Step Change - The Project

The Step Change crew

University of Primorska, Slovenia

Univerza na Primorskem is Slovenia’s third largest public university, was established in 2003 as a centre of knowledge implementing European educational strategies. Its main objective is to carry out high quality study and research programmes, implementing and integrating them with educational, intellectual and research potential in accordance with European strategies. It satisfies regional demands and needs for quality higher educational programmes in the bilingual area, where Slovenian and Italian cultures are historically intertwined. It also aims to produce beneficial co-existence and close collaboration with industry. University of Primorska provides an active, interdisciplinary research and study environment based on two fundamental pillars: mathematics, natural sciences and technology, and humanities and social sciences. By incorporating both pillars in research and study activities, University of Primorska achieves improved interdisciplinary collaboration and improved international co-operation with the world’s leading institutions and researchers.

University of Primorska is the lead project partner responsible for project management and coordina- tion. University of Primorska is also responsible for the implementation of the citizen science initiative on wildlife conservation in Slovenia.

Aarhus University, Denmark

Aarhus University is a leading European research university with education and research activities in all scientific disciplines. The University attracts 25% of the Danish research funding and has been awar- ded several European Research Council advanced and starting grants. The Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy (CFA) is a research centre at the Department of Political Science, responsible for carrying out both basic research and long-term competence building, together with more practical oriented analyses, evaluations and policy investigations. The Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy is active in the areas of RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation), citizen science, structural transformations, gender and implementation of gender action plans in research organisations, evaluation, capacity building, comparative studies and research policy.

Within Step Change, Aarhus University is part of the evaluation team, working synergically with Knowledge & Innovation. More specifically, Aarhus University is responsible for the evaluation components aimed at the assessment of societal impact according to MoRRI (and SUPER MoRRI) and SDG frameworks.

Action for Rural Women’s Empowerment, Uganda

Action for Rural Women’s Empowerment (ARUWE) is a gender focused organisation that strengthens women’s leadership so that collectively they can break the chains of poverty, patriarchy, class and sexual repression. We do this through advocating for rural women’s economic justice, sexual and re- productive health and rights, promoting education and lifelong learning, enabling communities to adapt to climate change and challenging the negative impact of rigid and oppressive gender stereotypes. ARUWE is a non-profit, non-government organisation working with marginalised groups of people, especially women and girls in Uganda. ARUWE was established in 2003 as a community-based organisation and later registered as a non-profit, non-government organisation in 2008. The organisation started its operations in Wakiso district supporting women to increase agricultural production for household food security and income generation. Currently, ARUWE operates in the central and north-eastern regions of Uganda focusing on socio-economic empowerment of women and girls. We envision seeing a world in which women and girls realise their full social potential. We empower women to initiate and manage their socio-economic development processes through strengthening community participation, advocacy and service delivery.