Women's, Children's and Nature's Rights in Environmental Governance (WCNREG)

About the Project

The project Women’s Children’s and Nature’s Right in Environmental Governance was in 2021 awarded funding to develop a regional Southern and Eastern African Master and PhD program at the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi. The program, which focuses on environmental governance at international, national and local level cuts across legal areas like environmental law, natural resource law, climate law, human rights, women’s law and child law. To study environmental governance, the program combines legal and empirical methods and sources. The student dissertations shall be based on fieldwork.

The new master program at the Faculty of Law in Nairobi is a continuation of the long lasting cooperation in teaching and research between the partner countries under the auspices of the Southern and Eastern Regional Center in Women's Law (SEARCWL ) at the University of Zimbabwe, particularly regarding women, human rights and natural resources such as land and water.

The program, which is based at the Faculty of Law in Nairobi is led by Dr. Sarah Kinyanjui and  Dr. Collins Odote. Participants at the Department of Public and International Law are professor Anne Hellum (program leader), professor Christina Voigt and professor Kirsten Sandberg.

Aim

The overall aim of the WCNREG is to develop a Master og PhD program that set out to strengthen the UN sustainable development goals. It seeks to contribute to:

• Produce a qualified academic/public/private workforce in the intersecting fields of natural resource and climate change law and of women's, children's, nature's rights in environmental governance.
• Develop legal knowledge that responds to the SDGs in the program’s thematic fields.
• Develop practice based legal research that will contribute to evidence-based policies in the project’s thematic area.
• Enhance gender equality and inclusion of candidates with different social and ethnic background in the program area.

Funding

The project is funded by NORADs NORHED II-program with 20 million NOK from 2021-2026.

Cooperation

The project is carried out in close cooperation between the University of Oslo and the University of Nairobi, University of Malawi and the Southern and Eastern Regional Center in Women’s Law (SEARCWL) at the University of Zimbabwe.

• The Faculty of Law at UiO's research group Welfare Rights and Discrimination (VERDI) (uio.no)
• The Faculty of Law at UiO's Research group Global Challenges to Human Rights Law, Policy, and Practice

Organization and leadership

• Project leader at the Faculty of Law,  University of Oslo  Oslo: Professor Anne Hellum
• Leaders of the Master and PhD program at the Faculty of Law,  University of Nairobi: Dr. Sarah Kinyanjui and Dr. Collins Odote
• Program coordinator at Chancellor College, Malawi: Dr, Ngcimezile Mbano-Mweso
• Program coordinator at SEARCWL, University of Zimbabwe: Dr. Rosalie Katsande

Events

2023:

• 2023: Master Course start
  The new master program Women’s Children’s and Nature’s Rights in Environmental Governance starts 5 October 2023.
  You find the program for the Introduction here. Read the welcome speech here.

• Core courses 1st year:

  • First semester:

    • Applied Research Methodology in Women, Children and Nature Rights in Environmental Governance (outline here)

    • Women rights in Environmental Governance (outline here)

    • Nature’s Rights in Environmental Governance (outline here)

    • Environmental Governance (outline here)

  • Second semester:

    • Children’s Rights in Environmental Governance

    • Justice for Women, Children and Nature

• Elective courses 1st year second semester:

  • Indigenous Knowledge and Customary Practices in Environmental Governance

  • Urbanization for Sustainability

  • Marine and Ocean Governance

  • Sustainable Biodiversity and Equality

  • Soil and Land Governance

• Core courses 2nd year 

  • First semester:

    • ​​​​​​​Seminars in Research Design

  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Second semester:

    • Research Project

• Elective courses 2nd year first semester:

  • Scientific Knowledge for Transformative Policy Advocacy

  • Disaster and Risk Management Policies and Practices

  • Livelihoods and Climate Change

  • One Health Governance

  • Corporate Responsibility and Environmental Governance

• In March 2023 the Faculty of Law at the University of  Nairobi submitted Regulations and Syllabus for the Degree in Master of Arts in Women, Children and Nature Rights in Environmental Governance to the University of Nairobi for approval. The regulations and syllabus was approved by the University Board in June the same year. Regulations and syllabus.

• Faculty of Law, Ehancellor College, arranged a Partner's workshop and PhD seminar 26th June - 30th June. Program.
• From  20th to 25th March the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo hosted a planning seminar for WCNREG Master program with focus on curriculum development and online teaching methods with inputs from the Norwegian Center of Human Rights the Center for Exellency in Legal Education (CELL). Program.
• 35 master scholarships in the WCNREG program for participants from Malawi, Kenya and Zimbabwe was awarded in June. 

2022:

• Curriculum development was the core activity in 2022.
• Virtual Kick Off Partner Meeting January 22nd-23rd. Program.
• Curriculum Design Workshop April 4th – April 8th 2022 at the Southern and Eastern Regional Center in Women’s Law (SEARCWL) University of Zimbabwe. Program.
• Curriculum Design Workshop II Program July 19th – July 21st, University of Nairobi. Program.
• Regional Stakeholder meeting. United Nations Environment Programme (Nairobi) and University of Nairobi Faculty of Law Women's, Children's and Nature Rights in Environmental Governance (WCNREG) meeting, Nairobi 21st July 2022. Program.

• WCNREG was presented and discussed at the 2022 Oslo International Environmental Law Conference “The Transformative Power of Law: Addressing Global Environmental  Challenges” Arranged by IUCN and University of Oslo, Faculty of Law 3-6 October. Presentation.

• Zimbabwe's WCNREGs team held a stakeholder workshop on  WCNREG  14 October 2022 in Harare. Programme, presentation 1, presentation 2.

• Malawi's WCNREGs team held a stakeholder workshop 15 November in Blantyre. Report.

2021:

• The work in 2021 focused on administrative matters and the building of a new academic leadership team at the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi.