A Joint ECA- UNIFEM Workshop To Better Use The African Gender and Development Index

Addis Ababa, 5 October 2007 (ECA)

To implement the mutual agreements enshrined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2006 between the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), ECA is co-organizing and hosting a training workshop on the African Gender and Development Index (AGDI) that was developed by its African Center for Gender ad Social Development. The workshop due to be held from 8 to 12 October 2007 will gather over 25 participants from UNIFEM Africa section and Regional Offices in Africa, in addition to ECA staff members.

The AGDI is one of the areas of collaboration agreed upon between ECA and UNIFEM in addition to other priority areas, namely the generation of sex disaggregated data for evidence based advocacy at national level; time use surveys and Beijing Plus Ten follow up. The ECA has developed this Africa - specific tool to provide member States with an adequate mechanism for tracking progress in gender equality and women’s empowerment. It is a comprehensive tool, which encompasses all key regional and international instruments on gender equality that African countries have ratified.

Encouraged by the success of the AGDI field trails undertaken in 12 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda), ECA has decided to change gear and move from the experimental phase to implementing the tool in a number of countries, namely Botswana, Cape Verde, Gambia, Namibia and Senegal. The AGDI has proven to be of great help in building the capacity of key government officials in gender mainstreaming and broadening knowledge of the legal aspects to mainstream gender in all sectors. Its impact has also become obvious in strengthening accountability for and reporting on mainstreaming gender in all ministries, in addition to promoting policy dialogue on gender issues as a whole. It is expected that the AGDI will be extended to all African countries and national AGDI reports that member countries are expected to submit will be used for monitoring progress in view of the upcoming Beijing Plus 15 review process.

The upcoming workshop will provide participants and both organizations with an opportunity to identify potential synergies between the AGDI process and the New Aid Modalities (NAM) initiative that UNIFEM is currently implementing, together with its programs on feminized poverty.

Within the framework of this initiative, UNIFEM is focusing on integrating gender equality in the Paris Declaration and undertaking a series of activities aiming at documenting country specific cases to show progress in mainstreaming gender by developing specific indicators for monitoring. The countries targeted are Cameroon, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana. UNIFEM is also implementing a programme on feminized poverty targeting women in informal cross border trade. Some of the countries targeted have already carried out a national AGDI study.

The workshop will therefore seek to reach the following objectives:

• Train UNIFEM staff members on the AGDI and its implementation process to help them gain a conceptual and practical knowledge on this tool and use it for the implementation of the organization’s 2008-2011 Strategic Plan.
• Share progress achieved so far by UNIFEM in developing indicators for the implementation and monitoring of the NAM and feminized poverty initiatives.

It is also expected that the workshop will avail both organizations to develop an Action Plan to operationalize the MoU they both signed in 2006, define common areas of intervention and agree on duties and responsibilities, in light of their respective mandate and expertise.

:: Workshop Programme [Format: pdf]