The production of gender statistics is embedded in a long history of pronouncements on the importance of statistics for underpinning evidence-based policy formulation, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Examples include the reporting requirements for Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as adopted by the United Nations in 1979 and the specific references made to the critical importance of gender statistics in the Beijing Platform for Action (1995).
The need for the strengthening of gender statistical systems was further emphasised after the adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda with its 17 goals and considerable measurement imperatives. Regionally, the Africa Agenda 2063- the Africa we want was adopted in 2015 and it highlights additional statistical requirements as articulated in the first 10-year plan.
The joint AfDB-UN Women-ECA inter-agency regional workshops on Gender Statistics held annually since 2017 purpose to provide a platform for harmonizing and strengthening the collection and use of gender statistics in the region on thematic areas. Below is an account of these workshops that forms the rationale for this workshop:
- The first workshop was held in September 2017 in Kampala- Uganda. The main objective was to provide member states with tools and methodologies developed at regional and international level to improve their technical capabilities in producing gender statistics to monitor SDG Tier I gender indicators and in disseminating, communicating, and using statistics and indicators.
- The second regional meeting was held in September 2018 in Abidjan - Côte d’Ivoire and focussed on the following areas of discussion: The Africa Gender Index 2018; Gender and ICT data in Africa; Training on collection of Violence Against Women (VAW) and Time Use Survey (TUS) data; Advancing Administrative Sources of Data for Monitoring Gender-related SDGs in Africa; Survey on Gender Statistics Expert Roster Needs; Minimum Set of Gender Indicators.
- The third regional gender statistics workshop scheduled to take place in 2019 was postponed to 2020, however due to the movement restrictions and lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the planned workshop was then replaced with joint virtual training programs in 2020 and 2021. Nonetheless, AfDB-UNWOMEN-ECA expert group met in November in Accra- Ghana. This meeting created an opportunity to provide feedback to the gender focal points and AGGES members on the findings of the 2018 ECA survey on the status of gender statistics in Africa; discuss and share best practices related to the coordination of gender statistics in Africa; finalize the roadmap on the coordination of gender statistics in Africa as well as the work that Data 2X is doing with the Gender Data Focal points.
- The fourth regional gender statistics workshop was held in September 2022 in Nairobi- Kenya. The aim was to bring together experts in gender policy analysis and gender statistics across Africa to share the latest innovations and best practises related to gender statistics. The workshop provided a platform for sharing of the findings from the evaluation of the Africa Program on Gender Statistics (APGS) II as well as plans for the APGS III (2022-2026) and the reconstitution of the Africa Group of Gender Statistics (AGGES) for the period 2022-2026. It consisted of a mixture of interactive learning sessions and sharing of recently developed guidelines, tools, and best practices. Other topics covered included: gender and Agenda 2063, Progress towards SDG 5, Assessments of gender statistics systems across Africa 2019-2022, Global guidance VAW administrative data, VAW survey processes methodology, measurement and tools developed for Spotlight and UN Women/WHO partnership, Statistical framework for measuring femicide/feminicide.
- The fifth regional gender statistics workshop is scheduled to take place from 7th to 11th November 2023 in Casablanca, Morocco.