Message from the Chief of the
African Centre for Women

Hello again! The African Centre for Women's newsletter is finally back in print. We apologize for the much longer than expected delay. The Fourth World Conference on Women has taken place and for those of you who were able to make it to Beijing in September last year, I am sure it was an exciting and inspiring gathering of the world's women and men. For those of you who watched from afar, I am sure that you are now geared to fulfilling the promises made, through the implementation of the Global Platform for Action and our own African Platform for Action.

At ECA, the Executive Secretary has announced ways in which ECA's structure and programmes will be reoriented and realigned to be able to serve Africa better, now and into the twenty-first century. Through this restructuring we expect to focus on ways to assist the ECA member Sates implement the African and Global Platforms for Action and monitor and evaluate the implementation. Technical assistance to Member States is also available upon request.

One positive development announced by the Executive Secretary recently is the placement of the African Centre for Women (ACW) within his cabinet. The Executive Secretary, on numerous occasions, has expressed his support for the Centre and plans to strengthen it. Gender concerns will be fully integrated into ECA's new strategic directions and will be mainstreamed as cross cutting issues through all the programme areas. In the newly launched UN system-wide Special Initiative for Africa, the interests of women will be incorporated within the fourteen components of the identified and established priorities for development.

Please give us your feedback and let us know how this newsletter might serve you better. If there are news items which in your opinion, may be of interest to a large number of our readers, please let us know. We can be reached by telephone, fax, e-mail or through the postal service. Please use the following e-mail address: Beverly_Lynn_Jones_at_uneca@un.org

Beijing Follow-up

Many African countries are still in the process of formulating their national action plans for implementing the Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women. However, even in Beijing some countries committed themselves to certain goals. For example:

Cote d'Ivoire: To ensure 100 per cent enrolment of girls in school by the year 2000.

Congo: To review all legislation to improve women's legal status by the year 2000.

Equatorial Guinea: To enact laws on marital separation, widowhood, inheritance, family planning and forced marriage.

Eritrea: To improve mother-child health care services

Lesotho: To increase women's access to credit

Namibia: To ensure 94 per cent enrolment of all primary-school age children by the year 2000.

Nigeria: To establish a women's university

South Africa: To ratify the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, build new shelters for battered women

Zambia: To achieve school enrolment parity by the year 2005.

While these are only some of the steps which can be taken to improve the status of women, they might serve as examples for countries which are working on formulating basic targets for improving the status of women.

There was also a lot of interest expressed in Beijing in targeting the girl-child, which is one of the critical areas of concern listed in the African Platform for Action. Very specific measures countries can take to implement the African Platform are described in the publication, Guidelines for Implementation of the African Platform for Action available from the African Centre for Women in English and French.

UP-COMING SUB-REGIONAL AND REGIONAL EVENTS:

Conference on "Empowering Women through Functional Literacy

and Education of the Girl-child"

From 8 to 13 September 1996, the Government of Uganda will host a conference whose the theme is: "The empowering Women through Functional Literacy and Education of the Girl-child". The meeting is being organized jointly by the government of Uganda and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in collaboration with ECA, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO, UNFPA, DANIDA, FAWE, the World Bank, other UN Specialized Agencies and NGOs. Core discussions of the meeting will center around primary education for girls, post-primary and secondary education for girls, and functional literacy for economic empowerment.

First Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair and Investment Forum

From 26 June to 3 July 1996, the First Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair and Investment Forum will be held in Accra, Ghana. The main objective of this event is to provide an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs in Africa, Europe and North America to come together to promote various goods and services, search for new business and investment opportunities, enhance African women's competitiveness in international markets and share experiences and views. The theme for the Fair is "Foreign private direct investment in women's businesses for economic recovery and development in Africa". The organizers are the Ghana Women's Entrepreneurs Association (GAWE), in conjunction with the African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (AFWE) together with ECA/African Centre for Women (ACW). Financial resources are being provided by USAID, CIDA, UNDP, UNIDO, the Commonwealth Foundation and other international organizations.

For information, please contact:

Mrs. Lucia Quachey

Secretary-General

Ghana Association of Women Entrepreneurs

P.O. Box 7600

Accra, Ghana

Fax: (233-21) 22-83-98,

- or -

African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs (AFWE), c/o ECA African Centre for Women, P.O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,

Fax: (251-1) 51-27-85.

