ACFODE Inter-Institutional Debate Competitions on again!

ACFODE inter-institutional debates are on again, this time round in the Northern part of the country.

Last week (22nd – 28th April 2012), ACFODE staff were in the north training students from Gulu University, Unyama National Teachers’ College (Gulu), Uganda Christian Institute for Professional Development (Lira), Loro Primary Teachers’College (Oyam), and Florence Nightingale Nursing School (Apac) about gender and development, and on the British Parliamentary debate format that will be used by the debaters during the tournament.

The trainings were characterised with a lot of enthusiasm and willingness to learn on the part of the students.

It was however apparent that the students had little knowledge about many gender concepts .For instance most of the students defined gender as the “biological difference between women and men.” In one of the Universities, the Gender Minister disclosed that despite holding the post, she was not well versed with the gender issue.

In order to fill this gap therefore, the first session of the training focused on common gender concepts for example; sex, gender roles, gender bias, gender discrimination, and gender needs among others. Also, participants were introduced to gender sensitive policies like Affirmative Action.

It’s was during the second session of the trainings that students were introduced to the British Parliamentary Format; which they found rather interesting. In some of the institutions for instance Gulu University, some of the students were already familiar with the format and this made work a little less hectic for the trainers.

This time round, turn up of female participants was generally promising.

After the training, students were cautioned to continue reading and doing research about gender and its relationship with development. In this regard, each institution was given a good number of ICE materials that would help inform the students.

The tournament is slated for the 12th and 13th of May 2012 at Acholi Inn in Gulu.

Daphine Agaba
Programs Assistant
Human Rights & Governance Department
Action For Development
Email: agabad@acfode.org