Press Release No. 38/1998

ECA TO STAGE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GENDER

Addis Ababa, 20 January 1998 - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is to stage an international conference aimed at promoting the pivotal role of women in Africa's economic development.

The Conference, entitled "African Women and Economic Development: Investing in our Future", due to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 28 April - 1 May 1998, is being organized in the context of ECA's mandate to follow implementation of the regional Dakar and global Beijing Platforms of Action, which place poverty reduction through the economic empowerment of women as a top priority.

The Conference is being organized in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and a number of other sponsors.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will attend the Conference, set to coincide with the Commission's 40th anniversary. In addition, the gathering will bring together a number of Heads of State and Government, African policy makers, UN organizations and specialized agencies, representatives of civil society, and the donor community. Overall, some 500 participants are expected to attend.

In staging this conference, the Commission hopes to encourage links between the goals of recent UN conferences (Beijing, Cairo, Vienna and Copenhagen).

It seeks to do so by: -

• sharing experiences on how public policies should equalize opportunities between women and men and redirect resources to those investments in which women's participation brings about the highest social returns;
• drawing strategic lessons from on-going efforts to implement the Beijing Platform for Action;
• identifying best practices and validating programme modalities for country-level implementation of actions recommended by the Conference;
• forging partnerships for post-conference development and implementation of the recommended actions and programmes. The four-day conference is being organized around four main themes:
• Developing African Economies: The role of women;
• Achieving good governance: The essential participation of women;
• African women and the information age: A new window of opportunity; and
• Creating opportunities for Africa's new generation.

The event will get under way with an opening plenary session, followed by two days dedicated to focused discussions in smaller working groups. On the third day, A plenary devoted to the work of selected UN agencies will begin with keynote address by the UN Secretary-General, while a forum of Heads of State on Day Four will provide space for conference participants to share their perspectives with the leaders.

The Conference is expected to evolve a concrete plan for follow-up actions to be undertaken by ECA and its partners. To ensure maximum participation in the conference, a planning meeting will be convened from 17 - 20 February in Addis Ababa, bringing together representatives of some 25 key organizations.