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The United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)

The United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) will take place from 3 to 14 June 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey. Many issues relevant to women will be addressed. The focus of the conference is on the urban environment. Women in urban areas often live in sub-standard housing and face health risks from indoor and outdoor pollution. Water and fuel resources are also being exhausted at an alarming rate in many of the world's fast-growing cities, causing more hardships for women. One of the background papers for the Conference explains how the objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action support the Habitat Agenda, which stresses that women's expertise, needs and perspectives should have a visible impact on housing and the development of settlements in both rural and urban areas. For example: The design of housing and the provision of basic services should take into account the different perspectives and requirements of women and men; Government authorities at all levels responsible for shelter planning should integrate gender perspectives as part of legislation, public policies and housing projects; Credit institutions and lending programmes should be accessible to women; Training and extension services in both urban and rural areas should be available to women, including young women, who lack access to traditional sources of collateral; Women should be actively and practically encouraged to enter shelter-related professions -- architecture, engineering, construction, management and planning -- which are still largely male-dominated; Emergency shelter programmes for refugees and the victims of natural and human-made catastrophes should make provision for women's safety and health needs; and laws governing divorce, inheritance and property rights should not place women at a disadvantage, but protect women's equal access to resources and ownership.

For more information about Habitat II, please contact:

Habitat II Secretariat

UNHCS

P.O. Box 30030

Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: 254-2-62-30-33

Fax: 254-2-62-30-80

e-mail: Habitat2@unep.no

Recent meetings held at ECA with relevance to women:

Experts Meeting on the Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women

From 1 to 3 March 1996, ECA, with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme and the east African Regional Focal Field initiative (R.F.F.I.), organized an Expert Meeting on the Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was followed by a meeting of the Bureau of the Fifth African Regional Conference on Women, from 3 to 5 March 1996. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and map out strategies for the implementation of the Regional and Global Platforms for Action. A Framework for the Implementation was adopted as part of the final report. The general consensus at the Experts Meeting was that sensitization is crucial to the successful implementation of the Platforms for Action. Sectoral ministries, religious and traditional leaders and the media have an important role to play and therefore must understand and support the contents and spirit of the Platforms.

It was felt that the African Centre for Women should play a lead role in assisting countries with the formulation of their national action plans, monitoring and information dissemination concerning the Platforms. Also, the role of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development (ARCC), a subsidiary body of ECA, was discussed and many participants felt it should be strengthened.

In addition, priorities and strategies for the mobilization of resources were discussed in the context of economic realities on the ground and pressure from donors and financial institutions such as the World Bank/IMF especially under the Structural adjustment programmes. Finally, the need for an effective coordination, monitoring and evaluation mechanism at all levels was also discussed.

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International Women's Day

On 8 March, 1996, the African Centre for Women organized activities in celebration of the International Women's Day. The theme for this year was Violence against Women. Panalists were invited to speak on legal aspects of violence against women, human rights aspects of violence against women and female genital mutilation as a form of violence against women. At the same venue, an ILO project presentation focused on the problems faced by Ethiopian women fuelwood carriers. A video prepared by the United Nations Population Fund, depicting the problems female adolescents face was also shown.

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Land-Tenure Meeting

From 11 to 15 March 1996, a meeting was held at ECA on Land-Tenure. It was organized by the ECA Division of Natural Resources and sponsored by two Non-governmental Organizations, GTZ and Sahara and Sahel Observatory (SSO). Within some of the presentations made, discussions with a CARE project co-ordinator and working Groups, some references were made to the role of gender in land tenure issues. Participants were informed that in Ethiopia, women have almost no say at all in use of land, inputs, marketing and processing of crops. Women who are members of a Peasant's Association may be able to continue using land if their husband dies or if they are divorced. However, there are many women whose husbands have simply abandoned them who have no access to land and are in an extremely vulnerable position. Some soon-to-be-implemented micro credit projects and food-for-work programs run by CARE will target these women.

The meeting was informed of situations in Tanzania and Kenya, where women ended up with less security of tenure after land registration was begun. In other words, under customary law, women may not have had legal title to land but had the recognized right to use the land in most cases. When title is officially given to an individual, it is usually in the name of the husband only and few women have financial resources to buy land in an open land market situation. One recommendation made was to register land in the names of both husband and wife so that either would keep land if the other dies and also, both would have to agree to a land sale.

