5.3 Regional
level
5.3.1. Economic
Commission For Africa (ECA)
ECA has
been an activ inter- governmental organization at the Africa
regional level with r gard to advancing the status of women,
mainly through its African Centre for Women. At the sub- regional
level, gender focal points hav been appointed in the SRDCs to
work in collaboration with ACW. ACW has taken a decision to
focus its work in specific strategic directions, namely, pov
rty reduction through strengthening women s economic role, fostering
the leadership role of women, and promoting the human and legal
rights of women. ACW also plays a role in monitoring and promoting
the implementation of the African and Global Platforms for Action;
and by defining and implementing strategies for mainstreaming
gender in the programmes of ECA. [30]
ECA, through
ACW, has among many other things, organized sub- regional Beijing
follow up meetings in all of the fiv sub- regions of Africa.
At these meetings, member countries w re guided in the pr paration
of a viable national action plan, and how to assess and report
on progress made towards implementing the Global and African
Platforms for Action during the up- coming reviews. ACW has
also organized international and r gional conference on the
commemoration of the 40 th Anniv rsary of ECA entitled African
Women and Economic Development: Investing in Our Future . The
Strategic plan for up to 2001 was developed and surv ys w re
undertaken in Eastern and Western Africa on the status of women
s access to productiv resources and human rights within the
family; [31] senior staff
and gender focal points of substantiv divisions of ECA and g
nder focal points at the SRDCs have been trained in the basics
of gender analysis. Advisory services have also been provided
to Member States, and publications hav been and continue to
be disseminated. Recent productions include for example, the
r gular African Women s Report, 53 country brochures portraying
the socio- economic status of women in Africa [32]
and the outputs of the 40 th Anniv rsary Conference.
5.3.2 The
Organization Of African Unity (OAU)
The OAU
has a Women s Unit and has organized sev ral conferences or
workshops, for xample, in Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, mostly
in collaboration with ECA or local initiativ s. With respect
to implementing the Global and African Platforms, the OAU has
focused on promoting the role of women in conflict resolution
and peace. In November 1996, OAU and ECA organized a Women Leadership
Forum on Peace in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a view to
securing the participation of women in the OAU mechanisms for
conflict prevention, management and resolution. A recommendation
was made to form the Africa Women Committee on Peace. Another
conference, Peace, Gender and Development , was organized by
the OAU and ECA in Kigali, Rwanda in March 1997. In addition,
as part of the All Africa Trade Fair in Kaduna, Nigeria. [33]
, the OAU held a workshop in collaboration with the African
Federation of Women Entr preneurs and ECA.
5.3.3 The
African Development Bank (ADB)
The ADB
has also started to mainstream gender and to require that programmes
and projects submitted for financing should incorporate or consider
gender issues. Other initiatives include: considering a policy
on good gov rnance as a condition for country assistance [34]
; enhancing its internal gender skills; conducting gender training
for ADB team leaders and heads of d partment; forming an inter-
departmental advisory committee on women s issues; as well as
human and financial capacity building for the Environment and
Sustainable Development Unit of ADB, which deals with gender.
[35] Further, a new lending
criteria which ties the level of development lending to a particular
country to its efforts in implementing gender sensitiv development
is in place. This is beginning to solve the problem of lack
of enforcement and accountability, as gov rnments will be held
accountable for what their actions.
5.3.4 other
regional bodies/ institutions
There are
numerous other regional ( and sub- regional) bodies, institutions,
NGOs, associations and so on, [36]
as well as offices of international agencies [37]
operating at the regional and sub- regional lev ls. Some hav
emerged as a direct result of the Beijing Conference while others
hav always been in existence. With the emergence of n w information
technologies such as the Internet, e- mail and w b- based discussion
groups, new monitoring and valuation networks, easier communications
between stakeholders, have emerged and can be expected to hav
a noticeable impact on progress towards implementing the platforms
for action.
5.3.5 Challenges
Africa as
a whole has faced many challenges in implementing the platforms.
The 6 th Regional Conf rence noted some of these in its workshop
on institutional mechanisms viz:
Although some gov rnment machineries hav made successful efforts
to link up with all stakeholders, most national machineries
are still in the volutionary stag . A great many machineries
are still operating with limited financial, human and skills
resources. Thus, their ability to provide the intellectual
leadership and co- ordinate programmes is xtremely limited.
Many countries still lacked decentralized structures to effectiv
ly reach the rural communities. Capacity building in gender
analysis, planning and mainstreaming is vital to the effectiv
performance of national machineries. Systematic partnership
and consultation with NGOs and civil society on the strategies
for implementation of the Platforms for Action is also necessary.
The shift in gov rnment priorities due to the economic crisis,
the recurrent conflicts and outbreak of hostilities in Africa
hav also been major obstacles to the effectiv role played
by the national machineries. Relevant gov rnment departments
should make budgetary allocations to r flect gender equity
concerns and needs of the National Machinery. There is a need
to establish monitoring mechanisms to ensure timely implementation
of commitments.
In many countries the macro- indicators and mechanisms for
monitoring progress hav not been fully articulated. There
is a need to ensure a minimum threshold of gender mainstreaming
capability and capacity. Placing the machineries in the highest
political office would giv them political clout and authority,
and political will is imperative to ensur co- operation and
advancement on gender programs. Similarly, it should be noted
that some machineries hav been assigned extra responsibilities
to implement the Platforms, without the requisite increase
in capacity and resources. In some countries, they also suffer
from a lack of autonomy and authority to influence policy
and operate independently and effectiv ly. In countries where
national action plans w re formulated in consultation with
NGOs to identify priority areas, resources w r not directly
or specifically allocated. There w re also no time bound targets
or benchmarks.
Lack of information and poor sensitisation of policy and decision-
makers, together with the low- level of training for staff
and Gender Focal Points mak s implementation difficult. In
one case an observation was made that sometimes people are
trained but end up being misallocated or not used effectiv
ly in mainstreaming gender.
