It was pomp and color at Makerere University as several graduands received their respective honors during the 68^th graduation ceremony that run from 16^th January to 19^th January 2018. Among the thousands of students who graduated were two students: Kalyango Ronald Sebba (Mr) and Kebirungi Harriet (Ms) who were conferred the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Mr. Ronald Sebba Kalyango’s research titled “Returning home: Gender and Choice among Internally Displaced Persons in Gulu District” explored the gendered processes which influence the decision to return home for Internally Displaced persons in Gulu district. The study particularly explored how gender relations between women and men influence the decision to return or not. Findings show that gender relations influenced whether or not, when, how and where displaced persons returned to. Return to pre-conflict homes is never a linear movement from place to place of displacement to original home but a cyclical one mediated by social-cultural processes. Research shows that policies that neglect gender issues in the return process fail to achieve their desired outcomes. This study was a result of a collaboration between the School of Women and Gender Studies and the Centre for Women's and Gender Research (Kvinnforsk) University of Tromso Norway. Funding was provided by the Norwegian Program for Development Research and Education (NUFU), and supervised by Prof. Mulumba Deborah and Prof. Tone Blei. Additional support was received from the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC) under the New Generation of African Scholars Programme and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Doctoral award under the University for Peace Africa Program.

Ms. Harriet Kebirungi’s study focused on “Gender Responsiveness in the provisioning and management of water and sanitation facilities in East African Universities: A case of Makerere University, and University of Dar es Salaam.” Harriet through geospatial tools and perception studies discovered that provisioning and management of water and sanitation facilities is not gender responsive. Consequently, this negatively affected male and female students’ access to and utilization of water and sanitation facilities leading to gender inequalities at those universities. There was also lack of water and sanitation policies at both universities, therefore water and sanitation facilities were inadequate and toilet designs did not address access and utilization needs of both male and female students. The study recommends the need to formulate and implement gender responsive water and sanitation framework and policies by the two universities. This study was funded by Makerere-Sida Bilateral Research Corporation and was supervised by Associate Prof. Consolata Kabonesa, Prof. Livingstone Luboobi and Assco. Prof. Majaliwa Mwanjalolo.

Additionally, the school passed out eight Masters Students in Gender Studies, four GLED (Post Graduate Diploma in Gender and Local Economic Development) students and 306 Bachelors students in Social Sciences majoring in gender. We wish all the graduates the very best and we hope they use the new acquired knowledge to make the world a better place.

Congratulations!!