Press Release No. 36/1997

West Africa Sub-regional Review of Government Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action

Addis Ababa, 24 November 1997: African women leaders and gender specialists from government departments will meet in Dakar, Senegal from 25to 27 November 1997. The West African sub-regional Preparatory Meeting will be convened by the African Centre for Women (ACW) of ECA to review the implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action. The meeting is being organized with collaboration with the Government of Senegal.

Ministers of Women Affairs, parliamentarians and representatives from national machineries and NGOs are expected to attend from 16 African countries. Representatives of funding agencies, development partners and from sister UN agencies will also be present.

The meeting will review progress made on the implementation of National Action Plans by African Governments on the 12 critical areas of concern outlined in the Beijing Platform of Action (1995). It will also review the guidelines for the preparation of national reports on the progress made, as well as ACW's programme of work. The women leaders will exchange information on strategies for accelerating women's integration indecision-making and on strategies for enhancing women's capacity to negotiate with the structures that control resources.

Also to be discussed and endorsed, are ACW's plans for an International Conference on the occasion of ECA's fortieth anniversary in April 1998, in Addis Ababa. The Centre will be responsible for organizing around themes on gender and economic empowerment, governance and Africa's future generations.