Report on Integration of Gender in Development Programmes in Southern African Countries

Report on Integration of Gender in Development Programmes in Southern African Countries

SUMMARY

The impact and effects of HIV/AIDS in Southern African countries, women and children in particular, is well documented. The SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004 adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2000, calls for each development sector in SADC to apply the maximum of its areas of highest comparative advantages to control HIV/AIDS in the SADC region.

ECA/SRDC-SA and relevant institutions in Southern Africa have identified the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework as a critical tool for combating HIV/AIDS. The Framework was reviewed in an Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting and was found to be not gender responsive and an action plan for engendering the Framework was drawn up.

One major activity envisaged to be implemented in the action in 2001 is organizing a workshop, which will bring together SADC HIV/AIDS sector co-ordinators, other stakeholders and development partners to review, analyze, enrich the action plan and make concrete commitments for its implementation.

In order to accommodate this activity we had to reformulate the activity in the 2000 – 2001 Work Programme: Training of Trainers for Women in Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Legal Literacy [Output 16A.III (d)(ii)] in order to organize the workshop.

The report is presented to the ICE meeting to:

Take note of action taken by SRDC/SA to integrate gender into development programmes in Southern African countries;

Take note of the reformulated activity originally planned to be implemented in 2001 in order to accommodate organizing the workshop on engendering HIV/AIDS SADC Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004.

I. Introduction

The framework for SRDC/SA programme is to support development activities for regional co-operation and integration in the countries of Southern Africa through regional economic communities (RECs) and directly with the Member States. The Centre works in close collaboration with all the ECA divisions, UN agencies and in partnership with other development partners. Along the same lines, the framework for implementation of gender programmes in Southern Africa is the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development, which builds on Beijing commitments.

The mid-decade review of Beijing + 5 identified major areas hampering the optimal implementation of Beijing commitments. One of these constraints is the devastating effects and impact of HIV/AIDS. Southern Africa is the most affected region in Africa, with women and children in particular. One author summed the impact of HIV/AIDS: "a missing generation-a population of orphans-a shortage of women". " ……Among 15 to 19 year olds, five times as many females are infected as males. Because they are infected so early in life, many women will die before completing their reproductive years".

The relatively higher prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Southern African countries is well and widely documented. Globally and regionally, the Southern African countries are comparatively the most affected by the scourge of HIV/AIDS. Member States in the region view it as a major development challenge of the 21^st Century. The pandemic presents serious constraints to economic, social, cultural and political development of the sub-region. For example, the infection rates are 1 in 3 for Botswana, 1 in 5 for South African adults, and 1 in 4 for Zimbabwe. Based on UNAIDS figures on HIV prevalence rate among 15 to 49 years olds, Zambia for instance in 1998 it was 20 %, Botswana 36%, Swaziland 25%, Zimbabwe 25%, Lesotho 24 %South Africa 20%, Namibia 20%, and Malawi 16%.²

A recent survey by UNAIDS for instance, estimates a total of about 12 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 12 countries of Southern Africa at the end of 1999, out of which 6,384,000 were women, and 892,500 were children. During the same period in these countries, the cumulative number of deaths from AIDS was estimated at 973,700. The total number of AIDS related orphans reached 4,652,500.

The disproportionately high level and impact of the pandemic on women and children has also been recognized and documented. Estimated HIV prevalence among females in the age group 15-24 years is around 18%, compared to 8% for males.³ Some of the factors, which place women and the girl child at greater risk to HIV/AIDS than men include:

Women having relatively less control over the process of the possibilities of contracting the disease;
Macro-economic, social, cultural and political factors that exacerbate gender inequalities;
Older men exploiting young girls;
Women’s biological and socio-cultural factors;
Lack of information on HIV/AIDS;
Sexual and other violence against women.

