SGCI Gender and Inclusivity Initiative, Tanzania:reflections on the journey

Abstract

Khadija Malima (left), Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and Hildegalda Prosper Mushi (right), Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) If the aim of good research is to solve the problems of society, particularly its disadvantaged members and the most disadvantaged people in society tend to be women, why is it that most funding for research goes to male researchers? This question was posed in this interview by Khadija and Hildegalda, members of the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) change team who participated in the Gender Action Learning process led by Gender at Work. According to Khadija, having good national research and gender policies is not enough: more interaction with grassroots communities is needed to ensure that research is informed from the bottom up, by those who live with pressing challenges. "We have the policies, we have a president who is a woman, but it is not good enough. There are so many other things. There's a cultur... and we know behaviour change is very complicated." According to Hildegalda, the peer learning process of the G&I has provided participants with tools to reflect and to question your own position, but also to ask "tough questions" as a council about how it is running its affairs. "A seed has been planted and we are not going to let it die."