should also have space in the day-care centres at colleges. We should encourage them because if they don’t bring these babies, it is going to affect how they concentrate in the library and in the lecture room because they have a babies to run after”, Tumwesigye argues
The Directorate calls upon all colleges to identify and allocate spaces to Day -Care centres and also integrate budgets for these centres within their annual plans. These budgets he said, can also stem from the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate but decentralised in the colleges.
Speaking on behalf of the Director, Gender Mainstreaming Directorate, Ms. Susan Mbabazi, said the team was in the college to consult about how the directorate can implement the gender mainstreaming programs of the University together.
“We are implementing the Gender Policy, and regulations against sexual harassment. We need the support of each one of the stakeholders of this university. We are moving around colleges to talk to the college management, but also the college membership about what we are doing and about the support that we shall need from them,” Mbabazi said.
At the moment, Mbabazi explained that the directorate was collecting data on the situation analysis of gender mainstreaming initiatives in the university and seeking the support of the colleges to update the statistics.
Statistics sought include; the gender representation of men and women as staff in leadership and academic positions, university committees and as students.
Ms. Mbabazi commended the College of Computing and Information Sciences for promoting gender in research and, in terms of gender representation of staff and the many upcoming women.
“We are so excited that the level of associate professor is 50-50% male and women. We have been informed that the general representation of women and students is good and we want to see how to get this model and share experiences, especially with other colleges where we think that the numbers of women are still fewer. ” Mbabazi commended.
The Ag. Principal College of Computing and Information Sciences Dr. Peter Nabende called upon all staff to support the university initiatives by reporting gender-related cases pledging management support to the Gender Mainstreaming unit.
Dr. Nabende welcomed the move to create day-care centres to serve students, male and female staff as a means of protecting the innocent babies and mothers who enrol to the university.
” It gives them an opportunity to be comfortable , concentrate and it will enable them to work effectively and to complete their studies. We are fortunate to have these daycare centres for both staff and students, given the fact that all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences of life”. Dr. Nabende said.
The Principal pledged the college management readiness to support the directorate even in areas of technical expertise such as developing Apps to map the gender mainstreaming initiatives in the university.
Carol Kasujja Adii and Ritah Namisango
The excitement was palpable as hundreds of graduands and parents flocked Makerere University Freedom Square for the first session of the colourful graduation ceremony on Monday 13th January 2025.
The Chancellor, Hon. Dr. Crispus Kiyonga will confer degrees and present diplomas to a total of 13,658 graduands during the 75th graduation ceremony of Makerere University that runs until Friday 17th January 2025.
On each day, after the Chancellor has dissolved the congregation, the best researchers, best teachers and excelling students in the company of their parents or guardians proceed to Makerere University Convocation gardens for a luncheon.
The Makerere University Convocation Graduation luncheon brings on board invited staff and alumni as well as keynote speakers from the government, private and business sector to witness the presentation of the Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards to the best University researchers and students.
Some of the dignitaries present for the first luncheon included: The Chancellor-Hon. Dr. Crispus Kiyonga, the Chairperson of Council-Mrs. Lorna Magara, the commencement Speaker-Vice of the University of South Africa, Prof. LenkaBula Puleng, Secretary of the Education Service Commission-Dr. Asuman Lukwago, among others.
Welcoming the dignitaries, the Chairperson of the Convocation, Mr. George Turyamureeba congratulated the best students accompanied by their parents upon this academic milestone, and encouraged them to join the Convocation (the Alumni and Staff association) in order to tap into mentorship opportunities as well as professional networks.
The day one of the 75th Graduation Ceremony featured graduates from the College of Education and External Studies, College of Computing and Information Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity, and the School of Law. The best 30 students per College are invited to the University Convocation with their parents to celebrate their academic success, and to listen to inspirational speeches from personalities who are acknowledged for utilizing their knowledge, skills, professions or talent to cause a positive difference in the lives of other people.
In his earlier address to the congregation in the Freedom Square, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, stated that the meritorious award presented to researchers was in recognition of their prolific publication record and outstanding contribution to Makerere University’s scholarly excellence.