As pointed out above, Southern Africa is the sub-region most affected by the impact and effects of HIV/AIDS. As the effects cut across national borders and across the entire development sectors of society, SADC Ministers adopted the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004. The Framework aims at decentralizing HIV/AIDS responses to all development sectors in SADC countries. Implementation of the SADC HIV/AIDS Framework calls for each development sector in SADC to apply the maximum of its areas of highest comparative advantages. Further, with a view to maximizing the complimentarity of men and women in controlling the pandemic, it is necessary to make an analysis of the HIV/AIDS Framework with a view to making it as gender responsive as possible.

ECA/SRDC-SA has identified the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework as a critical tool for combating HIV/AIDS, the disease that threatens the stem, or even reverses development in the sub-region. The Framework, therefore, provides a vehicle for integrating gender in development programmes in Southern Africa.

II. Engendering the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004

Various reports on the status of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa indeed demonstrate that women are and children are the most affected. Thus, the Sixth Regional African Conference on Women held at ECA in November 1999, recommended that Southern Africa sub-region should consider the issue of HIV/AIDS and its implications for women’s empowerment. Accordingly, SRDC/SA organized, in November 2000, an Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on Gender Networking to Control HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. This is an initiative to support the process of operationalizing the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004.

The objective of this meeting was to discuss and analyze current HIV/AIDS response approaches and strategies in Southern Africa and deliberate on measures for enhanced response, draw up an action plan including obtaining definite commitments to implement the action plan to be drawn up.

The meeting was attended by national gender representatives from Malawi, Namibia and Zambia, the Defense HIV/AIDS Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa, national and sub-regional gender networking NGOs from Tanzania and Zimbabwe, civil society organizations such as YWCA. Also in attendance was the Regional Programme Advisor of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Southern Africa, the UNDP HIV/AIDS Focal Point in Zambia and UNDP Swaziland Consultant dealing with research on gender focused response to HIV/AIDS.

Participants from intergovernmental organizations in attendance included: the HIV/AIDS Sector Coordinator and the Gender Unit of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC); Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA

The SADC HIV/AIDS Framework was discussed by the experts and was found to be not gender-responsive. To that end the experts drew up and action plan to engender the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework with partner’s commitments and a time frame for its implementation. Engendering the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework constitutes a component of operaionalizing it.

The Action plan drawn up to engender the SADC Strategic Framework is attached to this report as Annex IA to Annex IE. It is constituted by the following components:

Engendering the SADC Strategic Framework; and Programme 2000-20004;
Capacity Building to Implement the Engendered Framework;
Information, Education and Communication Strategies;
Lobbying and Policy Advocacy;
Monitoring and Evaluation.

Currently collaborative action for implementation of the action plan underway between SADC, SRDC/SA, UNIFEM-Southern African Regional Office (SARO), Southern Africa Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) and the Commonwealth Secretariat. More extensive and heightened commitments for implementation are envisaged.

In addition to the engendering the SADC Framework, other areas of convergence, which emerged in the experts’ discussions with regard to integration of gender and HIV/AIDS, include:

A multi-sectoral approach to combat the HIV/AIDS scourge whereby all stakeholders in public, private and NGO sectors would be involved is in place in all SADC countries and co-ordinated at a high level;

Gender mainstreaming on HIV/AIDS where most of the campaigns were, is still at the level of awareness creation;

Little is being done in the areas of mobilizing for collective action and addressing the underlying causes of silence;

Most awareness creation approaches have also failed to bring the issues to the personal level;

There was need to look at gender at the level of individual capacities to deal with peer pressure, sexuality and public opinion so as to be able to negotiate for safe sex, power relations at the household level, moral judgment, stigma and stereotyping at community and publicd how it defines the po

level;

Tendency among gender activists to use gender analysis to rationalize the subordinate position of woman while leaving the situation of men under patriarchy un-addressed;

Analysis must start from an understanding of patriarchy an

sition of women and men including the negative impact it has for both gender vis-à-vis HIV/AIDS;

National and regional policies in response to HIV/AIDS fail to address the unique needs of the women and men in uniform especially the military;

Need for breaking the silence on gender based sexual and other forms of violence both within and outside the home or family;

Need to facilitate the establishment of men-to-men and youth-to-youth networks to deal with violence against women and HIV/AIDS;

Human rights approach should be central in all approaches in order to bring on board international instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW);

Need to shift care of the sick from wholly a women and girl-child domain to a society responsibility;

Recognition that frameworks, conference declarations and consensus building will remain as mere intensions if they are not operationalized.

