FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BEIJING
PLATFORM FOR ACTION 2003-2004
Third
Meeting of the Committee on Women and Development
9-11 October 2002, Johannesburg, South Africa
I. Introduction
II. Capacity building for monitoring and evaluating
the implementation of PFA
III. Areas of the Beijing Platform for Action to
be evaluated
IV. Modalities for evaluation at the national,
subregional and regional levels
Annex 1 : Evaluation Questions
Annex 2: Guidelines for the Preparation
of the National Evaluation Report
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I. INTRODUCTION
Within the framework of Beijing + 10, Africa will evaluate
the state of implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platform
for Action in 2004 guided by :
the priorities of the African Plan of Action 2000-2004 to
accelerate the follow-up of the Beijing Platform for Action
the recommendations of the United Nations General Assembly Special
Session to review Beijing + 5 in June 2000.
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II. CAPACITY BUILDING FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF PFA
ECA African Centre for Gender and Development developed the
Monitoring and Evaluation ( M & E) Programme on the implementation
African Plan of Action The Programme focuses on :
monitoring the status of the national gender policy frameworks,
their adequacy in promoting gender mainstreaming in all the
sectors and their state of implementation
monitoring and evaluating the status and capacity of institutional
mechanisms to facilitate implementation of the gender policies.
21 countries, current members of CWD, are participating in the
Programme.
Sectors of focus are the ministries of agriculture, commerce
and industry, health, planning, finance, women affairs and the
national coordinating NGO
Seven senior officers per country were trained in the use of
the monitoring and evaluation Tool and the preparation of sectoral
monitoring reports every 6 months
The sectoral reports are to be synthesized into national reports,
which are to be forwarded to ECA through the ministries in charge
of women affairs.
The periodic monitoring reports will provide important inputs
into the evaluation exercise in second half of 2003
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III. AREAS OF THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION TO BE EVALUATED
Objectives and scope
to assess systematically and objectively the relevance, implications
and the sustainability of the implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action in the different critical areas of concern.
All the 12 critical areas of concern should be evaluated in
terms of implementation and results attained, i.e outputs in
the short run or outcomes in the medium term, and impact where
the the status of women has changed as a result of the implementation
of the PFA
Further issues of focus in the evaluation
Recommendations of the Outcome Document of the Beijing + 5
General Assembly Special Session in June 2000 and the African
Plan of Action 2000-20004 to accelerate the implementation of
the Beijing Platform for Action in 1999.
1. Women and poverty: mainstreaming gender in macro-economic
and social policies e.g. programmes of structural adjustment
and external debt, recognizing the persistent and increasing
burden of poverty on women in Africa and addressing women's
double burden of paid and unpaid work including women's time
use in national accounts
2. Education and training of women: Assessing progress
made towards closing the gender gap in: equal access to education,
vocational training in science and technology, completion of
basic education especially those living in rural areas; adult
literacy especially 2015, developing gender-sensitive curricula
3. Women and health: Assessing progress towards women's
right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental well-being throughout their life cycle;
universal access to gender sensitive health care services by
2015; achieving the benchmarks to reduce maternal mortality
and morbidity, provision of safe and effective family planning
and contraceptive methods and to reduction of young people's
risk of HIV/AIDS; adoption of safe and responsible sexual reproductive
behaviour; use of effective methods to prevent sexually transmitted
infections including HIV/AIDS
4. Violence against women: Assess the extent to which
gender-based violence including battering, domestic violence,
sexual abuse and exploitation, forced prostitution and sexual
harassment, cultural prejudice, armed conflict, ethnic cleansing
etc are being combated and eliminated; programmes that address
the imbalances between women and men in reproductive responsibilities
5. Women and armed conflict: the extent to which gender-based
violence is being addressed in situations of armed conflicts
6. Women and the economy: Assess progress made towards
mainstreaming a gender perspective into: the key macro-economic
and social development policies and national development programmes;
design, development, adoption and execution of all budgetary
processes, in order to promote equitable budget allocations
to support gender equality and development programmes that enhance
women's empowerment, develop the necessary analytical and methodological
tools and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation.