Information was also provided about a multi-pronged approach to environmental management and local development as articulated at the Praia Conference on Land Tenure and Decentralization in June 1994, in Cape Verde in which women's associations participated along with all other stakeholders. The Conference emphasized ways of increasing participation of all stake-holders in natural resources management at the village level.

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Pan-African Conference on Youth and Development

An OAU-sponsored Pan-African Conference on Youth and Development was held at ECA during the week of 18 to 22 March 1996. A representative from UNICEF presented a paper entitled "Girl Child in the 1990s and Beyond: Meaningful Contribution to Peace, Participation and Development". In the paper participants were reminded of recent conferences which have brought attention to the plight of the girl child in Africa. These include the World Summit for Children in 1990 and the Dakar International Conference on Assistance to African Children (ICAAC) in 1992. The African Ministers of Education also recommended action for girls at the Pan-African Conference on the Education of Girls, held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1993. At the OAU Conference, it was pointed out that despite numerous global and regional fora focusing on the girl-child in Africa and elsewhere, the situation has unfortunately not improved.

The UNICEF paper presented at the Conference explained why it is important to focus on girls: "Girls in Africa live in environments, societies and cultures that are diverse. Yet their disadvantaged situation is basically similar wherever they might live. They are more likely to be born into discrimination, be under-valued in comparison to their brothers, be exploited and considered transitory members of their families, and serve as helpers to their over-burdened mothers from a very early age. Their sexuality increases their vulnerability to violence and abuse. These discriminatory attitudes and practices, deeply rooted in the cultures and traditions of [some] African societies, are perpetuated and accepted primarily because societies are basically complacent and satisfied with the status quo." During the discussion that followed the presentation, some participants said that some legislative change is needed, but more importantly, information, communication and education are much needed in order to change attitudes and beliefs.

Specific topics addressed within the paper included: education and the problem of decreased enrolment, school-leaving due to pregnancy, and alternative education strategies; female genital mutilation with its mental, physical and human rights abuse dimensions

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UNFPA-sponsored technical consultation meeting on Female genital mutilation

From 27 to 29 March 1996, in Addis Ababa, a UNFPA-sponsored technical consultation meeting was held on Female genital mutilation. The objective of the meeting was to develop a programming framework for integrating strategies for addressing the issue of FGM into country programmes in UNFPA's main areas of work, namely, reproductive health, population and development and advocacy. Case studies were presented on some African countries. Recommendations on strategies, actions and constraints were discussed within working groups which then summarized their work to the meeting.

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Seventeenth Meeting of the African Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development (ARCC)

From 24 to 26 April 1996 the Seventeenth Meeting of the African Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development (ARCC), which is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, took place at ECA. It deliberated on issues related to the advancement of women in Africa. Items on its agenda included: Report on the activities of the ECA Women in Development Programme during the period from April 1995 to April 1996; Report on the meetings of the Twenty-first Ad-hoc Inter-agency Meeting on Women and the Fortieth

Session of the Commission on the Status of Women; Report of the meeting of the Bureau of the Fifth African Regional Conference on Women on follow-up to the Conference; Role of ARCC in coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women; Elections of ARCC members; Influencing policy on information technology to meet women's needs in Africa; and Information on the on-going ECA Renewal Process.

The Minister for Women Affairs of the Federal Democratic Government of Ethiopia, the Executive Secretary of ECA and the Assistant Secretary-General of OAU made statements at the opening of the meeting. Copies of the report are available from ACW. Following the ARCC meeting, the meeting of the ECA Technical Preparatory Committee of the Whole (TEPCOW) took place from 30 April to 3 May 1996, followed by the ECA Conference of Ministers Responsible for Economic and Social Development, from 6 to 8 May, 1996. The theme of the meetings was "Meeting the Challenges of Africa's Development in the Twenty-first Century: The Role of the Economic Commission for Africa". Resolutions were adopted on "Enhancement of women's contribution to the implementation of the programme for the second United Nations Development Decade for Africa" and "Follow-up to Dakar and Beijing Conferences: Implementation of the Global and Regional Platforms for Action for the advancement of women". A decision was adopted on "Revitalizing and strengthening of the Africa Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development". It was decided that: the Niamey Multinational Programming and Operational Centre (MULPOC) subregion will have four instead of three countries as members of the Committee, that the Lusaka MULPOC will have six instead of three countries as members, and that the country chairing the African Regional Conference on Women would become a member of the ARCC Bureau until the next African Regional Conference. The total number of ARCC members is therefore increased from fifteen to nineteen.

