partnerships for gender equality: the role of multilateral...

B E I J I N G + 1 0 S Y N T H E S I S R E P O R T

partnershipsforgenderequality

the Role ofMultilateral and

Bilateral Agenciesin Africa

U n i t e d N a t i o n sEconomic Commission for Africa

ECA is one of five regional commissions under the

administrative direction of United Nations head-

quarters. As the regional arm of the UN in Africa, it is

mandated to support the economic and social devel-

opment of its 53 member States, foster regional

integration, and promote international cooperation

for Africa's development.The Commission is organ-

ized around six substantive programme divisions:

Development Policy and Management; Economic

and Social Policy; Gender and Development;

Information for Development; Sustainable

Development; and Trade and Regional Integration.

UN Economic Commission for AfricaMenelik II Ave.P.O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaTel: 251-1-51-72-00 Cable: ECA ADDIS ABABA Fax: 251-1-51-44-16 (Addis Ababa)1- 212-963 4957 (New York)Email: [email protected] Website: www.uneca.org

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United

Nations. It provides financial and technical assis-

tance to innovative programmes and strategies

that promote women's human rights, political par-

ticipation and economic security. UNIFEM works in

partnership with UN organizations, governments

and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and

networks to promote gender equality. It links

women's issues and concerns to national, regional

and global agendas by fostering collaboration and

providing technical expertise on gender main-

streaming and women's empowerment strategies.

United Nations Development Fund for WomenUNIFEM304 E. 45th Street, 15th FloorNew York, N.Y. 10017USATel: (212) 906-6400Fax: (212) 906-6705E-mail: [email protected]: www.unifem.org

Out of the many people—too numerous to mention—who offered advice and assistance during theprocess of creating this report, we would like to thank in particular Joanne Sandler, DeputyDirector of UNIFEM for her support and guidance throughout; Laketch Dirasse, former Chief ofthe UNIFEM Africa Section, who provided the vision and leadership that enabled UNIFEM to con-tribute to the achievements documented in this report and who spearheaded the internal assess-ment that led to the report; Melkrist Hailu at the Economic Commission for Africa, who offeredinvaluable advice and coordinated the initial stages of this project leading up to the SeventhRegional Conference on Women in Addis Ababa in October 2004; and Lyn Messner without whomwe could not have presented the first draft of this report at the Panel on "Partnerships for GenderEquality, the Role of Multilateral and Bilateral Agencies" at the Seventh Regional Conference.

Partnerships for Gender Equality: The Role of Multilateral and Bilateral Agencies in Africa (Beijing + 10 Synthesis Report)Copyright © United Nations Development Fund for WomenISBN: 1-932827-22-6

U n i t e d N a t i o n sEconomic Commission for Africa

B E I J I N G + 1 0 S Y N T H E S I S R E P O R TM a r c h 2 0 0 5

partnershipsforgenderequality

the Role ofMultilateral and

Bilateral Agenciesin Africa

2 partnerships for gender equality

p r e f a c e

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is

called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher

moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give

hope to each other. That time is now.

—Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

10 December 2004

As governments, activists and donor agencies all over Africa were preparing for the Beijing +10 reviews, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was announced. As WangariMaathai noted in her Nobel lecture, this recognition should give hope to the women and girlsof Africa who have had to contend with so much in the decade since the Fourth WorldConference on Women. Economic insecurity, armed conflicts and HIV/AIDS have ravaged thecontinent, taking an enormous toll on everyone, but most particularly on women, who rarelyhave the resources or the rights that would support their efforts to build a better world.

The Beijing conference helped to focus the world’s attention on women’s rights, recognizingthese rights as essential for their own sake and for the crucial role they play in building peaceand prosperity. Since the conference in 1995, the governments and international organizationsof the world have sought to meet the objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) withan array of instruments designed to turn ideals into reality. The Beijing Declaration andPlatform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen (CEDAW), Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) build on each other to provide a detailed blueprint fora future based on freedom from fear and freedom from want. These guidelines reflect the real-ization that we will make no headway, gain no new ground, unless women’s rights are at thecore of all efforts.