There is a need to decentralise to the grassroots levels to
increase popular participation.
Some countries
hav started to develop tools and methodologies for statistical
research on gender. How v r, the general cost of monitoring,
training, maintaining databases, r porting, evaluations and
research v ry high for African economies ven without considering
actual mainstreaming of gender.
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5.4 General
overview
5.4.1 General
overview
Much has
been accomplished since the Beijing Conference in terms of activities
performed under institutional mechanisms for the advancement
of women. Examples include: credit and other schemes for the
economic empow rment of women hav been set up or enhanced; laws
and constitutions hav been revised as a direct result of the
Global Platform; mechanisms for empowering the girl- child and
campaigns to promote women s human rights and stop violence
against women hav been initiated; programmes hav been set up
to sensitize communities, organizations and institutions addressing
gender and women s issues and train women parliamentarians;
NGOs directly or indirectly addressing gender issues hav proliferated
as a r sult of the Global Platform; fforts hav been made to
promote the gender disaggregation of data and utilization of
such data for xample in the national planning and budgeting
xercises of some countries.
How v r,
the precise and objectiv measurement of the specific impact
of activities accomplished in certain themes such as empow rment,
remains elusiv . The implementation of activities is usually
taken as a measure or indicator of progress. For xample, many
countries tak the final adoption of a gender policy or action
plan, the implementation of workshops, conferences and sensitization
programmes and so on, as the indicator of progress, instead
of the obser able reduction in gender inequality which should
be the expected result of these activities. It is therefor ,
difficult to directly connect and justify actual or real progress
from the numerous activities being conducted in each country
( xcept only in subjectiv ways) because true, objectiv measures
or indicators of real progress hav yet to be fully d veloped
and used in most countries. [38]
How v r,
anecdotal information from sev ral countries shows that some
progress has been made. The rate of progress varies between
themes and issues - being quite slow in themes such as political
empowerment or issues dealing with removal of attitudes and
entrenched patriarchal traditions. Also, many national machineries
and their mechanisms for interfacing with other sectors of society
still lack capacity. Many are still beset by human, financial,
and material resource inadequacies. This long- standing problem
still k ps national machineries from delivering satisfactory
results. Th y fail to effectiv ly coordinate, monitor, and evaluate
national efforts of gender analysis and mainstreaming.
With r gard
to changing or influencing laws and policy frameworks , the
national machineries hav achieved some progress such as changing
or shaping laws, constitutions, visions and policy framework
papers to make them more gender sensitiv . Countries such as
Eritrea, Malawi, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda, have reviewed
the Constitution and laws on inheritance, marriag and divorce
to make them more gender sensitiv . In sev ral cases, ( for
xample, Eritrea, Namibia, South Africa) , affirmativ action
and a quota of women in public institutions required by the
Constitution, has guaranteed women s access to policy and decision-
making organs of society at various local, regional and national
levels. In South Africa and Uganda the gender machineries and
specialized women s groups such as Namibia s Women and Law Committee,
WILSA and WIDAF, have been involved in raising the issues, sensitizing
the communities and pushing for r views of laws and constitutions.
The gender machineries hav also been involved in the cr ation
of long- term, shared development visions in their countries
( e. g. in Uganda 2025, Malawi Vision 2020, etc. ) to ensure
that the future of the country and the strategies used to realize
such futures fully recognize and take into account the position
and role of women.
How v r,
it is one thing to r view and amend laws and constitutions but
another to translate these into reality and tangible results
for the benefit of the intended persons. A major problem which
affects progress in this area is enforcement and holding culprits
accountable for contravening the changed laws, constitutions,
conventions, declarations, etc. [39]
Th capacity for enforcement is lacking and needs to be built
through further sensitization and awareness programmes, institutional
building, stronger lobbying, networking and advocacy. The intended
beneficiaries of these reviewed laws and constitutions still
need to be informed, educated and trained in making use of the
laws and constitutions.[40]
Efforts
are being made in many countries to publish material in easy-
to- read form so that the knowledge can be passed on quickly
to the intended beneficiaries. For xample, Namibia and other
countries hav translated their national gender policies and
some r vised laws, into major local languages to empower all
women with the knowledge of the content. Radio programmes, public
meetings, workshops and conferences are being conducted in many
countries to discuss with and empower women by transmitting
the new knowledge on their rights, new laws and institutions
that can assist them. Some countries hav even set up hotlines
through which women in need of assistance can get help.
The effectiveness
of National Machineries is hampered by many other factors. Most
of these hav to do with inadequate internal capacity to deliver
the required results. The required skilled human resources,
finances, material resources and networking, lobbying and advocacy
capabilities are not available at the required levels for effectiv
achievement of goals. There is a lack of mechanisms for strategic
resource mobilization and utilization campaigns consciously
targeting each of the specific themes mentioned in national
action plans ( Some national plans are not presented as strategic
action plans) . Ther continues to be a paucity of gender research
and gender disaggregated data. There is a lack of precise, objectiv
and measurable indicators of achievement and systematic monitoring
and valuation mechanisms. Mor ov r, the xternal environment
lack of political will; high illiteracy levels; rigid cultural
practices, attitudes and values; politics; economic liberalization
policies, structural adjustment programmes and other external
conditionalities - continue to constrain the effectiveness of
the national machineries. In some countries progress is v ry
slow in formulating a gender policy. Without a commonly agreed
national gender policy, there is no nationally accepted pact
to giv a shared sense of purpose and direction to achieving
the goals of the Global and African Platforms for Actions.
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5.5 Challenges
In many
countries mechanisms for monitoring progress and activities
by various actors hav yet to be developed.
In some
cases civil strife is blamed for hampering progress and rendering
national machineries ineffectiv . In other cases national machineries
still do not exercise full, direct and decisiv influence on
the policy formulation process. They can only make recommendations.
