ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the feminist participatory action research (FPAR) methodological approach used to support a four -year project designed to mainstream gender considerations into teaching, research, and service activities and formal polices in a University College of Education in Tanzania. From the identification and articulation of the underlying feminist principles that would drive the project, the design aimed to embed participation, knowledge co-construction, inclusivity, adaptability, democratic deliberative engagement, and strong governance structures into the actions and outputs over the five years of the project. The actions targeted macro, meso, and micro level changes required to avoid treating gender mainstreaming as a technical fix and focus instead on the structures and political dynamics within with relationships within the institution are embedded. The following shares insights into the process and the outcomes of this methodological approach. It provides an overview of the FPAR framework, the processes utilised to enable participation, and a critical evaluation of the multi-level outcomes of the project. It also shares lessons learned when utilising this methodological approach during a global pandemic and when seeking to critically interrogate deeply embedded systemic and structural hierarchies that rest upon spatial, historical, social, economic, and cultural values and institutional norms.
