In December 2021, Dr. Choman Hardi was approached by the Peace and Freedom Organization to design a syllabus for a gender and media course, in consultation with academics in the field. The fourfold process involved sharing resources in a workshop in Erbil, designing a draft of the syllabus, finalizing it with feedback from relevant stakeholders, and presenting the final product to the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) in Erbil.
As a first step, Dr. Choman facilitated a session in a workshop on 27 December 2021. The workshop, which was organized by Peace and Freedom Organization with support from Internews, began with Mr. Hardawan Mahmud presenting the findings of an assessment of journalism instructors’ views on gender. This was followed by Dr. Choman’s presentation of academic texts that could be included in the gender and media course, drawing on CGDS’s projects, funded by the European Union and UNFPA.
After obtaining feedback from the workshop participants, Dr. Choman then prepared the syllabus, which consists of theoretical frameworks and practical guidelines for journalists working on gender related issues. On 5 January 2022, Dr. Choman presented the syllabus in a Zoom discussion to heads of journalism departments, academics, and gender experts. This meeting was coordinated by the Peace and Freedom Organization.
On 24 January 2022 a delegation from the Peace and Freedom organization and Dr. Choman Hardi presented the finalized syllabus to MoHE. Dr. Khatab Ahmad, Director of the Department of Studying, Planning, and Follow-up, welcomed the initiative to implement such a course. Dr. Khatab declared that the syllabus will be discussed by the Ministry's Council and, following approval, a formal letter will be sent to the KRG universities and institutes to add the gender course to the programs of media departments. This is a great achievement which utilizes mother tongue resources produced by CGDS with support from the EU and the UNFPA; it also helps implement the groundbreaking decree of August 2018 by MoHE, aimed to mandate gender studies.
Image description: There are three photos. One shows a standing woman with wavy dark hair, speaking into a microphone with a power point projected behind her. In the second, twelve people—eleven with their faces visible—sit at a long table with a red table covering. There are seven men and five women. All have solemn, attentive expressions. In front of each person are papers, pens, and a bottle of water. They are listening to the speaker in the first picture. The final photo shows four smiling people—two men and two women—seated in an office. Left to right, one man (representative of the Ministry of Higher Education) is behind a desk; two women sit on a sofa, and one man sits on an armchair. All four people are looking at the camera.