I- Invitation
Dear all,
The African Center for Gender and Social Development of the
Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is organizing an online discussion
on “ Financing Gender Equality and the Empowerment
of Women In Africa”, in cooperation with the United Nations
Division for the Advancement of Women. This online discussion is being
organized as per the recommendation of the E Network of Gender Machineries
in Africa, which was launched in December 2006.
You are invited to participate in this discussion, which
aims at exchanging views on financing gender equality and women's
empowerment in Africa, to fulfill the regional and international
commitments that have been made in this regard. The discussion will allow
for a constructive exchange on options available for financing gender
equality and challenges that impede the adequate resourcing of policies and
programmes aimed at achieving gender equality and women's empowerment. Good
examples and lessons learned at national and sub regional levels will be
shared and discussed; gaps in knowledge, skills and information will be
identified and practical solutions to overcome the challenges will be
suggested.
The discussion will run for 4 weeks from 26 November
to 23 December 2007 .
Registration for the online discussion
To register, please fill out the Registration form
and send it to: Mr. Berhanu Tesfaye
E-mail address: btesfaye@uneca.org
You are encouraged to register before 23 November
2007 . Once you register, you will receive an email with your
username and password that will enable you to join the online discussion.
If you have any questions about the registration process,
please contact:
Mr. Berhanu Tesafaye at : btesfaye@uneca.org
OR
Mr. Boris- Ephrem Tchoumavi at : tchoumavi@un.org
Looking forward to your participation in this online
discussion, we kindly ask you to circulate this invitation widely. Thank
you.
UNECA-African Center for Gender and Social Development
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
II- Background
The decade following the adoption of the Beijing Platform
for Action witnessed many developments on the African continent, including
the adoption of regional and sub-regional declarations and mechanisms on
gender and development, which are exemplified by the clear reference to
gender equality in the Constitutive Act of the African Union (2001), the
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights
of Women in Africa (July 2003), the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality
in Africa (2004), the adoption of the gender parity principle by the
African Union Commission the New Partnership for African Development
(NEPAD) and its African Peer Review Mechanism, and the various gender
equality policies adopted by the Regional Economic Communities(RECs).
Emphasis on the principle of gender equality and the empowerment of women
enshrined in such regional instruments, together with international human
rights instruments, provide further opportunities for institutionalizing
gender equality and ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all development
policies, plans and programmes.
While many African countries have embraced the regional
commitments to gender equality and the empowerment of women, implementation
of the principles has not received the necessary financial and human
resources. It is widely recognized that the achievement of gender equality
and the empowerment of women requires sustainable financing and not only
rhetoric.
The regional evaluation of the implementation of Beijing
Platform for Action undertaken is 2004 (Beijing+10) showed that, while many
African countries have made efforts to engender their policies and plans,
the allocation of resources in national budgets did not equally reflect a
change in orientation and the differentiated needs of women and men.
Besides, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: Ownership,
Harmonization, Alignment, Results and Mutual Accountability has provided
new processes for the provision, reception and utilization of development
assistance, thus placing challenges on financing for gender equality.
The impetus at the national level towards financing
policies and programmes aiming at achieving gender equality and the
empowerment of women in Africa has gained from the active involvement of
funding partners, as well as from the creation of various funds and
foundations that focus on the advancement of women. Funds derived from such
sources have largely contributed to increasing activities and projects
aiming at promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women at both
national and regional levels. More recently, the private sector has also
started showing an interest in this area and raising and allocating
resources for activities aiming to empower women.
But despite all these efforts, the Beijing +10 evaluation
process in Africa showed that national and regional gender policies and
programmes remain grossly under-funded. It noted that, despite the funding
from bilateral and multilateral development partners, governments did not
make adequate resources available for the implementation of programmes for
gender equality and women's empowerment on the continent. The Beijing +10
review noted that economic activities from which the majority of women
obtain their livelihoods, such as subsistence agriculture and the informal
sector, have not received the financing that is necessary to make them
viable and lead to the empowerment of women. The review underlined
especially that in most rural areas where the majority of African women
live, adequate educational and health facilities are still lacking, as well
as the essential infrastructure for rural development.
This online discussion will provide space in which various
participants representing African gender machineries, national, regional
and international stakeholders involved in development activities, including
gender equality and the empowerment of women, can share their experiences
on results achieved and the challenges and constraints. It will also give
them the opportunity to exchange share ideas and experiences as well as
recommendations and suggestions on the way forward. The theme of this
e-discussion is also going to be the main focus of the discussions at the
next Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York in February
2008.This e-discussion, we hope, will help the African Group who will attend
the 2008 meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York,
share ideas that could be used to harmonize its common position on this
issue.
The online discussion will run for 4 weeks as
follows:
Week 1: 26 – 30 November 2007
National funding : - Identifying the current
sources of funding, especially budgeted allocations.
-Examples and good practices in securing funds, through
national development plans and budgets, to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women.
Week 2: 3 - 8 December 2007
Bilateral and multilateral assistance : - Discussion on the
funding status on the continent to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women
- Impact of The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness:
Gains and Gaps
Week 3: 10-15 December 2007
Public Resources & Private Resources : Efficiency or
Availability: What matters most?
Week 4: 17-22 December 2007
Wrapping up: Major aspects discussed,
recommendations and The Way Forward
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