Between 5-13 January 2020, CGDS Director Dr. Choman Hardi and CGDS Regional Hub Manager Mr. Rasti Ranj, accompanied by Ms. Shokhan Ahmed, head of WOLA, one of the CGDS’s partners within the project, participated in the first Convention of the Gender, Justice and Security Hub which took place in Sri Lanka under the title of ‘Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16 through the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Progress and Challenges.
The Sri Lanka convention was the first of many upcoming conventions that are part of the Hub. They include a variety of activities promoting and facilitating knowledge exchange, research development, and co-authorship amongst Hub members, Hub Co-Investigators and Project Partners. This is a part of the latest CGDS five-year, £896,000 research project focusing on supporting interdisciplinary research hubs around the world working towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The focus of the convention was on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 5 on gender equality, SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions, and the UN Women, Peace and Security agenda. The conventions focus on interrogation of key research themes, presentation and discussion of research findings from Hub projects, networking and partnership building both in and outside the hub, and the focus on influencing policy and institutions.