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This article sets out to re‐conceptualise gender equality in education quality. Four approaches to conceptualising gender equitable education quality are identified in the literature: human capital theory with a focus on parity and sameness for all; a human rights and power perspective, within which gender equality is viewed as transforming unjust structures; postcolonial critiques, which celebrate and recognise difference; and the view of development as social action for empowerment with gender intersecting with other inequalities. The framework is applied to an analysis of a programme of research on education quality, EdQual. The article maintains that for education quality at the level of classrooms to move beyond fairness of distribution of resources, to consider the nature of educational experience for boys and girls, requires a deeper questioning of the gender biased nature of schooling. It also indicates that education quality demands an analysis of gender dynamics in the wider social context of the lives of boys and girls. These findings have strong implications for large research programmes

Education is seen to play a crucial role in the reconstruction of post-conflict countries, particularly in transforming people's mindsets and rebuilding social relations. In this regard, teachers are often perceived as key agents to bring about this transformative change through their role as agents of peace. This paper seeks to understand how teachers are positioned to promote peacebuilding and social cohesion in Rwandan schools in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The paper draws on data collected for an on-going broader study researching the role of teachers in peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts of Rwanda and South Africa. The methods used for data collection were semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions, questionnaires and classroom observations. Theoretically the paper is informed by the broader research framework on sustainable peacebuilding in post-conflict situations, using the four dimensions of recognition, redistribution, representation 203 Rubagiza et al.Teachers as agents of change and reconciliation (4Rs). The findings show that the policy environment is conducive to peacebuilding and recognises the important role of teachers and education in general, in the social, political and economic reconstruction of post-genocide Rwanda. However, there are a number of interrelated factors that pertain to teachers' professional development, teacher management and the school environment that pose challenges to sustainable peacebuilding and social cohesion.

This paper explores the neglected role of men in HIV/AIDS mitigation. Much of the efforts to combat HIV/AIDS widely acknowledge that the gender dimensions of the AIDS pandemic is critical both for the understanding of its impact and for successful implementation of prevention and amelioration campaigns. It is argued in the paper that for a long time there has been little effort to understand the gender roles and social pressures on men and the relationship with HIV spread. Men are represented as obstacles to efforts to fight HIV/AIDS; they resist using condoms, resist change, molesters of women and carriers of disease. The paper argues that for successful fight against HIV/AIDS, there is a need for a more balanced understanding of gender on a set of structures created by and affecting both men and women. This paper largely relies on existing literature and policy documents for analysis and augmenting men's role in HIV/AIDS mitigation in Uganda and Rwanda. The paper extensively reviews and analyses data in the existing scholarly sources to develop arguments and to make conclusions. We argue in this paper that new strategies which positively look at men's contribution are needed to fight HIV/AIDS. Based on the arguments we make we suggest that men as well as women contribute each in their rights as social categories of people during the fight against HIV/AIDS. Drawing examples from Uganda and Rwanda we look at the evolving approaches to HIV/AIDS and the positioning of men into these programs. The paper concludes that involving men and observing their positive contributions has contributed greatly to the success of these programs and ultimately to the progress in mitigating HIV/AIDS spread in Rwanda and Uganda.

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