7. Women in power and decision-making: equal sharing
of decision-making in political, public, private and peace building
structures
8. Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women:
level of political commitment to the gender national machinery
(its status, human and financial resources allocated)
9. Human rights of women: the creation of non-discriminatory,
gender-sensitive legal environment in order to remove discriminatory
provisions in such issues as access to land, access to and control
of economic resources, inheritance rights. Assurance against
the use of maternity, motherhood; parenting and the role of
women in procreation as a basis for discrimination or full participation
of women in society.
10. Women in the media: to be assessed as stipulated
in the Platform for Action
11. Women and the environment: Use of women's knowledge
and priorities in the conservation and management of natural
resources. Gender sensitivity of programmes and infrastructures
adopted to respond to disasters and emergency situations that
threaten the environment, livelihood security and the management
of the basic requirements of daily life
12.The girl-child: implementation of the recommendations
of the Dakar and Beijing PFA
Other related issues that should be evaluated
Women and girls with disability: Government policies
and programmes should be evaluated to determine the extent to
which they take into account the needs of disabled women and
girls, e.g equal access to education, to health care and services
and employment opportunities
Research-based knowledge and data disaggregated by sex:
provision of national statistical offices with institutional
and financial support in order to collect, compile and disseminate
data disaggregated by sex, age etc.
Mechanisms to enhance transparency and accountability:
Allocation of resources: The adequacy of allocated resources
for the implementation of the Platform for Action and for building
the necessary capacity for gender mainstreaming in different
sectors
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IV. MODALITIES FOR EVALUATION AT THE NATIONAL, SUBREGIONAL
AND REGIONAL LEVELS
(a) At the national level
August and December 2003. A national multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral
committee to be established to take charge of the evaluation
process
Between January and February 2004, a national meeting of stakeholders
to be convened by the National Technical Committee to validate
the evaluation report.
National evaluation report to be submitted to the ECA Subregional
Development Centres by March
The countries participating in the Monitoring and Evaluation
Programme of the African Plan of Action will submit 2 reports
to the SRDCs: synthesized report on progress made in the implementation
of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action; and national
evaluation report on progress made in the implementation of
the African Plan of Action in the selected areas as stipulated
in the Monitoring and Evaluation Programme.
(b) At the subregional level
Reports on national evaluation of the PFA and the evaluation
of the African Plan of Action to be submitted to SRDCs by March
2004
Between April and June 2004, SRDCs to synthesize the national
reports and to submit them to the Intergovernmental Committee
of Experts (ICE) for discussion and consensus building on the
subregional priority gender issues
Participants to include Monitoring and Evaluation Officers from
the ministries participating in the M & E Programme. RECs
should also participate.
SRDCs will submit the final subregional evaluation reports to
ECA/ ACGD by end July 2004
(c) At the regional level
ACGD to synthesize subregional evaluation reports and submit
them to the Regional High Level Consultative Meeting in 2004.
Participants at the Consultative Meeting should include ministers
from the 7 sectors participating in the M & E Programme.
The RECs, AU, ECA and ADB to evaluate the status of implementation
of the African Plan of Action and the Dakar and Beijing Platforms
for Action in their institutions.and report directly at the
Regional High Level Consultative Meeting in November 2004
The Regional High Level Consultative Meeting to review the regional
evaluation reports and build a consensus on priority gender
issues and the way forward as Africa's input into the global
Beijing + 10 review conference in 2005.
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Annex 1 : Evaluation
Questions
|
Evaluation Concern
(Substantive Focus) |
What to Address |
Point of reference |
Evaluation Questions |
Source of Information |
| Relevance |
The
continued validity of the objectives of the 12 critical
areas of concern |
The
policies, needs and priorities of the specific country. |
·
Do the objectives identified
for the three areas address the national needs in relation
to the advancement of gender equality?
