The Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLPS) at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU), in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the German Cooperation (GIZ), and the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University (LAU), launched on September 29, 2017, in honor and in memory of late gender studies professor at NDU Dr. Rita Sabat, a gender studies initiative titled, “Gender Based Violence (GBV).”
Background:
The UNFPA and the IWSAW at LAU were commissioned by the GIZ to develop a course on GBV to be taught at universities across Lebanon.
Accordingly, the Department of Government and International Relations (GIR) at the FLPS worked with gender studies professors and experts for almost a year to develop a set of 12 modules, covering various aspects of gender, development, and countering violence in society and the family. The course, which will be piloted at NDU, will lay the foundation for mainstreaming the gender agenda in all seven Faculties at NDU.
Following the keynote addresses by IWSAW Director Lina Abirafeh and UNFPA representative Alexia Nisen, NDU professors and students discussed with a variety of gender studies experts the GBV modules during an afternoon training session. The FLPS will stage the results of the piloting process to the UN in 2018 to help further grow a cooperative relationship with the international community.