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Advanced Human Rights Course: Women's Rights in Africa

About the course

The course provides a balance between theory and practical advocacy skills useful for practitioners from across the continent working in areas relating to women's rights.

The course examines the international and regional human rights frameworks that guarantee the human rights of women and girls in Africa, with a particular focus on the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Maputo Protocol). The course provides an opportunity to critically evaluate the potential of these human rights frameworks to challenge obstacles undermining the effective protection of women's rights in Africa.

The course components include:

• An introduction to international, regional and subregional frameworks on the human rights of women and girls.
• A critical examination of the concept of gender equality and the approaches to understanding gender equality and gender justice, including feminism and intersectionality.
• Explore questions of cultural relativism, religion and gender norms in advancing women's rights
• Practical ideas on using the law and human rights principles in promoting women's rights
• Reflect on key elements of advocacy and lobby planning and share information on positive interventions.

Participants

This course is designed for governmental officials, managers and staff of civil society organisations, judges and magistrates, legal practitioners, as well as academics from universities in Africa. Participants from all over the world are, nevertheless, welcome to apply. Masters and doctoral students wishing to deepen their knowledge or expertise in a particular area of relevance to their study or research may also apply. All lectures and materials are in English, and proficiency in English is required to attend these courses.

Course fees

This year's course will be held in a hybrid format. There will be both physical and online attendance.

• Online: $150 USD
• In person: $250 USD

Payment

The course fee payment details are as follows:

• Account name: University of Pretoria
• Bank: ABSA Bank
• Account number: (not specified)
• Branch code: (not specified)
• Swift code: ABSAZAJJ

Partial scholarships

Participants wishing to attend physically are required to write a short motivation why they wish to attend the course physically. A limited number of partial scholarships are available. These partial scholarships are awarded on a very competitive basis.

Application procedure

Documents to be submitted:

• Curriculum Vitae (short CV in PDF or Word document, maximum 3 pages, maximum 10 MB in file size)
• One Letter of Recommendation (PDF or Word document, maximum of 10 MB in file size)
• Academic Records (students only) (combined in one PDF or Word document, maximum 10 MB in file size)

Application deadline

Applications closed on 26 May 2025.

Overview of previous courses

The course has been held in previous years, with the following highlights:

• 2021: Women's Rights Unit hosts hybrid course on Women's Rights in Africa
• 2020: Centre presents annual course on the promotion and protection of women's rights in Africa
• 2019: The Centre for Human Rights hosted the Advanced Human Rights Course on Women's Rights in Africa from 25 – 29 March 2019.
• 2018: The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria held a one-week intensive short course on Women's Rights in Africa from 26 to 29 March 2018.

Partner institution

The Women's Rights Unit, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria is the partner institution for this course.