The Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC) was established at Brandeis University to undertake research and initiate high quality cross-disciplinary projects. A community of researchers work in the areas of humanities, social sciences, and art with particular relevance to gender.
Under WSRC’s Scholars Program umbrella, the Gender and Development Initiatives (GaIDI) was launched with the idea of exploring various dimensions of Gender and International Development. Its goal is to help shape and implement activities in the International Development and Gender domain, plus networking and boosting visibility. Research, art and activism provide the base for its involvement in developing countries.
GaIDI has established collaborations and affiliation with other Brandeis portfolios, for example, with the Gender Working Group (GWG) of the Sustainable International Development Program (SID) at the Heller School and with the Anthropology Department, in efforts to mainstream gender across disciplines.
The policy aspects of GaIDI’s partnership with Brandeis and beyond is a priority. Its main goals have been to:
- maximise synergy and intellectual support between the research and creative projects/initiatives of WSRC Scholars and others on the Brandeis campus and beyond who are working in the international development arena
- proactively help shape and implement evolving policy and select activities of the Scholars Program in the Gender and International Development domain
- increase involvement of WSRC’s Scholars Program in the international development domain.