In Africa these instruments are reinforced by several regional declarations and instruments,most notably the African Union Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality and the Protocol onWomen’s Rights to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Much has been done tointegrate these instruments into the daily lives of African men and women. Yet much moreneeds to be done as poverty, HIV/AIDS and conflict continue to inflict their wounds. The taskbefore us is enormous; the challenges overwhelming. But we cannot wait. As Wangari Maathaisays, the time is now.

3 B E I J I N G + 1 0 S Y N T H E S I S R E P O R T

The time is now to act on the goals of the documents, to put political will to the test and implement the dreams that forged these instruments. The time is now to support the leadershipof women in Africa: women, who, driven by conscience and commitment, have made positivecontributions to peace-building and reconstruction. Women who are organizing in communitiesto halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Women who, in cities, towns and villages have sus-tained communities and nations as political activists, caregivers, entrepreneurs and educators.

The goal of this report is to highlight the efforts of multilateral and bilateral agencies to sup-port African women in their valiant struggles. It describes projects and programmes based onthe strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action and shows how that document islinked to the other instruments and declarations that are now available. It calls on the nationsof Africa to continue to implement the laws and declarations that have been passed by region-al and national entities, and to ratify the Protocol on Women’s Rights. It reminds all of usengaged in development and human rights work to support the efforts of women in Africa toreshape their continent and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Joséphine Ouédraogo Noeleen HeyzerDeputy Executive Secretary Executive Director Economic Commission for Africa UNIFEM


t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s

ACRONYMS ..............................................................................................................5

I. Introduction: Empowering African Women ............................................................6

II. Methodology and Respondents ............................................................................8

III. The Beijing Platform for Action ..............................................................................9

IV. Key Findings ......................................................................................................10

V. Evaluating Progress ............................................................................................11

VI. Strategies and Approaches to Implementing the BPFA ..........................................30

VII. Beyond Beijing +10 ............................................................................................32

VIII. Conclusion: The Time is Now ..............................................................................37


a c r o n y m sAEI African Education Initiative AfrEA African Evaluation AssociationAGDEN African Gender and Development NetworkAGDI African Gender and Development IndexAIF Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie ALPI Africa Liaison Program InitiativeAU African Union AWCPD African Women’s Committee on Peace and DevelopmentAWID Association for Women’s Rights in DevelopmentAWMC African Women’s Media CentreAWPS African Women’s Progress ScoreboardBPFA Beijing Platform for ActionCEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenCOMESA Common Market of Eastern and Southern AfricaDDI Digital Diaspora InitiativeDFID Department of International Development, U.K.DPKO UN Department of Peacekeeping OperationsECA Economic Commission for AfricaECA-ACGD ECA-African Centre for Gender and DevelopmentECOWAS Economic Community of West African StatesFAO Food and Agriculture OrganizationFEMCOM Federation of National Associations of Women in Eastern and Southern AfricaFERFAP Federation of African Women's Peace NetworksFGC Female genital cuttingGMS Gender Management System GSI Gender Status IndexICPD International Conference on Population and DevelopmentICT Information and communication technologiesIDASA Institute for Democracy in South AfricaIFAD International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentIGAD Intergovernmental Authority on DevelopmentILO International Labour OrganizationIRC International Rescue CommitteeJICA Japan International Cooperation AgencyMDGs Millennium Development GoalsM&E Monitoring and evaluationMONUC UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the CongoNEPAD New Programme for African DevelopmentNGO Non-governmental organizationNWMs National women’s machineriesOECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOVCs Orphans and vulnerable childrenPMTCT Prevention of mother to child transmission (of HIV/AIDS)PRSPs Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers PVOs Private voluntary organizationsSADC The Southern African Development CommunityUNDP UN Development FundUNFIP UN Fund for International PartnershipsUNFPA UN Population FundUN-HABITAT UN Human Settlement ProgrammeUNICEF UN Children’s FundUNIFEM UN Development Fund for WomenUNOSAA UN Office of the Special Advisor on AfricaUSAID U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentWFP World Food ProgrammeWHO World Health OrganizationWSIS World Summit on the Information Society


