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African Union - 2010-2020 the Decade of Women in Africa

On Sunday the 1st of March 2009, African women’s rights organizations in New York attended a special meeting organized by the African Union and UNIFEM at the AU offices in New York. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together the Ministers from the Capitals in Africa to brief them about two key developments that are of critical relevance to women in Africa from the recently concluded AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These are:

• The adoption of the proposal by the AU Summit to declare 

2010 - 2020 the Decade of Women in Africa.

• The formal adoption of the Africa Gender Policy.

The meeting was Chaired by the Vice President and Secretary of State for Women's Affairs of the Republic of the Gambia H.E. Aja Dr. Isatou Njie- Saidy. The meeting was attended by 7 Gender ministers from Mali, Ghana, Niger, South Africa, Algeria, Ambassadors of Sudan and Niger based in New York, representatives from UN agencies like UNIFEM and UNFPA and International and CSOs.

The Director of the Gender, Women and Development Directorate at the AUC presented the AU Summit resolution and the Africa Gender Policy. A working committee was set up to develop the strategy for the implementation and launch of the Women's Decade. The Ministers in attendance would form the working group of ministers. There was a call by the ministers for the Heads of States to provide sufficient resources for the implementation of the decade. There was a call for creativity on the part of all actors to use all the resources available to reach out to as many women and girls during the decade to ensure that there is real achievement of the commitments made to promote and observe women's rights, to work towards gender equality and women's empowerment.

There is also a need to set benchmarks to be achieved at different stages of the decade. There was an appeal for all African countries to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa by the launch of the Decade in January 2010. The Minister from South Africa specifically mentioned that the decade will accelerate in the SADC region of the 50/50 target set in the SADC Gender Policy.

On Tuesday March 3, 2009, NGO representatives attended a special event organized by the NGO Committee of the CSW. The annual Woman of Distinction Award was presented to Ms. Rachel Mayanja, the UN Assistant Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Gender issues and the Advancement of Women.

The African Women’s Caucus meetings kicked off on the 28th February 2009. Over sixty women and several men held an interactive session, strategizing on advocacy and lobby activities around the theme of the CSW-53. The Orientation Meeting of the Africa Women's Caucus was attended by about 20 persons (18 women & 2 men). Interpretation services greatly ensured that the process and discussions were inclusive. The turn up was limited as most people who had come early to New York were involved in a number of meetings in the Church Centre and elsewhere. Click to read a summary report .

Copies of the book titled ‘A Handbook for Effective Lobbying during the 53rd CSW: Gender Perspectives on the Equal Sharing of Responsibilities including Care giving in the context of HIV/AIDS’ were distributed. Several participants appreciated the resource, terming it an innovative initiative and a useful source of information that will strengthen advocacy efforts by African women’s rights organizations and activists.

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