Announcements about study/training opportunities and up-coming events:

ECA/ACW is planning to organize a training of trainers course for women entrepreneurs, to be held at the Pan African Institute for Development of Eastern and Southern Africa (PAID -- ESA), in Kabwe, Zambia. For more information, please contact ACW.

The Fourth Postgraduate course on human rights of women will be held at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, 1-28 July 1996. This course will be taught by an international faculty. There will be lectures on the following topics:

- General overview of gender

issues and introduction to

UN instruments and

activities

- Charter-based activities

regarding women's rights in

the UN and Specialized

Agencies

- UN Convention on the

Elimination of all Forms of

Discrimination against

Women

- Human Rights of Women

during war and conflict

- The African and European

system of Human Rights

- Situation reports on human

rights of women in African

countries

- the Role of NGOs in the

promotion and protection

of human rights in Africa

- Issues such as violence

against women, women's

reproductive rights, women

and democracy, religious

traditions and women's

rights, and human rights

of refugee women

For further information and an application form, please contact:

WUS Uganda

P.O. Box 16229

Wandegeya, Kampala, Uganda

Tel: 00256 41 531 402

Fax: 00256 41 530 412

- or -

Austrian Regional Bureau for

Development Cooperation

P.O.Box 7457, Kampala, Uganda

Tel: 00256 41 235 103

Fax: 00256 41 235 160

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Boston University announces its one-semester training course for persons involved in drafting legislation. This is part of the Legislative Drafting for Social Change programme. The programme enables participants to research and draft actual bills addressing existing social problems in their own countries. It trains participants to create legislative programs and to define those programs in clear, precise bills. It is primarily directed at: civil servants with or without formal legal training, who are involved in designing legislative programs, university teachers who plan to prepare themselves to teach drafting, members of Parliament and their staffs etc. For further information and applications:

Boston University

School of Law

765 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215 USA

Tel: (617) 353-3110

Fax: (617) 353-3077

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The Global Programme of Training in Population and Sustainable Development established by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 1986 is recruiting participants for the Spanish component of the 1997 session at the University of Chile in Santiago. In addition, three training courses are offered in English (including one in Egypt and one in Botswana), and one is offered in French (in Morocco). The Programme is comprised of five long-term post-graduate training courses. It is designed specifically to enhance the capabilities of professionals from developing countries in integrating population policy into development strategy. It is designed for staff of micro-economic policy and planning units in ministries of finance and planning, national and central banks, sectoral ministries including ministries of agricultural planning and industrial development, population programme officers, and individuals having operational responsibilities at field level as well as relevant staff of selected NGOs and the private sector working in the area of population and development. For further general information, please contact:

International Coordinator

Global Programme of Training

in Population and Sustainable

Development

Place Montesquieu, 1 bte 17

B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve

Belgium

Tel: (32-10) 47-41-06

Telefax: (32-10) 47-41-28

e-mail: MAZOUZ@dvlp.ucl.ac.be

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A Masters Degree in International Child Welfare program at The School of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK NR4 7TJ is announced. The programme is designed for child welfare practitioners, managers and planners, lecturers and trainers. It is a 12-month course and allows for the undertaking of a major project in one's own country during the second semester. The Programme Director, Mr. Clive Sellick may be contacted at: The School of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ UK, or through e-mail at: c.sellick@uea.ac.uk

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The Women's caucus of the African Studies Association (ASA) seeks to promote the study of gender within the various disciplines represented in the Association, ensure an active and representative role for women Africanists within the Association, and develop links between the Association and women in Africa. Speakers at recent ASA events include, Ayesha Mei-Tje Thian Imam, Gender Coordinator, Institute for Development and Economic Planning (IDEP), Dakar, Senegal, who spoke on women and Islam in Africa. For the 1996 luncheon and roundtable, Dianne Jntl Forte, African Women's Studies Program, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, will speak on women's reproductive health in West Africa and the U.S. For membership information, please write to the Treasurer:

Margot Lovett

Department of History

Drake University

Des Moines, Iowa 50311

office tel: (515) 271-2764

e-mail: ML6461R@acad.drake.edu

Membership for women in Africa is free. For institutions, the fee is $25.00.