III. Way Forward

In order to incorporate a gender perspective into the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme of Work 2000-2004, two operational activities are envisaged in 2001:

A. Team of Experts for Engendering the SADC HIV Strategic Framework

The initial process of engendering the Framework requires a skill mix of consultants to undertake the assignment. Gender, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS experts will constitute the Team to undertake the assignment under the leadership of a Team Leader. The SADC HIV/AIDS Sector Co-ordinators will constitute the main architects for the assignment.

The Team, together with the SADC Health Sector and the SADC Gender Department, will meet with the SADC Sectors with a view to creating gender awareness among the SADC Sector members and identify gender gaps on the Strategic Framework.

The team will undertake the assignment through intensive consultations, interviews and discussions with SADC Sectors and stakeholders, as well as extensive review of relevant literature.

The draft report (of the Team) on engendering the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework is expected to be presented at the stakeholders Conference whose participation will include all SADC Sectors; and also to constitute an input into a workshop planned on the subject.

B. Workshop for SADC HIV/AIDS Sector Coordinators and other

Stakeholders

The workshop is designed to provide a forum for SADC HIV/AIDS Health Sectors Co-ordinators stakeholders to review, analyze, enrich the action plan and make concrete commitments for its implementation.

SADC continues to play a pivotal role in the operationalization of the HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework with support, collaboration and facilitation from development partners and other stakeholders. Implementation of the action plan drawn up for engendering the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework therefore requires heightened commitment of all SADC HIV/AIDS stakeholders.

The action plan for engendering the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004 will be analyzed as constituting a tool for sensitization and soliciting human and financial commitments for implementing gender responsive actions to control HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework in Southern Africa.

Operationalization of the action plan drawn up however, can only be sustainable if ownership and internalization is anchored in the SADC HIV/AIDS co-ordinating units and sectors. The analysis of the action plan by the SADC HIV/AIDS sectors and other stakeholders is therefore expected to facilitate the process of ownership and internalization of the gender HIV/AIDS responsive approach by the respective SADC sectors.

In collaboration with the SADC Health Co-ordinating Unit, the ECA-SRDC/SA plans to organize a workshop for SADC HIV/AIDS Sector Coordinators and other

Stakeholders. The impact from the workshop will be measured through:

Participation of SADC HIV/AIDS sector Co-ordinators;
Consensus reached on action plan to engender the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework;
Ownership and commitment;
Additional human and financial commitments to operationalize the engendered action plan.

C. Mobilization of Resources to Engender the Framework

The SRDC/SA continues to collaborate with SADC, development partners and other stakeholders to initiate the process of implementing the action plan drawn up. To the end, project documents to sponsor the Team of Experts and for organizing the Workshop have been drawn up and under discussion among prospective sponsors.

The SADC Health Co-ordinating Unit of course is central and pivotal to the process of implementation and mobilization of the requisite resources. The prominent initial collaborators to the SADC Framework initiative are currently UNIFEM Southern African Regional Office (SARO), SADC Gender Unit, ECA-SRDC/SA, Southern African Research and Documentation Centre-Women in Development Southern Africa Awareness (SARDC – WIDSAA) and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

D. Current Focus on Gender Response to HIV/AIDS

Training of trainers of women in entrepreneurship and legal literacy was originally envisaged for implementation during the 2000-2001 biennium. Due to the pressing need and urgency to focus on implementing the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework the SADC Health Co-ordinating Sector and the SADC Gender Department have requested the SRDC/SA to operationalize the action plan drawn up during the Ad Hoc Expert group meeting. The Centre is therefore planning to organize the workshop to replace the training of trainers activity.

Annexes