1 . i n t r o d u c t i o n :e m p o w e r i n ga f r i c a n w o m e n

In 1995 the Beijing Platform for Action(BPFA) offered a vision of hope and promise.It spoke to a future in which women wouldtransform their lives, moving into the publicsphere in unprecedented numbers and tak-ing charge of their destinies. Much remainedto be done in all corners of the globe, partic-ularly in terms of alleviating the poverty anddiscrimination that limited women’s accessto jobs, education, health care. Yet so muchhad already been achieved since the firstWorld Conference on Women in 1975 thatmany imagined the next 10 years wouldbring still more profound transformations.Now, in 2005 we see a world where war,intolerance and disease have taken a heavytoll on women’s aspirations. And nowhere isthis more evident than in sub-Saharan Africa.HIV/AIDS has devastated women in theregion through infection, the care responsi-bilities they have assumed for the sick andthe necessity of supporting family memberswho have lost their primary income earner.

Internal and cross-border wars sweepingacross already impoverished nations havebeen fought on the bodies of women toinstil terror among civilians. Even in nationsthat have not experienced war over thedecade or have succeeded in arriving atpeace agreements, deepening poverty hasconstrained most efforts at achieving manyof the goals outlined in the Beijing Platform.

Yet with each devastation there is renewedcommitment on all levels to finding solutionsand to ensuring that women are safe, secureand part of the solutions, rather than passiverecipients. Women in Africa have alreadyshown how much can be achieved when gen-der equality becomes a norm. In Rwandawomen, many of them widows of the geno-cide and infected through rape withHIV/AIDS, organized themselves and foughtfor and won new laws that give them theright to inherit and own property and awomen’s desk at the national level thathelped train women for political office. Inthe most recent elections women gained 49per cent of the seats in the lower house ofParliament and 30 per cent in the upperhouse, putting Rwanda at the top of worldrankings for female parliamentarians. In theMano River states of Guinea, Liberia andSierra Leone women have organized in themidst of war and upheaval to be at the fore-front of bringing peace to the region andinsist on their right to participate in peacenegotiations.

The BPFA, the Programme of Action from theInternational Conference on Population andDevelopment (ICPD) and the Millennium

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Development Goals (MDGs) have all provid-ed strategies, tools, targets and indicatorsfor women such as these and for achievingwomen’s equality throughout Africa. Thecommitments in each of these documentshave been acknowledged and incorporatedinto a variety of additional instruments inAfrica. These include several documentsfrom the African Union, including theSolemn Declaration on Gender Equality andthe Optional Protocol on Women’s Rights tothe African Charter on Human and Peoples’Rights, and the commitment to gender pari-ty in the African Union (AU) Commission. Inaddition, the New Programme for AfricanDevelopment (NEPAD) utilizes social devel-opment indicators that recognize women’srole and their rights.

Thus much of the groundwork has been laidfor supporting the Beijing Platform.Governments and organizations alike havesigned on to plans to meet nearly all of itsstrategic objectives. Many donor organiza-tions are channelling the largest part of theirfunds to Africa, and within those allocationsthey are delegating substantial amounts towomen.

Nonetheless, it is not enough. In an analysisof national and regional commitments towomen, UNIFEM has found that many gov-ernment and organizational plans and analy-ses refer to women’s vulnerability withoutrecommendations for action. The challengesfacing women, such as impoverishment andinequalities in relation to human rights, par-ticipation and decision-making are recog-

nized, but the underlying causes of genderinequality and women’s vulnerability arerarely analysed and actions to address thesituation are not formulated.