In many North African countries, legislation in areas, which
challenge religious forces, is sometimes difficult to implement.
In Egypt
for example, NGOs felt that they were not consulted in drawing
up the framework paper although they were consulted many times
after it was written. Efforts must be made to strengthen the
relationship between NGOs and Gov rnment.
Sev ral
other factors constrain efforts to mainstream gender into policies,
plans, programmes and projects. These hav been indicated elsewher
as: low l vel training of members of women s associations; persistence
of women s high illiteracy rates; isolated and uncoordinated
activities of associations and NGOs; national machineries that
lack capacity ( financial, material, human) to perform tasks
such as effectiv coordination, networking, lobbying, monitoring,
valuation, strategic generation and utilization of funds, etc.
; some gender machineries ar marginalized and cannot directly
influence the policy making process.
National
Assemblies in many countries also require capacity building
especially in terms of building their analytical capabilities,
building their knowledge of gender issues and analysis; building
and enhancing networks with civil society organizations, research
centers and academics working on gender issues. The challenge
is to increase the number of Parliamentarians who hav analytical
and resource capabilities as well as access to information at
par ( as much as possible) with those of the civil servants
or the Executiv Branch of government, which pr pares the policies,
plans and programmes. Without this, Parliamentarians cannot
perform their mandate of checking and balancing the Executiv
Branch and its initiativ s, which may not be gender sensitiv
. They cannot effectiv ly scrutinize and challenge policies,
plans, budgets etc. in Parliament when they fail to meet the
gender standards set in the African or Global Platforms or indeed
any other convention ( such as CEDAW) to which the gov rnment
has acceded.
SADC has
specifically noted the following challenges: setting unrealistic
expectations; the trivializing of gender issues and resistance
at various levels; parallel and uncoordinated efforts by other
agencies leading to wasteful duplication, ven within SADC itself;
communication problems; uneven commitment of countries; lack
of an innovativ role to strengthen SADC initiatives; and strained
NGO- Gov rnment relationships. [41]
[Table
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6. Generation
and dissemination of gender disaggregated data and information
for planning and evaluation
Basing on
the Global Platform, the pertinent questions to be raised regarding
the generation and dissemination of disaggregated data in general,
but especially at the national level, ar as follows:
Hav disaggregated statistics related to individuals by ag
and sex, and pertinent to the gender issues of the country,
started being collected, stored, analysed and published in
user- friendly manner for all types of users including non-
technical ones?
Is this data, disaggregated also by socio- economic and other
relevant indicators including number of dependents?
Is the data disseminated and used for policy and programme
formulation?
How frequently have centers of women s studies and research
centers been engaged in research, debates, policy- formulation
etc. and in efforts to develop and test appropriate indicators
and research methodologies for strengthening gender analysis?
Has data collection on the full contribution of women and
men to the economy, including their participation in the informal
economy improved since 1995?
What comprehensiv knowledge of all forms of work and employment
including unremunerated work has accumulated since 1995 to
estimate the quantity and value of such work for possible
reflection in national accounts?
Hav any time- use studies been conducted?
Has international classification of activities for time- use
statistics that are sensitiv to the difference between women
and men r munerated and unremunerated work, been developed?
Hav there been attempts to collect, disseminate and use gender-
disaggregated statistics for men and women with disabilities
including their access to resources?
Hav there been regular r views of the official statistical
system by the collectors and users of the statistics to ensure
that it is adequate in its cov rag of gender issues?
Hav any employers, trade unions, NGOs, etc. conducted studies
on the sharing of power and influence by women and men in
decision making positions in the private, public and other
sectors of the society?
[Table
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6.1 International
level
R garding
disaggregated data- bases, monitoring and valuations of progress
on mainstreaming gender, the United Nations International Civil
Service Commission ( ICSC) pledges to: continue providing strategic
analyses of various factors affecting women s opportunities
for United Nations service; showcasing creativ initiatives undertaken
to increase female staff r presentation; continue maintaining
the gender balance database and share it with United Nations
organizations and other interested parties as well as to collaborate
with them in preparing guidelines for staff with decision- making
responsibilities that must be accountable for ensuring g nder
balance; develop a recruitment source database that targets
female nationals from developing countries, particularly the
under- r presented countries with economies in transition. [42]
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6.2 Regional
level
Much concern
is being raised r garding the slow progress being made in collecting,
storing, analysing and publishing data in user- friendly form
and using it in national accounts, budget, planning and policy-
making exercises.
The First
Meeting of Ministers of CWD [43]
in April 1999 gives some indication of how far countries and
sub- regions hav gone in ensuring availability of disaggregated
data. For xample, the r port from the West African SRDC shows
that it has mainstreamed gender into the Surv y of Economic
and Social Conditions in West Africa; and produced and circulated
a questionnaire on the disaggregation of gender mainstreaming
data in social and economic dev lopment in West Africa. But
as an indication of what still remains to be done, it is shown
that reports on mainstreaming gender concerns into development
policies and programmes need to be produced.
The SRDC
in North Africa r ports that it pr pared a study on policy measures
for enabling women to play a greater role in the economic and
social development of North Africa in 1997. The center also
collected and analysed data on women and gender issues; pr pared
a study on gender equity and economic and social empow rment
of women within the cultural context of North Africa; and pr
pared an ad hoc meeting of xperts on gender equity and economic
and social empow rment. Reflecting what still needs to be done
in North Africa, the Center intends to: produce studies and
documents on gender and cultural disparities in North Africa
and women s empow rment in the sub r gion; build databases on
women and gender issues in North Africa; and identify productiv
approaches and strategies for reducing gender disparities.