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The Department of Economics at the University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK announces an international conference on Science and Technology in Reconstruction and Development at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa from 23 to 26 September 1996. Topics to be discussed include: Reconstruction and Development of South Africa; Development of Southern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa; Agriculture and Rural Development; Gender issues; Environment and Development; Science and Technology Policy; Energy, Water and Infrastructure; International Co-operation; Research and Development; Industry; Health and Nutrition; Human Capital and Human Resources Development etc. For further information, please contact:

Dr. Dipak Ghosh, STRAD Conference Organizer at the above address or Tel: 44 1786 467479,

Fax: 44 1786 467469, e-mail: dipak.ghosh@stir.ac.uk

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IMA International Ltd announces its 1996 series of courses to be held in Brighton, England at the University of Sussex. Examples of July to September 1996 offerings include Rural Development courses: Management course for Women in Rural Development, Training of Trainers course, Managing sustainable development, Women in Environmental Management, and management training courses such as Management skills for Women. For more information, please contact

Mr. David Hearle,

Programme Director,

IMA International Ltd.

36 Robertson Road, Brighton,

East Sussex, BN1 5NL, UK

Tel: 01273 559000,

Fax: 01273 500045, e-mail: imaltd@pavilion.Co.uk

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The Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands announces its Master's Programme in Population and Development. The ISS follows a modular approach, through which participants combine common training in one of the following ISS programmes: Agriculture and Rural Development, which focuses on rural poverty and problems of Environment and Sustainable Development, Economics of Development which focuses on Social Welfare in Economic Development, and Women in Development which focuses on gender dimensions in population and development. For further information and applications:

Academic Registrar (c/o Office of Student Affairs)

Institute of Social Studies

P.O. Box 29776

2502 LT

The Hague, The Netherlands

Tel: (31-70) 426-0460

Fax: (31-70) 426-0799

Telex: 31491 ISS NL

Cable: SOCINST.

e-mail: student.office@iss.nl

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We have received information about an organization, Ufficio Ricerca Indigeni Habitat Interdipendenza (URIHI), based in Italy, which offers bibliographic, photographic, musical and video materials; organizes lectures, debates, exhibitions to those interested in reciprocal information and communication exchange between the North and South. One of its productions is entitles "Women in the World". The Organization's address is:

via San Marco 24 - 20120

Milan, Italy.

Tel: 02 657-5639

Fax: 659-9301

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Recent publications relevant to women in Africa:

Visible at Last: NGO Contribution to Women's Recognition in Uganda published by Action for Development, P.O. Box 16729

Kampala, Uganda. The book describes the innovative work of some of Uganda's many NGOs, many of them grassroots or community-based women's groups in a wide range of fields.

The Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) publishes a newsletter. For more information, please contact Ms. Demere Kitunga, Editor at: P.O. Box 8921, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The following are ACW publications, and are generally available in English and French:

African Platform for Action, which was adopted at the Fifth African Regional Conference on Women in Dakar, Senegal in November, 1994.

Guidelines for the Implementation of the African Platform for Action, which suggests very specific steps which can be taken in order to implement the African, (and most of the Global), Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women.

Report of the Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting to consider modalities of setting up an African Bank for Women (held 24 - 29 August in Kampala, Uganda). The objectives of the Meeting were to: devise a financial institution which would cater to specific financial needs of African women at all levels, define the best mode for operation, and recommend measures which would ensure its viability and sustainability, as well as mobilization of financial resources.

Distinguished Daughters of Africa, which describes the achievements of a sampling of distinguised African women.

African Women and Leadership, which presents the regional situation of African women in leadership positions in specific sectors, and presents an analysis of the social and working environments they face and the pathways they followed to positions which influence policy and decision-making in their respective fields of operation.

Gender in Africa, a booklet of 53 pages which presents an overview of gender issues in Africa along with statistics and graphs.

International Legal Instruments Relevant to Women, which is a compilation of United Nations conventions which specifically address women's rights (the French version is being finalized).