While the goal of the Beijing +10 review is toassess progress, it must also be to recommitto following words with action, to ensuringthat the high ideals and intentions of inter-national, regional and national documentsbecome a reality, and have a real impact onwomen’s lives. What is needed now is politi-cal will, energy and more resources. By link-ing the goals of the BPFA with those of theMDGs and the ICPD, a new synergy can beachieved to institute a new decade forAfrican women – and with them all of Africa.


I I . m e t h o d o l o g ya n d r e s p o n d e n t s

Over the last ten years, women and menfrom governments, the international com-munity and civil society have sought to meetthe goals of the Beijing Platform for Actionthrough various strategies and programmesand have willingly analysed their efforts interms of success, relevance and sustainabili-ty. As part of the Beijing +10 Review inAfrica, the UN Economic Commission forAfrica (ECA), which was coordinating theprocess, turned to UNIFEM as the lead UNoperational fund for women to lead thereview of progress towards the objectives ofthe BPFA. UNIFEM developed a question-naire (see Appendix I) that was sent to awide range of multilateral and bilateraldonors working in Africa, asking them toassess their efforts to meet the goals of theBPFA since 1995. Of the 33 donors contact-ed, 18 responded. This report reflects onlythe information provided by those 18 organ-izations. The preliminary findings from theseself-assessments were presented at ECA’sSeventh Regional Conference on Women,held in Addis Ababa in October 2004. Thecurrent report builds on the discussions heldat the Conference as well as on further dis-cussions with various agencies and organiza-tions involved in implementing the BPFA.

T H E R E S P O N D E N T S

Eighteen international donors with broadexperience in Africa responded to thequestionnaire. Among them were fivebilateral donors:The Canadian International DevelopmentAgency (CIDA)The Department of InternationalDevelopment, United Kingdom (DFID)The Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA)Netherlands Development Cooperation The United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID)

Thirteen multilateral organizations alsocompleted the questionnaire: Agence Intergouvernementale de laFrancophonie (AIF) The Commonwealth SecretariatThe Department of Peacekeeping Operations(DPKO)The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)The Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) The International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) The International Labour Organization(ILO) The United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) The United Nations Development Fund forWomen (UNIFEM) The United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) The United Nations Human SettlementProgramme (UN-HABITAT) The United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA)The World Food Programme (WFP)


I I I . t h e b e i j i n gp l a t f o r m f o ra c t i o n

The BPFA identified 12 strategic areas ofconcern that affect women’s empowermentand equality:

• The persistent and increasing burden ofpoverty on women

• Inequalities and inadequacies in andunequal access to education and training

• Inequalities and inadequacies in andunequal access to health care and relatedservices

• Violence against women• The effects of armed or other kinds of con-

flict on women, including those livingunder foreign occupation

• Inequality in economic structures and poli-cies, in all forms of productive activitiesand in access to resources

• Inequality between men and women in thesharing of power and decision-making atall levels

• Insufficient mechanisms at all levels topromote the advancement of women

• Lack of respect for and inadequate promo-tion and protection of the human rights ofwomen

• Stereotyping of women and inequality intheir access to and participation in all com-munication systems, especially the media

• Gender inequalities in the management ofnatural resources and in the safeguardingof the environment

• Persistent discrimination against and vio-lation of the rights of the girl child

Strategic objectives for each area were iden-tified in the Platform. It is these objectivesthat governments, civil society and interna-tional organizations have been striving tomeet in the past 10 years.


I V . k e y f i n d i n g s

Although they have differing areas of con-cern and expertise, all of the respondentsrecognize the importance of the BPFA andare attempting to meet some or all of itsobjectives. The responses indicate that:• The majority of work by the respondents is

primarily in four of the 12 strategic areas: Women and Health, Violence againstWomen, Institutional Mechanisms for theAdvancement of Women and the HumanRights of Women.

• Most of the organizations also providedinformation on six other areas of deepconcern: Poverty, Education and Training,Armed Conflict, the Economy, Women inPower and Decision-making and theEnvironment.

• Only a few reported that they concentrat-ed efforts on Women and the Media or theneeds of the Girl Child.