In Central
Africa, the SDRC has ensured the engendering of the Surv y of
Economic and Social Conditions in the sub- region, integrated
gender into its databases and organized a meeting to help set
up the Central African Women s Network ( RESEFAC) . But challenges
for futur programmes hav been outlined to include: revitalization
of RESEFAC; improvement of statistical data; and integrating
the gender approach into SRDC studies and databases. The difficulties
of securing gender sensitiv data and gender disaggregated data
at sub- regional and international levels w r reiterated. One
of the causes of this was the lack of dialogue between the generators
and the users of such data. [44]
The Center
intends to start facilitating such dialogue and to encourag
sharing of data and research findings between itself and member
countries; building partnerships for the promotion of gender
equity; highlighting effects of globalization and how to take
advantag of it; and pressing the need for including gender perspectives
in budget analysis and decision making.
With r gard
to building capacity for gender analytic research and disaggregated
data collection, analysis and dissemination, progress has been
quite slow. Only recently have many countries started to take
measures to increase capacity and the rate of implementing activities
in this area. [45] The
UN system itself has just started to push its agencies to mulate
the UNICEF example of engendering the budget. It is noted elsewhere
that . . the statistical data on the basis of which national
priorities w re set did not sufficiently take into account the
objectives of the Global Platform. Those objectives w r still
being relegated to the back burner and national development
programmes did not genuinely reflect the economic role of women.
[46]
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6.3 Sub-
regional level
SADC disseminates
the Gender Monitor , a r gular publication tracking developments,
activities, achievements and innovations in the sub- region.
It also has published a country by country book series called
Beyond Inequalities: Women in Southern Africa, to present the
information on the status of women in the sub- region.
Other sub-
regions such as Central and West Africa compile the Survey of
Economic and Social Conditions to investigate and r port on
conditions and status of the general populations. Gender is
now being mainstreamed in these studies.
[Table
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6.4 National
level
In Eritrea,
it is noted that indicators and mechanisms for monitoring and
evaluating impact are still to be developed. A monitoring mechanism
within the gov rnment s institutions should be introduced in
order to be able to measure and follow up the indicators of
women s development. [47]
K nya s
national r port on progress in implementing the Global and African
Platforms does not mention progress in establishing indicators
and mechanisms to monitor in each of the 12 themes adopted.
[48] What are termed
indicators and sources of data in the action matrices ( or what
are referred to as the matrices on progress made ) are just
sources of data ( or activities accomplished) and cannot comprehensiv
ly measure progress or impact in the subject matter.
The collection
of data disaggregated by ag and sex, and pertinent to the gender
issues of the various countries, hav been started although most
are a long way from fully achieving the goal. It has only been
four years since the Global Platform, and most countries hav
just developed their action plans, which they ar now b ginning
to implement. Some do not ven hav their gender policies in place
yet and therefore hav not formulated a clear framework for future
action. However, in the last two or so years, activities in
this area hav begun. Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda
are cases in point, ven though publications of the data in user
friendly form for all kinds of users may not hav advanced enough.
[Table
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6.5 Challenges
Monitoring,
training, maintaining database, r porting, undertaking evaluations
and research, are expensiv propositions for African economies,
particularly when considering the question of mainstreaming
gender. Research centres, univ rsities and statistical offices
or bureaux are facing declining budgets in real terms very year.
To mainstream gender, training of people in new methodologies
and sensitivities, new planning and tools for gender analysis
and planning is needed. It requires resources in addition to
the zeal and commitment of the top political leadership.
Politics
and the need for political expedience are also a major challeng
not only for the theme of institutional mechanisms for women
s advancement and disaggregated data, but for women s advancement
and empow rment as a whole. [49]
Politicians may not be too pleased with data that show that
they ar not doing well vis- a- vis gender issues, HIV/ AIDS,
environmental protection, etc. Th y may at the same time have
other ( larg ly short- term) pressing needs which, for the sake
of expedience, they would rather spend the society s resources
on. In such a situation, the short- term priorities may take
precedence over everything else and only lip service is paid
toward the more substantiv long- term strategic issues such
as gender ( and all its related aspects such as disaggregated
data) . [50]
[Table
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7. Conference/
workshop recommendations
7.1 Regional
level
The 6 th
African R gional Conference on Women was held in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, from 22- 26 November, 1999. The Workshop on Institutional
Mechanisms made sev ral observations and recommendations as
directly quoted below:
Recognition of national machineries as the co- ordination
and consultativ mechanisms for the whole national process
of implementing the Platforms for Action.
Establishment of a gender management system for co- ordination
and collaboration, with strong NGO input and clear terms of
r ference for all components.
Duplication of fforts, parallel responsibilities, uncoordinated
interventions should be avoided at all levels through systematic
and participatory planning.
Gov rnment and NGOs are partners for development and should
not work as opponents.
National machineries should be strengthened through appropriate
legislativ and policy support, human, technical, material
and financial resources.
National machineries should be placed at the highest level
of government and hav full authority to mak decisions.
Th y should hav the capacity to provide technical expertise
on all matters relating to the advancement of gender equality
National machineries should ensure that gender focal points
are appointed in all line ministries, agencies and programmes.
These Gender Focal Points should be at l vels that giv them
access to policy formulation and decision making
Gender Focal Points should be provided with clear terms of
reference, training and information
Countries to undertake gender audit of all sectoral activities
at all levels national, provincial and district levels.
Training in gender analysis and gender auditing should be
provided for the staff of national machineries and all gender
focal points
National machineries should prioritise the development of
gender sensitiv indicators to facilitate their monitoring
function. Such indicators should be qualitativ and quantitativ
in nature and include measures for:
Political will and support;
D gree of institutionalisation of policies, structures, resources;
Clear objectives and targets of national machineries at all
levels;
Existence of an inclusiv national policy on gender and the
advancement of women;
Each Head of State should appoint an Advisor on Gender.
An Act of Parliament should be passed that enables the national
machinery to play its co- ordinating role, and allocates the
resources needed to implement the Platforms for Action for
the Advancement of Women.
National machineries should depend mostly on gov rnment funding
or locally mobilized funds. External assistance should only
be supplementary.
