The School of Health Sciences gets set to introduce new Gender-Based Violence modules

By MUBS Communications Dept., 2000-2021.

 

The School of Health Sciences (SHS) at the Modern University for Business & Science (MUBS), 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 October 5th, 2017, the first workshop intended to enhance the national capacity to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Lebanon by Capacity Development for Academic Institutions in Lebanon.

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.  For the past year, the Department of Government and International Relations (GIR) at the Faculty of Literature & Political Studies (FLPS) worked with gender studies professors and experts to develop a set of 12 modules, covering various aspects of gender, development, and countering violence in society and the family. MUBS will integrate the course modules in the Public Health curriculum as of academic year 2018-2019, in foresight as the Ministry of Higher Education is expected to impose a Gender/ GBV course in all universities. And, as many organizations seek Gender and GBV management skills in job candidates, the course modules will be highly beneficial for MUBS Public Health graduates.

Several MUBS instructors, who will be teaching the GBV modules, attended the workshop. Following the keynote addressed by IWSAW Projects Coordinator Mr. Jacob Shaap and UNFPA GVB Coordinator Ms. Noushig Etyemezian, the first six modules were presented by the GBV curriculum committee members: Dr. Connie Christiansen (Associate Professor at IWSAW), Dr. Jennifer Skulte Ouaiss (Assistant Professor at the Political Science & International Affairs at LAU), and Mrs. Rania Al-Jazairi (First Social Affairs Officer, ESCWA).  The workshop was followed by a discussion and experience sharing between the MUBS instructors and the Committee on a variety of gender studies covered during the afternoon workshop session.