MASTER OF SCIENCE IN GENDER SOCIAL SYSTEMS & DEVELOPMENT (MGD)
| Module Code | Module Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MGD503 | Gender, Environment, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Reduction | Gender is relevant in determining access and control of natural resources, transforming the environment and achieving sustainable development. Students are taught to apply various theories including liberal feminism, eco-feminism, post-colonial theories and intersectional ecological approaches to analyse and reshape the discourse on environmental and climate change disasters. The module seeks to expose to policy makers and help them appreciate certain problematic tendencies such as regarding women as simply being at risk, and men as reckless in mitigation and adaptation policies. The module brings to the fore issues on climate justice; climate movements and the gender dynamics embedded in them so that students as future technocrats can be able to engage with their work. Finally, the module offers knowledge on climate change governance and the disaster risk reduction architecture, to ensure students have policy analysis skills to reshape the field. |
| MSSA500 | Advanced Anthropological & Sociological Theory | This module offers students the opportunity to pursue their interests in contemporary anthropological and sociological theory at an advanced level and examines cognate issues in parallel for the two disciplines of Social Anthropology and Sociology. In this way we hope students will appreciate the commonalities and the differences in approaches between these two disciplines. The module encourages students to use social theory in order to think creatively, constructively and critically about the ways in which the social and political world is changing today. By the end of the module, students should have acquired the ability to discuss critically central aspects of anthropological and sociological theory and be able to make use of such knowledge in the construction of contemporary anthropological and sociological problems. |
| MGD500 | Re-thinking Gender theories & Politics of Knowledge | The module is conceptual and theoretical in nature. The core aim is to provide feminist, masculinity and gender alternative theories in industrialization, development and innovation especially in Zimbabwe. It imparts critical analysis skills for students to engage with debates and critiques within conventional gender studies as well as how the various debates encourage and, in some cases, impede activism and social change. The module allows students to provide a gender critique of the historical and contemporary/existing social science knowledge and practices and how this knowledge has failed to inform meaningful gender responsive policies and interventions. Students will be able to provide relevant ministries with critical information and skills on gender mainstreaming. |
| MSSRM501 |
Advanced Social Science Research Methods (Faculty Wide Module) |
The module aims to provide advanced skills in research methods for graduate students. It enhances postgraduate students’ knowledge and skills for conducting, analysing and interpreting research in the field of sociology, anthropology and gender studies. The module focuses upon both qualitative and quantitative techniques and the knowledge gained, will be useful for conducting research and as tools for professional practice. The module will also equip learners with the use of digital technologies in data collection, processing, analysis and management. Students to conduct gender sensitive research for the relevant government institutions, UN agencies, NGOs and communities to inform gender policies and programming. |
| MIDSB501 |
Information, Digital Skills for Postgraduate (University Wide |
The module introduces students to the use of information technologies and their application in academic research. |
| MSSA504 | Social Development, Social Policy and Administration | This module unpacks recent scholarship that critically reframes the relationship between social policy, understood broadly as those policies designed to address and alleviate social problems with a view to promoting human welfare and social development, and the diverse development challenges faced by the global South. Students will be able to contribute to how social policies might be designed and implemented, and by whom, to address poverty and inequality, and thereby achieve more positive development outcomes. At the end of the module students will contribute to models and frameworks of Social Policy relevant to the local context and beyond |
| MGD506 | Sexuality, Culture and Society | This module draws on an interdisciplinary approach spanning the humanities, social, natural and physical sciences. Gender, culture and sexuality studies aim to challenge a number of traditional academic and cultural understanding of issues on human sexuality by looking at how knowledge, history, policies and norms are produced shaped and governed. Furthermore, the module enables students to engage critically with a set of thematic areas that have an enduring, albeit changing, place within the field of sexuality which are also key sites of regulation and transgression of gender, sexuality intersecting axes of difference. It also gives an appreciation of discourses centred on reproductive health, sexual rights, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights which are topical issues among various policy makers/stakeholders in this contemporary world. The module is relevant because it attends to basic concepts and theoretical perspectives paying attention to understanding sexuality in the political, cultural, and economic context. |
| MGD504 | Gender, Policy Planning and Development Practice | This module takes more of an applied approach to the study of gender and development practice. The module aims to equip students with various tools and approaches to assist them to model and design solutions to and evaluate development policies, planning processes and practices. In the module, students are also taught about gender mainstreaming, its evolution, pitfalls and current debates. Students will be taught how to develop tools to collect gender disaggregated data and conduct gender analysis in gender empowerment projects/interventions. The module equips students with knowledge to develop gender indicators to monitor and evaluate the impacts of development programmes on different social groups. Gender budgeting is also a critical component of the module. |
| MGD505 | Gender and Power Relations in Organisations | The module seeks to provide knowledge and skills that enable students to interrogate the notion of gender equality and leadership in organisations/workplaces. It specifically tackles the root causes of gender inequalities in positions of power and authority; and the consequences of gender inequality on economic development. This module is relevant as issues of equality and affirmative action are increasingly debated as part of gender empowerment in Agenda 2030. It is also important to look at how individuals would benefit from a more gender equitable organisations. Ultimately, the module will provide students with an analytical framework to understand the mechanisms that generate gaps in gender equality in positions of authority and leadership and explore interventions to close these gaps |
| MGD570 | Dissertation | A dissertation between 20000– 25000 words within six months is compulsory. The dissertation shall be submitted at the end of 18 months or the third semester. Topics for the dissertation will be organised around various thematic areas and should respond to current problems facing the nation. |