Women ministers and members of parliament should form strong
networks and support structures for advocacy for strengthening
the machineries.
In the context of regional integration and the promotion of
an African Renaissance, statutory sub- regional groupings
should develop sub r gional plans of action, and political
and legal frameworks that can serv as additional tools for
reinforcing action at the national level.
Concerted efforts should be made to engender the proposed
Pan - African Parliament.
R gional assessments should be regularly carried out by the
OAU and the ECA to ensure that each member country is carrying
out its commitments and responding to gender quality needs
Another
important conference for ECA/ ACW was the African Women and
Economic Development : Investing in our Future held from 28
April to 1 May, 1998 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the occasion
of the fortieth anniv rsary of ECA. It brought together participants
and stakeholders from all walks of life to discuss gender/ women
s issues and the way forward for Africa. Many topics w r covered
including: globalization; good gov rnance; information technologies;
access to productiv resources; gender and economic development;
and many others relating to gender and development. The outputs
of the Conference were published in a series of publications
and the Conference was also instrumental in the creation of
ACW s Strategic Plan for 1999- 2005.
The Eighteenth
Meeting of the Africa R gional Coordinating Committee for Integration
of Women in development ( AARC) was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
24- 26 April, 1997. Among other things, this meeting was instrumental
in reshaping and revitalizing AARC as well as renaming it as
the Committee on Women and Development ( CWD) [51]
with r vised terms of reference and rules of membership. It
was agreed that CWshould continue to r port directly to the
Conference of Ministers and should become a committee of xperts
meeting very two years. It should work in cooperation with the
civil society, NGOs and donor agencies. Moreov r, the meeting
made the following pertinent recommendations to the up- coming
Conference of Ministers, to demonstrate the need for speedy
action in certain areas:
A cultur of developing and using gender disaggregated statistics
generally, and particularly in the ministries of Finance and
Planning should be established;
Allocation of budgets should be made in such a way to reflect
the gender equity issue based on participatory and actual
needs;
Budget and time allocation must be made for training policy
makers in gender- awar and gender- sensitiv planning;
Members of the CWD should be included as experts in the ECA
Conferences of Ministers of Finance, Economic Development
and of Social and Development Planning;
Monitoring mechanisms for women s programmes should be put
in place within the ministries to ensure timely implementation
of commitments especially with regard to budgetary allocations;
Coordination of xternal aid must be effectiv in order to ensure
that the percentag allocated to women s projects and gender
concerns is honoured. In addition, governments should institute
a mechanism to match donor funds allocated to women s programmes;
A mechanism for negotiating debt cancellation against national
funds allocated to addressing women s concerns and gender
inequality should be instituted.
Although
activities hav started on some of the above recommendations,
full implementation is awaited and the situations being r f
rred to still exist. These recommendations comprise some of
the actions to be taken with immediate effect ( by year 2000)
.
The Africa
Leadership Forum held a Conference in January 1997 in Accra,
Ghana called Empowering Women for the 21 st Century: The Challenge
for Politics, Business, Development and Leadership . R garding
women s empow rment, the Conference recommended that African
countries be ranked based on a progressiv ly refined set of
indicators to reflect their accomplishments as r gards women
s participation in the political and economic spheres, particularly
with respect to leadership positions, and the advancement of
women in general. [52]
The Conference noted that benchmarks should be set for measuring
progress. Th benchmarks would become the targets for policy
makers, companies and society at larg , which would feel compelled
to devise strategies for the attainment of the targets.
The African
Leadership Forum Study R port observes that women s level of
empow rment is a measure of ( or is determined by) collectiv
capacity, within public institutions ( which are presumably
male dominated) , to take action to change present structures
of inequality. Women s empow rment is therefore not necessarily
a result of competencies ( or self- reliance) of individual
women. This is the case because the structures within which
women s empow rment takes place have other social, economic,
political, legal and ideological factors that hamper women s
participation in policy and decision making roles.
[Table
of Contents]
7.2 Sub-
regional level
From the
end of 1997 to the beginning of 1998, ACW organized a series
of sub- regional follow- up meetings to the Beijing and Dakar
conferences on women. These meetings served to guide participants
in ensuring the development of a viable national action plan
as well as to build their capacity for monitoring, valuating
and r porting on progress ( especially in pr paring country
r ports for the Sixth African R gional Conference on Women in
November, 1999) through making valuation tools available.
From the
r ports of these meetings, the role, progress and constraints
of institutional mechanisms since the Global and African Platforms
become quite clear. The biggest of these meetings was the one
for Eastern and Southern Africa ( February 1999 in the R public
of the S ychelles) , where gov rnment officials, parliamentarians
and r gional represented 22 African countries and sub- regional
NGOs. Also present w r inter- governmental organizations and
United Nations Agency representatives.
Progress
r ported under the theme of institutional mechanisms included
the fact that: many countries had ratified CEDAW and w r revising
their laws to make them gender sensitiv . Malawi, Uganda and
others had gender- sensitiv constitutions and the rest w r also
r vising theirs. All countries hav by now set up their national
machineries, some of which even hav decentralized, gender focal
points in various ministries, national task forces for various
functions such as monitoring and inter ministerial committees.
Some challenges
wer noted. For example, civil strife in sev ral countries slowed
progress, though at the same time made the need to involv women
in conflict resolutions and peace starkly clear. Resource mobilization
and utilization; as well as the Action Plan formulation processes
encountered challenges which are typical of the whole gender
in- development environment, namely, limited capacities of stakeholders
in women s issues; low public awareness; lack of commitment
by some stakeholders; limited human, technical, and financial
resources especially for national machineries; lack of updated
statistical data; lack of xposur and xperience; lack of ffectiv
coordination; n gativ , difficult and strong cultural beliefs;
problems of communication and information dissemination and
misunderstanding of the gender concept.
