Introduction

Welcome to the website of the African Gender Institute (AGI) located on Middle Campus at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Since inception, the AGI has been instrumental in providing high quality scholarship in the interdisciplinary field of Gender and Women's Studies (GWS) particularly in the African context. Guided by some of the best academics and activists in the field, the Institute continues to offer highly competitive undergraduate and postgraduate courses in GWS. Courses on offer include (but are not restricted to): Understanding Gender, Gender and Development, The Politics of Gendered knowledge, Gender and Violence and Gender Research Methodologies.

In addition to teaching and research, the African Gender Institute has several projects running that complement the teaching of GWS in tertiary institutions throughout the African continent. Some of Institutes' projects include the publication of the only continental and Afrocentric bi-annual journal (the Feminist Africa journal) and the hosting of a resource-rich online portal for teaching GWS in Africa (GWS Africa). These and other ongoing donor-funded projects have been instrumental in the establishment of vibrant networks and partnerships of like-minded scholars and activists throughout the continent and beyond.

Thus, the broad goals of the African Gender Institute are to:

• develop theoretical and practical understandings of gender and its importance in the process of social transformation in Africa
• develop teaching and research in gender studies so as to advance the pursuit of intellectual excellence at the University of Cape Town and other African educational institutions
• facilitate linkages between intellectuals, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners working towards the attainment of gender equity in Africa
• strengthen the intellectual and leadership capacity of those working towards the attainment of gender equity in Africa
• build a proactive and responsive knowledge and information base