About Us

The Gender, Diversities & Technology Institute is a learning exchange, an incubator for new ideas and approaches, a generator of new policy. We are a global institute dedicated to improving the well-being of individuals and organizations through innovative approaches to life-long learning. We believe that the connection between learning and human development is most powerful when the unique pespectives and strengths associated with gender, race, ethnicity, and other diversities guide and inform the process. We provide a safe space that connects, informs, and mobilizes people and organizations committed to creating gender-healthy education and workplaces, leadership, and sustainable development. We are housed within the Center for Education, Employment, and Community at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), in Newton, Massachusetts.

The Institute is built on the belief that learning is a liberating force in the growth and development of all peoples. We also believe that the connection between learning and human development is most powerful when unique perspectives and strengths associated with gender and other diversities guide and enrich the process. The Institute serves as a global center for innovation and exploration by individuals and projects seeking to make these ideas a concrete reality. It generates, collects, synthesizes, disseminates and advances knowledge with the goal of building practices internationally that empower inidividuals and communities through a more inclusive and expansive education for the 21st century.

The Gender, Diversities & Technology Institute focuses on developing gender-healthy education and schools; technology and gender; the elimination of all forms of gendered violence; improving economic self-sufficiency for both women and men; and developing a deeper understanding of the multiple ways to define femininity and masculinity.

With partner organizations from around the world, the Institute seeks to do the following:

• Promote understanding of the issues surrounding gender and diversities through innovative projects and programming.
• Synthesize information on cutting-edge research and programming, bringing it to a wide audience of educators, policymakers, activists, funders, media, and service providers.
• Foster dialogue across different cultures, geographic regions, areas of expertise, and interests through publications, electronic communications, national and international forums, and media events.
• Facilitate communication and cooperation among networks of organizations and individuals that are involved in formal and informal education focused on gender and diversities.
• Serve as a clearinghouse for current information on research, policy, and action initiatives, funding opportunities, and other resources