R garding
gender disaggregated data it was noted that only six among them
Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabw had
already started fulfilling the requirements for gender disaggregated
data. It was also noted that eleven countries had developed
indicators of progress in various sectors ( e. g. education,
employment, women in decision- making, gender focal points,
etc. ) , [53] while others
w r still in the process of establishing these.
Some of
the gov rnment r presentatives did not know what proportion
of their gov rnment budget goes into women s programmes or national
platforms for action. Out of 18 countries that responded to
an ACW questionnair , 16 noted that they did not hav a specific
budget for implementing the Platform for Action while the two,
which hav , do not receiv adequate funds. However, sev ral countries
indicated the existence of monitoring mechanisms through quarterly
or annual reports to gov rnment machinery, cooperating partners,
gender network coordinating committees, etc.
It was also
noted that many NGOs w r activ in the sub- region covering issues
such as: women and the law; information, education and communication
on women s human rights and other women empow rment issues;
peace and conflict resolution; regional integration, entr preneurship
and economic empow rment; tc. [54]
[Table
of Contents]
7.3 National
At the national
level various countries organized and conducted meetings, seminars
and workshops as follow- up to the implementation of both the
African and Beijing Platforms.
[Table
of Contents]
8. The
way forward
8.1 By
the year 2000
The generation, dissemination and utilization of disaggregated
data and maintenance of disaggregated database needs to be
accelerated together with efforts to develop and employ ffectiv
indicators of impact.
Systems for disseminating information for the education and
empow rment of women ( especially at grassroots levels) need
to be accelerated.
Headway has been made in establishing institutions for the
advancement of women but some of them are marginalized in
national gov rnment structures without a clear mandate. [55]
For those national machineries outside the gov rnment structure,
mandates hav to be elaborated and enforced and clear linkages
set up and re- enforced with the policy- making structures.
This also applies to the national machineries embedded in
the gov rnment structure, although this need may not be as
gr at in the former case.
Resource mobilization and utilization strategies by national
machineries hav to be put in place and employed aggressiv
ly since most countries still lament the lack of resources
( financial, human, material) in quality and quantity.
[Table
of Contents]
8.2 By
the year 2005
At the r gional level, the ECA/ ACW, OAU and ADB need to set
up a concrete and systematic regional monitoring, evaluation
and information recording system to track impact. This can
be done through SRDCs and other sub- regional bodies, r garding
what each gov rnment and national machinery is doing to achieve
the Global and R gional Platforms on the African continent.
The information should be categorized and published for each
aspect of the questions noted in the annex This progress tracking,
monitoring and publishing system ( similar to the SADC Gender
Monitor) , will provide a mor comprehensiv constantly up-
dated picture of what is going on. It makes it easier to conduct
periodic one- off valuations of the whole picture or aspects
of it.
Ensure that the NGO community especially local NGOs and women
s associations acquire full capacity ( in financial, human,
material resources) to service the grassroots communities.
Build capacity of local and national legislatures in gender
issues knowledge and gender analysis so that they can effectiv
ly scrutinize and revise gov rnment proposals, policies, budgets
etc. before passing them. International agencies also need
to build this capacity.
[Table
of Contents]
9. Conclusion
From the
for going discussion, it is apparent that r gional, sub- regional
and national authorities hav earnestly sought to put in place
the formal institutional arrangements to implement the Global
and African Platforms. Th y also hav attempted, and continue
to attempt, to apply gender research tools for data collection,
disaggregation and dissemination and to monitor progress . Almost
all hav developed their priorities as contained in national
plans for action based on Global and African Platforms and some
based on national development plans. D velopment partners and
NGOs hav intensified their roles and networking with gov rnment
authorities to ensure speedy and mor effectiv implementation.
How v r,
a lot more remains to be done and the challenges are quite many.
Concerns hav been raised r garding the small number of professional
( specialized) , well- trained and well- motivated staff in
gender machineries, especially at the national level. The workloads
that these staffs hav to bear, especially as the environment
of the issue becomes congested by v ry d velopment partner,
gov rnment and authority, research centers and NGOs attempting
to implement gender or women s programmes, can be too overwhelming
at times.
Furthermore,
especially where there is lack of commitment and zeal, there
is often a lack of institutional memory. Many workshops, meetings,
and conferences are held and attended by many officials from
different institutions and organizations. Numerous recommendations,
conventions, agreements and proclamations are acceded to but
little output is seen as a result. Some of the institutions,
organizations, machineries which are supposed to implement the
conv ntions, agreements, platforms and so on cannot even readily
make available to interested parties the documents they acceded
to. Institutional memory and implementation are blocked by the
existing organizational or institutional culture and traditions.
There is the occasional deliberate forgetfulness because gender
sensitivity brings with it the added burden of changing one
s old ways and habits, new assignments and orientations ( many
people, especially in bureaucratic settings, are averse to chang
or new and extra assignments) . [56]
African
institutions, organizations and societies hav cultures that
may be characterized by some or all of the following: av rsion
to reading and keeping abreast with new ideas and developments
( either because of time and resource constraints or other reasons)
; av rsion to information gathering and information sharing
( again maybe because of resource constraints, but also because
of personal, cultural/ traditional barriers or other factors)
; av rsion to conscious uninhibited search and use of research
data in policy and decision making, coupled with a preference
for subjectivity, rules of thumb, hunch, etc. ( because of the
need for political xpedience, personal whims, etc. ) . It is
one thing to generate gender- disaggregated data, but another
to hav people mak good use of it in their thinking, decisions
and policy- making.
The gender
in development concept is still new and still misunderstood
by many in organizations, institutions and society in general.
It is also misinterpreted by most people including those in
the highest institutions or bodies of policy- making and decision-
making. Admittedly, some gender sensitization programmes hav
been and are still being conducted such as for P rmanent Secretaries,
Chief Executives and Army officers, but much work still needs
to be done to remov entrenched values, traditions, attitudes
and long- held ways of doing things which are detrimental to
women s advancement and participation in policy and decision-
making.