·
Are the objectives in
line with the government's priorities and policies?
·
Are the objectives considered
useful to the target groups?
·
Are they complementary
to other gender mainstreaming interventions?
·
Should they be adjusted,
eliminated or new ones added in light of new needs, priorities
and policies? |
· Government
ministries.
· Target
groups (opinions).
· NGO bodies involved
in gender mainstreaming efforts.
|
| Performance: |
| Effectiveness |
·
Achievement of agreed
upon objectives.
·
Effectiveness of institutional
arrangements. |
·
The strategic objectives
of the critical areas of concern
·
Implementation of planned
actions. |
·
To what extent have the
agreed upon objectives been attained?
·
Have the programmes contributed
to the goal/s of accelerating the implementation of the
Platforms for Action?
·
Have the institutional
arrangements in place facilitated the implementation of
the Platform? |
· The monitoring
reports. |
| Success: |
| Outcomes |
Short
to medium-term changes resulting from the implementation
of the PFA. |
·
National leaders values
and attitudes;
·
Organizational systems;
·
Government and NGOs' policies,
plans and programmes. |
·
To what extent has the
implementation of the BFA impacted on national leaders'
(government ministers, members of parliament, among others)
values and attitudes with regard to gender equality?
·
How and to what extent
have government and NGOs' organizational systems been
influenced by the implementation of the PFA
·
To what extent has the
PFA implementation contributed to changes in government
and NGOs' policies, plans and programmes? |
·
Government ministries.
·
NGOs.
·
Target groups (opinions).
·
Monitoring reports. |
| Sustainability |
Durability
of positive PFA implementation results. |
Institutional
arrangements in place. |
·
Will the institutional
arrangements in place facilitate the continued flow of
the benefits set in motion by the implementation of the
PFA?
·
Will the institutional
arrangements in place facilitate the use or adoption of
the PFA implementation results to different contexts or
changing environment? |
·
Government ministries
·
NGOs
·
Monitoring reports. |
|
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Annex 2: Guidelines for the Preparation of the National
Evaluation Report
The objectives of the evaluation report are to:
Evaluate progress made in the implementation of the PFA.
Demonstrate concrete achievements in meeting strategic
objectives for the three areas of focus;
Identify obstacles and constraints in realizing the strategic
objectives; and
Recommend strategic actions to be taken in the light
of the evaluation findings.
It is suggested that the evaluation report should contain the
following:
1. Executive Summary:
This section should be one page long, and should give a brief
overview of the main components of the report; what was evaluated;
major evaluation findings and conclusions; recommendations;
and lessons learned.
2. Introduction:
This section should briefly discuss:
The national, regional and global contexts within which the
specific country implemented the PFA;
A brief overview of the National Plan of Action including programmes
for further actions according to the African Plan of Action
and the Outcome Document on Beijing + 5
The country's assessment of the PFA from its vantage point.
3. Evaluation Findings:
This section should contain the following:
Evaluation findings on the progress that has been made in each
of the 12 critical areas of concern. These findings should be
related as closely as possible, to the strategic objectives,
actions laid out in the PFA, African Plan of Action and the
Outcome Document of Beijing + 5 and the monitoring and evaluation
tool. Findings from the annual monitoring exercises should be
incorporated.
A discussion of the obstacles and constraints experienced in
the implementation of the PFA in each of the areas of focus.
Any other evaluation findings.
Lessons learnt about programme implementation, monitoring and
evaluation, through the implementation of the PFA
4. Conclusions and Recommendations:
This section should contain:
A summary of the work done, stating how well the goals and objectives
were attained;
Recommendations on the strategic actions to be taken in line
with the evaluation findings, so as to realize the full implementation
of the PFA and the goal of gender equality.
5. Appendices:
The appendices may include information and statistical data
collected.
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