About the project

The “Behind the Scenes: Female youth and gender-based inequities in Africa’s Creative Sector” project is implemented by International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) with financial support obtained from Mastercard foundation. This three years project responds to growing calls for deeper insights and rigorous evidence that address gendered disparities and barriers in Africa's Creative Sector. The project takes a multi-method, multidisciplinary, and participatory research and policy engagement approach to generate evidence, strengthen research capacity, and advance policy and workplace action to help end the marginalization of young female creatives in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Nigeria and Uganda.

The ICRW is collaborating with the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA),  to lead the  implementation of this project  in Ethiopia.

Aim and Objectives of the project

The project addresses the following objectives

• Leverage the ingenuity and energy of young creatives and researchers to generate and disseminate evidence on the nature, dynamics, and implications of gender-based inequities faced by young female creatives in seven focus countries.
• Strengthen the skills, knowledge, and expertise of young Africans to undertake, publish and disseminate research on gender and the Creative Sector.
• Map the Creative Sector in the seven focus countries to understand how it is organized in terms of stakeholders, policies, potential, remuneration systems, accessibility to different categories of youth, challenges, conduct codes, job creation opportunities, funding, education, training, products, and services.
• Support the emergence of regional and national communities of stakeholders committed to promoting gender equality in Africa’s Creative Sector; and
• Provide evidence-based recommendations and best practices to the Mastercard Foundation and other key stakeholders that can support gender equity in Africa's creative industries and workplaces.