Gender programmes
and mainstreaming of gender are actually carried out by gender
national machineries as well as by individuals in organizations,
institutions, communities ( e. g. traditional leaders) .
Even where
one finds gender focal points in place, there is no guarantee
that gender mainstreaming will take place. There is therefore
dir necessity to ensure mastery of a minimum threshold of gender
mainstreaming capability for every official who pr pares or
advises on policy, programmes and projects so that they all
feel gender mainstreaming is their responsibility.
[Table
of Contents]
References
1. African
Leadership Forum, Towards Improved Leadership for Women s Empowerment
in Africa: Measuring Progress and Improving Strategy ( Final
Draft) , April 1999.
2. Africa
Leadership Forum, Index on the Status of Women in Africa , Ota,
Niger, 1999
3. Akina
Mama wa Afrika, Taking the African Women s Movement Into the
21 st Century: Report of the First African Women s Leadership
Institute , F bruary 22- Mach14, 1997; Kampala, Uganda, 1997.
4. ECA/
OAU, African Platform for Action, Dakar, Senegal, 1994
5. ECA/ ACW R ports of Sub- R gional Follow- up Meetings for
Southern Africa, Northern Africa, West Africa, Central Africa
and East Africa.
6. ECA,
R port of the First Meeting of Ministers of the Committee on
Women and Development, April 1999.
7. ECA,
R port of the Eighteenth Meeting of the Africa R gional Coordinating
Committee for the Integration of Women in Development, April
1997.
8. ECA,
R port of Sub- R gional Follow- up Meeting on the Implementation
of Dakar and Global Platforms for Action Eastern and Southern
Africa, 15- 18 F bruary, 1999
9. Ekapu,
J. N. and Malindi, G. M. Capacity for Gender Mainstreaming in
Government Policies, Plans, and Programmes: A Training Needs
Assessment for Ministry of Women, Youth and Community Services,
and The National Commission for Women in Development, 1998.
10. Eno,
J. and Mtimuni, B. , Institutional Needs Assessment for Government
Agencies Responsible for Gender Issues; ( report to UNDP) .
11. Malawi
Gov rnment, Ministry of Gender, Youth and Community Services,
National Gender Policy, 2 nd Draft. 1999
12. SADC,
Into The future: SADC and Gender , A r port of the SADC Gender
Workshop and the Ministerial Workshop on Gender ( February 1997)
13. SADC,
GENDER Monitor , Issue 1, February, 1999
14. UN,
International Civil Service Commission ( ICSA) , Gender Balance
in the United Nations Common System: Progress, Prognosis, Prescriptions
, December 1998
15. United
Nations Department of Public Information, Fourth World Conf
rence on Women, Beijing, China, Platform for Action and the
Beijing Declaration , N w York, 1995.
16. Various
conference and workshop r ports/ debates of the 6 th African
Regional Conference on Women held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
22- 26 November, 1999
17. Various
Country R ports on Progress in Implementing the Global and African
Platforms for Action . g. Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Congo- Brazzaville, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, K nya, Malawi,
Mali, Nigeria, S ychelles, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, etc. 1999.
18. WEDO,
Mapping Progress: Assessing Implementation of the Global Platform,
New York, 1998
[Table
of contents]
Notes
[1] United
Nations Department of Public Information , Fourth World Conference
on Women, Beijing, China, Platform for Action and the Beijing
Declaration , New York, 1995, . 115
[2] United
Nations, Commission on the Status of Women, 42nd Session, E/
CN. 6/ 1998/ 1, . 5
[3] UN-
ECA/ OAU ( 1994) African Platform for Action: African Common
Position for the Advancement of Women , . 49
[4] African
Platform for Action: African Common Position for Women , Dakar,
1994, p. 49
[5] For
example, Zambia strengthened and elevated the Women in Development
Department at the National Commission for Development Planning
to the Gender in Development Division at Cabinet Office; in
Swaziland, the gender programme did not have a Ministry until
1996 when it was placed under Ministry of Home Affairs;
[6] Seychelles,
Eritrea, Malawi, Kenya, etc. though some modifications to the
total machinery may have been effected e. g. renaming or re-
constitution of the old structures; creation or addition of
sectoral focal points; increased or strengthened networks; etc
[7] See:
Ghana, Accra, National Reports on Progress Made in the Implementation
of the Beijing Platform for Action, . 3 - 6
[8] ECA
African Centre for Women, Strategic Plan for the Period 2000
2005, Addis Ababa, November 1998.
[9] Formerly
ARCC Africa Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration
of Women in Development.
[10] ECA,
Report of The First Meeting of Ministers of the Committee on
Women and Development, April, 1999, . 3
[11] Which
reports directly to the SADC Council of Ministers and has therefore
much influence.
[12] Very
recently changed from Ministry of Women, Children, Community
Services and Social Welfare.
[13] Being
outside the governmental structure NUEW s mandate needs further
clarification as well as development of a stronger, more powerful,
networking system that can ensure more effective implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the Platform for Action.
[14] WEDO,
Mapping Progress , op. cit. , . 160
[15] ibid.
, . 166
[16] Eno
& Mtimuni, Institutional Needs Assessment of Government Agencies
Responsible for Gender Issue , 1998, p. 23
[17] Ibid.
, . 20
[18] Uganda:
National Progress Report, August 1999, . 2
[19] Indicated,
for example, by lack of logistical or resource empowerment of
the regional machinery such as regional coordinators who could
have assisted in diffusing and implementing the action plan
throughout the entire country.
[20] WEDO,
Mapping Progress, op. cit. , . 154
[21] It
appears that a distinction should be made between the Government
Gender Machinery and the National Gender Machinery. The former
should comprise only those structures created by governments
and are managed by public sector officials. The latter is much
wider and encompasses government structures, private sector
structures and civil society organizations/ structures. For
this reason, national gender machineries present greater coordination
and effectiveness challenges than the government gender machineries.
