First GRÓ Center - University of Iceland Host Institution Agreement

Representatives of the University of Iceland and GRÓ International Centre for Capacity Development, Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Societal Change, under the auspices of UNESCO, met at the University of Iceland on 3 July to sign a new host institution agreement detailing the cooperation between GRÓ and the University of Iceland regarding the Gender Equality Studies and Training programme (GRÓ GEST). Jón Karl Ólafsson, Chairman of GRÓ Centre‘s governing board, and Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland, signed the agreement on behalf of the two institutions. Also present at the signing were Bryndís Kjartansdóttir, Director of GRÓ Centre; Irma Erlingsdóttir, Director of GRÓ GEST; Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Dean of the School of Humanities; and Guðrún Eysteinsdóttir, GRÓ GEST‘s Operations Manager.

This is the first host institution agreement signed after GRÓ International Centre for Capacity Development, Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Societal Change was established as a UNESCO category 2 centre January 1 2020, and it replaces earlier trilateral agreements between the University of Iceland as a host institution, the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the United Nations University (UNU). At the same time, it is a continuation of over a decade of collaboration between the University of Iceland and the MFA on gender equality and development cooperation in the form of the GEST postgraduate diploma programme.

GRÓ Centre was established as a new category 2 centre through an agreement signed by the Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Director-General of UNESCO. The centre encompasses the four Icelandic educational and training programmes formerly affiliated with the UNU, namely, the Geothermal Training Programme (GTP), hosted at the National Energy Authority; the Fisheries Training Programme (FTP), hosted at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute; the Land Restoration Training Programme (LRT), hosted at the Agricultural University of Iceland and the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland; and GEST, the Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme, hosted at the University of Iceland and operating within the School of Humanities since 2009.

GRÓ GEST wholeheartedly looks forward to continuing and enhancing our collaboration with the other three programmes and GRÓ Centre, under the auspices of UNESCO.