Events

ANSER Week  26 – 29 November 2018

The 2018 ANSER week will consist of the following activities:

-Monday 26 November – Joint academic research aimed at improving SRHR in Mozambique: the case of Desafio (Brussels )

-Tuesday 27 November - ANSER public conference ‘Multidisciplinary perspectives on future SRHR priorities’ (Ghent)

-Wednesday 28 November - working meeting on future projects, proposal writing workshop, General Assembly (Ghent)

-Thursday 29 November – workshop on proposals, ad hoc working group meetings, ANSER General Assembly (Ghent)

Workshop and seminar 'Sexual harassment in the Academy'

On Tuesday May 2nd 2017, the Centre for Ethics and Value Inquiry (CEVI), the Network for Sexual Ethics and Politics (INSEP), Ghent University and ANSER jointly organize a one-day workshop on Sexual Harassment in the Academy in Het Pand.

This one-day workshop sought to outline the problem, look at some contemporary policy and practice responses and then explore some strategies for prevention and change.  The workshop resulted in a two day seminar on 19-20 February 2018 in Ghent: Managing, Researching, and Enabling Respectful Sexual Conduct in Higher Education, organised by the International Network for Sexual Ethics and Politics (INSEP) and Ghent University - ANSER.

2017 ANSER conference “Breaking the glass wall between science and policy”

The realms of science and policy keep on claiming that they need each other badly, and the references from one to the other are numerous. However, scientists tend to be frustrated because their recommendations are often neglected and are not implemented, and policy makers complain that scientists seldom come up with clear answers to policy questions and that the main conclusion of far too many research projects is that ‘further research (and money) is needed’. Both worlds seem to be separated by a glass wall: they can look at each other but they don’t hear what is said at the other side and they seldom team up to solve societal problems. We want to open the floor to the aspirations and frustrations of both sides, present some good practices of cooperation between scientists and policy makers, and explore ways to make the glass wall less thick.

 

Presentations of the conference can be found here.

 

Collaboration with UNFPA

Negotiations between ANSER and the SRHR advisor of UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia led to plans for trainings for national policy makers in the field of indicators and monitoring systems, and for the evaluations of national strategies and policies. Follow-up talks with the aim to come to concrete agreements will take place in the course of 2017. 

Review of the national SRH strategy of Moldova

On request of the World Health Organization, ANSER reviewed the draft national SRH strategy of the Republic of Moldova. A number of ANSER members worked together to evaluate the strategy in terms of consistency and coherence, scientific underpinning and alignment with the general SRHR strategy of the WHO Euro Region. The report was submitted in April 2017.

Joint proposal of Mbarara University and Ludwig Maximilians accepted on SRH needs of refugee adolescent girls in Uganda

Two ANSER members - Elizabeth Kemigisha from Mbarara University and Olena Ivanova from Ludwig Maximilians University - who had met during the ANSER meeting in December 2016 in Ghent - jointly wrote a proposal that was accepted for external funding.  The title of the project is 'A situation analysis of sexual and reproductive health needs and access to contraception among refugee adolescent girls in Uganda'.

Summer School 'Reproductive Health and Rights'

A second ‘Summer School Reproductive Health and Rights’, organised by BEMSA and ANSER, took place in Gent from with the cooperation of many renown lecturers. Thirteen students from across the world participated. The multicultural mix of students from very diverse backgrounds contributed to the educational quality of the course.

Specialised course on 24-28 April 2017

On 24-28 April 2017 Ghent University together with Hasselt University and Karolinska Institute organised a specialised course on Global Sexual Reproductive Health within the context of the Doctoral Schools and the International Thematic Network ANSER.  Courses were hosted simultaneously in Stockholm (Sweden) and Ghent (Belgium), using live streaming.  

 

Staff exchanges

The ongoing ANSER mobility programme facilitates staff exchanges between member institutions, resulting in joint proposal writing, hands-on work on publications, course modules and other ANSER output.

Online course

The ANSER network is developing an online module on SRHR policy that will be freely available on the internet. Several similar modules exist already, but our course will distinguish itself through its bottom-up, international, concerted approach specifically targeting policy-makers. Each module will be developed jointly by members of the consortium who are subject matter experts. Theoretical content will be complemented by problem-solving scenarios and case studies from different countries and contexts.

Short training course

In line with the development of the online module, ANSER will organize an annual short course on SRHR policy where participants involved in policy-making or advocacy (e.g. government, intergovernmental, civil society organizations) from around the world will get classes on a wide range of SRHR aspects. These classes will be highly interactive and participants will be asked to present and discuss cases they are or were confronted with. Within the online module and annual short course, we will include a focus on what policy makers can do to enhance SRHR in their countries (e.g. by organizing parliamentary hearings) and on what civil organizations can do to influence policies (e.g. lobbying techniques).

 

2016 ANSER kick-off conference

During this conference the ANSER network was officially launched. The focus was specifically on stressing the importance of SRHR and the ANSER network and have new members express their expectations towards the network.

 The meeting report and videos of the presentations can be found here.