[22] The
UN is currently sponsoring capacity building for gender disaggregated
data through consultants and UN volunteers in countries such
as Malawi.
[23] Posts
subject to geographical distribution rose by less than 1% per
year between 1984 and 1996 while posts not subject to geographical
distribution rose by less than half a percentage point. ( ICSC,
op. cit. , . 8)
[24] For
example, recruitment of women at the senior levels ( P- 5 and
above) accounted for 4.8% of all recruitment in 1998, compared
to 2.6% in 1993.
[25] UN,
International Civil Service Commission ( ICSC) , Gender Balance
in the United Nations Common System: Progress, Prognosis, Prescriptions,
December 1998
[26] ICSC,
op. cit. , . 8
[27] This
justifies the call for mainstreaming gender into all policies,
programmes and rojects and the need for collecting and analysing
gender disaggregated data in all sphere of development undertakings.
[28] The
donors are: ADB, DANIDA, E. U. , GTZ/ DFID, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF
and the WORLD BANK.
[29] WEDO,
Mapping Progress , op. cit. , . 43
[30] ECA,
Report of The First Meeting of Ministers of the Committee on
Women and Development, April, 1999, . 6
[31] Recommendations
and strategies for action by ACW and actors in the field were
derived from these studies.
[32] These
brochures were updated and produced in book format for the 1999
Sixth Regional Conference on Women.
[33] ECA,
The Eighteenth Meeting of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee
for the Integration of Women in Development, April, 1997, .
4
[34] Which
can create a conducive environment to push governments into
gender mainstreaming.
[35] ECA/
ACW, Report of the First Meeting of Ministers of the Committee
on Women and Development , April 1999, p. 6
[36] AAWARD,
WILDAF, WILSA, African Women Committee for Peace and Development
( AWCPD) , Women in Development Southern African Awareness (
WIDSAA) programme
[37] 37
Such as UN agencies ( UNIFEM, UNESCO, UNDP etc. )
[38] This
situation is observable in Zambia, Swaziland and all other countries
which have used activities performed as an indicator of rogress.
[39] Culprits
can be governments or other authorities who choose to ignore
the statutes, agreements, conventions, declarations or who choose
not to rigorously enforce them. They can also be those members
of society who actually contravene the statutes.
[40] Affirmative
action and quotas for example have not had the maximum benefit
in empowering women because of many cultural, attitudinal, behavioral
and socio- political factors which need to be removed ( see:
Africa Leadership Forum: Index on the Status of Women , 1999
p. 65- 66) .
[41] ECA,
Report of Sub- Regional Follow- up Meeting on the Implementation
of Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action Eastern and Southern
Africa, 15- 18 February, 1999, p. 8
[42] ICSC,
op cit. , . 10
[43] ECA,
Report of The First Meeting of Ministers of the Committee on
Women and Development, April, 1999.
[44] Ibid.
, . 9
[45] Egypt,
Malawi , being examples.
[46] ECA,
Report of The First Meeting of Ministers of the Committee on
Women and Development, April, 1999, . 3
[47] National
Union of Eritrean Women, National Report on the implementation
of the African and Global Platform for Action for the Advancement
of Eritrean Women , Asmara, June 1999
[48] Except
may be in health where there is indication of established Systems
Research and Evaluation Unit. ( . 15) . There are also initiatives
to improve on gender disaggregated databases and working with
the Central Bureau of Statistics, to update such databases and
to establish statistical indicators on the status of women in
the country But this falls short of mentioning the creation
of a comprehensive and elaborate monitoring system.
[49] This
can be evidenced by the way women leadership quotas, affirmative
action commitments, even democratic systems in general are manipulated
to render them ineffective for the purposes they were intended
to serve.
[50] In
fact, this reality can apply to how all the critical long- term
development issues on the African continent ( AIDS, environmental
degradation, civil wars and lack of internal security, respect
of human rights etc. ) are treated. Frequently, the term lack
of political will has been adopted and applied to all these
situations ( which are quickly turning into major calamities)
where the political leadership seems unable or unwilling to
start taking serious measures to correct the situation but would
rather spend society s resources on short- term ( sometimes
private/ personal) interests.
[51] The
CWD s terms of reference ( TOR) were given as: to undertake
periodic reviews of rogress in the implementation of regional
and global plans for action; harmonize and coordinate the sub-
regional programmes on the integration of women in development;
mobilise resources needed to implement programme activities
at the sub- regional level; facilitate the sharing of information
and experiences relating to the advancement of women among the
various member states. The ACW serves as the secretariat for
CWD and facilitates the implementation of these TOR and implementation
of resolutions.
[52] African
Leadership Forum ( April 1999) , Towards Improved Leadership
for Women s Empowerment in Africa: Measuring Progress and Improving
Strategy ( Final Draft) , . 4
[53] The
indicators were a mixture of measures of impact and measures
of activities accomplished
[54] Some
of these being: FEMNET, WILDAF; EA- SSI; FAWPN; FEMCOM etc.
[55] SADC,
Into The future: SADC and Gender , A report of the SADC Gender
Workshop ( January 19997) and the Ministerial Workshop on Gender
( February 1997) , . 24
[56] Coupled
with institutional bias where gender- insensitive policy, rogramme
and roject designers do not consciously think of gender mainstreaming,
there is evidence indicating the evaporation of the gender sensitivity
which may have characterised earlier stages of the policy, rogramme
or project design process.
[Table
of contents]
Note
about this publication
For this
and other publications, please visit
the ECA web site or contact
Publications
Economic Commission for Africa
P. O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel. : 251- 1- 44 31 68
Fax: 251- 1- 51 03 65
Material
in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted. Acknowledgment
is requested, together with a copy of the publication.
Written,
edited and designed by Dr. Anthony
D.G.Mawaya, Emmanuel
Nwukor and Seifu Dagnachew. Photographs provided
by Eugiene Aw.
[Table of contents]
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