Gender Responsive Opportunities for Women (GROW) in Academia:
Designing responsive interventions to address challenges faced by women in higher education to strengthen their career progression.
Project TImeline
30 April 2025 – 30 April 2026
Project overview
The GROW project aims to achieve several key objectives: stimulating innovative approaches, such as using mentors to address gender inequality in higher and further education institutions in the UK, South Africa, and partner countries; contributing to long-term, sustainable institutional change that promotes gender equality, creates opportunities for women and addresses gender-related biases; supporting initiatives that advance gender equality, particularly in one or more of the four priority themes identified by the British Council as globally relevant; and encouraging cross-disciplinary and international collaboration to build cultural relations and mutual understanding based on shared values.
The project focuses on strengthening pathways into employment and leadership development.To achieve these objectives – the project has strategic partners both in South Africa (SA) and the UK – these collaborations will create pathways to ensuring the sustainability of the project beyond its set timeline. Various training interventions in the form of webinars and workshops will be conducted with expert facilitators from both countries. These interventions will include personality assessments, character strengths workshops to improve person-environment fit and soft skill training interventions. Additional workshops will be on how to write grant proposals, research proposals, articles, and supervise postgraduate students as well as identify credible accredited conferences to share research work locally and internationally, to enable women to participate in international mobility opportunities. Subject matter experts will be invited to share their experiences on research, working overseas, international opportunities and how to access different mobility projects. The proposed activities will run through the 12-month period of the project, with a specific activity for each month of the year.
Intended Outcomes
Webinar 1
Webinar 2
Webinar 3
Webinar 4
Webinar 4
Webinar 6
Webinar 7
Webinar 8
Conference
News & Updates
Project Team
Tracey White
Dr Thapelo ChaaCha
Dr Kelebogile Paadi
Dr Olanrewaju Olaoye
Debbie Mtshelwane
Martin Chanza
Lynelle Coxen
Project Partners
Supported by funding from the British Council’s Going Global Partnerships programme.
Going Global Partnerships supports universities, colleges and wider education stakeholders around the world to work together towards stronger, equitable, inclusive, more internationally connected higher education, science and TVET.