This being his maiden graduation ceremony as Chancellor of Makerere University, the Vice Chancellor congratulated Hon. Dr. Crispus Kiyonga, an alumnus of Makerere University upon his appointment and installation by H.E President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Prof. Nawangwe reiterated the readiness of the University Council and Management to implement the good ideas and strategies aimed at scaling Makerere University to greater heights.
Making reference to the commencement speech delivered by Prof. LenkBula Puleng, Prof. Nawangwe emphasized the need for graduates to always remember the speaker’s focus on what should be done to emancipate Africa from poverty.
Prof. Nawangwe thus called upon all the researchers who were recognized to use the awards as an inspiration to carry out more research that addresses the needs of the African continent.
During the event, the Chancellor, Hon. Dr. Crispus Kiyonga, noted that Africa is still trapped in poverty and lags behind because the continent is not integrated.
According to Dr. Kiyonga, although Africa lags behind, African Universities have to collaborate to address continent-wide challenges, enhance research capacity, foster knowledge sharing, and ultimately contribute more effectively to the development of Africa by tackling issues such as poverty.
Chancellor Kiyonga rallied universities in Africa to intensify collaborations in order to spur research and development.
“Makerere University researchers need to know what is happening in the University of South Africa, check out how they teach and exchange staff and students. If we get together as Universities, we will move fast,” Hon. Dr. Kiyonga noted.
The Chancellor equally called upon the graduates to be innovative and find solutions to address societal challenges. He reminded the graduates that people would judge them by asking what they did during their time.
“Our children are going abroad for work; this is a curse. If most of them leave, who will develop the Nation? Let us come together because the future of Africa is embedded in integration,” Hon. Dr. Kiyonga said.
To ensure that the message on integration of Africa remains on the agenda, Hon. Dr. Kiyonga informed the University leadership, staff, alumni and invited guests, that when provided with platforms to speak, he will always advocate for the integration of Africa.
“As the Makerere University Convocation brings us together, we must uphold the slogan, ‘We build for the future’ not just for Makerere’s future, or Uganda’s future, but for Africa’s future,” Dr. Kiyonga said.
Inspired by the good initiatives of the Makerere University Convocation headed by Mr. George Turyamureeba, Hon. Dr. Kiyonga-a 1978 graduate of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery of Makerere University pledged to pay all his convocation dues.
Presenting the keynote speech, Dr. Asuman Lukwago-Secretary of the Education Service Commission congratulated all the graduates on their academic achievements. Dr. Lukwago called upon all fresh graduates to live responsibly so as to achieve their full potential.
Sharing his personal experience on taking on unpaid employment after completing his studies at the Medical school, Dr. Lukwago urged the graduates who have accumulated knowledge, not to remain idle as they wait for employment.
“Many of you are focusing on looking for payment and it is true you need to be paid, but suppose you get a non-paid employment? My first assignment was on a volunteer basis, but my Professor encouraged me to take it on. He said: ‘Among the people whom you will be teaching will be sons and daughters of Ministers. If you teach them well, they will recommend you’ and that is how my name went into boardrooms,” Dr Lukwago narrated.
He encouraged the graduates to focus on their future noting that life feels long and hard when someone is suffering but is short and enjoyable when one achieves his or her target.
“You have been good students at the University level, but you have to be good citizens who can contribute to the growth of our Country’s economy. Analyze and unpack the four-acre model, a modern type of farming,” Dr Lukwago guided.
The Four-Acre Model advocates for diversified farming, where farmers allocate one acre to coffee, another to fruits, the third to pasture for dairy, and the fourth to food crops.
Why the convocation is important:
The Chairperson of Makerere University Convocation, Mr. George Turyamureeba explained that the association brings on board alumni and staff of Makerere University.
The mission of the convocation is to mobilise members and well-wishers to support the welfare and progress of Makerere University and to participate in the enhancement and improvement of intellectual and material wellbeing of the university community.
Mr. Turyamureeba pointed out that for one to qualify as a Member of Makerere University convocation, he or she pays an annual subscription of UGX 50,000/=. A member of the Makerere University Convocation benefits in form of: Career Development and Job opportunities, Alumni networking and social capital, Career guidance and mentorship programs, Financial support and scholarships.
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