Economic Commission for Africa
Commission économique pour l'Afrique

Sixth African Regional Conference On Women

Mid-Term Review of the Implementation
of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms For Action

22-26 November 1999
Addis Ababa

THE EVALUATION PROCESS

The Sixth African Regional Conference on Women is a statutory inter-governmental meeting whose principal purpose is to assess the progress made in implementing the African Platform for Action for the Advancement of Women adopted in Dakar, 1994.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) through its African Centre for Women (ACW) and under the auspices of the Committee on Women and Development (CWD) has organised the conference in keeping with its mandate from the General Assembly and African governments to monitor and support the implementation of regional and global conventions for the advancement of women.

In preparation for the conference, the stakeholders given specific mandates to contribute to the implementation of the PFA undertook a self-assessment of their performance and will present their findings during the Conference. The assessment exercise continues during the first four days of the Conference and comprises:

 

I. ASSESSMENT BY MEMBER STATES

    NATIONAL PROGRESS REPORTS

    The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) requested African governments, through the Ministries in charge of gender and development issues, to submit their national reports on the status of implementation of the Platforms for Action. The national reports are based on the targets set in national plans of action developed after Dakar. ECA will synthesize all the National Reports submitted into one Regional Report.

Honorable Ms. Neziha Zarrouk, Tunisian Minister for Women and Family Affairs, who is also the President of the Committee on Women and Development (CWD), will present the Regional Report.

 

II. ASSESSMENT BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) members of the technical preparatory committee of the Conference constituted themselves into a co-ordinating team to organise the participation of NGOs. The participation encompasses the preparation of the NGO progress report, and the participation of NGOs at the plenary sessions.

The objective of the NGO consultative meeting planned for 19 and 20 November 1999 is to adopt the draft NGO progress assessment report, as well as to agree upon the modalities for NGO participation at the substantive plenary and workshop sessions.

 

III. ASSESSMENT BY INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS.

The organisations below have a specific mandate to monitor the implementation of the Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action. It is within this context that they will present their assessment reports.
- UNDP - UNESCO
- UNFPA - UNHCR
- UNICEF - UNIDO
- UNAIDS - WHO
- WFP - FAO
- UNIFEM - UNEP/ROA
- IOM - ILO

IV. PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF PROGRESS MADE IN THE TWELVE
     THEMATIC CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN OF THE PLATFORM FOR ACTION

The Economic Commission for Africa commissioned independent consultants to evaluate the progress made in implementing recommendations for each of the twelve thematic critical areas of concern, as indicated in the PFA.

The assessment:

A)   Recalls:

  • The commitments taken by the main organizations (UN Specialized Agencies / Programmes and regional institutions) to implement the Platform
  • Resources (human and financial) allocated by the UN Agencies and Programmes, other institutions and governments to the implementation of the Platform in the said critical area
  • Commitments taken by governments in that area
  • The results and the recommendations of the meetings, conferences and other consultations organized at the regional, sub-regional and international levels as follow-up to the Beijing conference in this area
  • Mechanisms for monitoring at the international, regional, sub-regional and national level

B)   Reviews:

  • Statistical data on the status of women in that area
  • Progress already achieved in that area

c)   Assesses:

  • The degree of relevance of the mechanisms established for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action at the national, sub-regional and regional levels
  • The level of availability of reliable statistics and the degree of efforts to exploit them
  • The adequacy of resources allocated to evaluate the progress achieved
  • Efficiency of the mechanisms and procedures established to mobilize resources
  • Efficiency of the mechanisms and the procedures established to improve the decision-making process and to influence policy and programmes at the national and regional levels
  • Efficiency of mechanisms, if any, of accountability vis-à-vis women as beneficiaries (at national, sub-regional and regional levels)
  • Efficiency of mechanisms, if any, for consultation and dialogue between governments and NGOs
  • Efficiency of mechanisms, if any, for consultations between Donors, governments and NGOs regarding the implementation of the Platform

d)   Proposes:

  • The urgent strategic decisions to be taken and implemented in the year 2000
  • The strategic decisions to be taken and implemented in the next 5 years

e)   Formulates:

  • Questions to guide discussions during workshops.

 

V. THE TWELVE ASSESSMENT WORKSHOPS

Summaries of the preliminary assessment reports (iv) will be used to facilitate discussions at the twelve parallel full-day workshops during the second and third days of the Conference, one workshop for each of the twelve priority areas of the Beijing Platform of Action.

Each workshop will comprise four phases:

The synthesis of the individual workshop reports will be presented in a plenary session for adoption by the Conference.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The expected outcomes of the Conference are that:

The Conference is also designed to contribute to the:

PARTICIPANTS

A unique feature of the conference is the full-fledged participation of both governmental and non-governmental organisations in the plenary and break-out workshop sessions. Attending are Ministers, representatives from governmental ministries, representatives from national, sub-regional, regional and international NGOs, sub-regional and regional inter-governmental organisations, UN and bilateral agencies. The Heads of the national delegation will consequently adopt the Conference outcomes, namely, the Regional Plan of Action, the Draft Declaration and the Modalities for Africa’s Participation at the Beijing +5 meetings.