• The responses indicate that UN agencies,donor organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), theprivate sector and community-basedorganizations have collaborated success-fully on Beijing implementation. CIDA forexample notes that it is increasingly col-laborating on large programming endeav-ours, such as working with gender-equitycoordinating groups in various countrieson specific themes or sectors whereCIDA’s technical advice can be of use.Most respondents considered partner-ships among several organizations moreeffective and sustainable than those thatinvolved only one or two, and partnershipswere most successful when they workedwithin frameworks set by developing

countries. Overall, respondents identifiedseveral issues they considered key to cre-ating successful partnerships: mutualagreement; consultation, coordinationand collaboration; information sharing;and investment of time and resources,both human and financial.

• Although some respondents are linkingthe BPFA with ongoing efforts to imple-ment the goals of the ICPD Programme ofAction and with the targets and indicatorsof the Millennium Development Goals,more work needs to be done in this area.

• Two critical issues were raised with regardto resource allocation. First, there is ongo-ing discussion as to whether donor agen-cies should (a) allocate separate budgetsfor gender programming, which are easyto track but often tend to marginalize pro-grammes for women or (b) practice gendermainstreaming, which integrates genderconcerns into all organizational activitiesbut is more difficult to monitor. Second,while greater emphasis has been placed onproviding budget support to govern-ments, bilateral and multilateral donorshave not yet been able to devise arrange-ments by which governments can beaccountable for investments in genderequality and women’s empowerment.


V. e v a l u a t i n gp r o g r e s s

Using the self-assessment reports, the 12critical areas of concern were evaluated interms of the extent to which they have beenaddressed and progress made. Each of theinterventions within a critical area was exam-ined against the strategic objectives of theBPFA. Below is a summary of efforts andachievements in each critical area of concern.

A . Wo m e n a n d Po v e r t y

Strategic Objectives:

1. Review, adopt and maintain macroeco-nomic policies and development strate-gies that address the needs and efforts ofwomen in poverty

2. Revise laws and administrative practicesto ensure women’s equal rights andaccess to economic resources

3. Provide women with access to savingsand credit mechanisms and institutions

4. Develop gender-based methodologiesand conduct research to address the fem-inization of poverty

A recent review of progress in implementingthe MDGs found that poverty in Africa is notonly severe – approximately half of the pop-ulation lives on US$1 a day or less – it is onthe increase. The review found that between1990 and 1999, the number of the poor inAfrica increased by one quarter per year, andif that trend continues, “Africa will be theonly region where the number of poor peo-ple in 2015 will be higher than in 1990.”1

Poverty is the prime mover of the viciouscycle that stifles men’s and women’s aspira-tions. The poor have less education, less

health care and more exposure to HIV/AIDSand unsafe living conditions, all of whichmake it more difficult for them to improvetheir condition. Women suffer all this as wellas discrimination, increasing their burdenimmeasurably. Every one of the organiza-tions responding to the questionnaire recog-nize the role that gender inequality plays inincreasing poverty for all – men, women andchildren. DFID for example, reports that“poverty reduction and achievement of theMDGs is the key focus of DFID’s overall pro-gramme and promoting gender equality andwomen’s empowerment is seen as central toachieving this aim.”

G E N D E RM A I N S T R E A M I N G I N

P O V E R T Y A L L E V I A T I O N

Gender concerns are important ele-

ments of IFAD’s poverty alleviation

strategy, and women are a major target

group in almost all IFAD projects and

programmes. Since IFAD’s adoption of

a Gender and Development approach

in the early 1990s, the format of its

Country Strategy and Opportunities

Papers and other project design docu-

ments were revised to include the

analysis of gender-related opportuni-

ties and constraints. In 1999 a specific

gender checklist was developed for

project design, and a subsequent

President’s Bulletin was issued requir-

ing all design missions to use it.

The centrality of gender in interven-

tions was underlined in IFAD’s

Strategic Framework for 2002-2006,

which states that gender issues are an

"overarching concern" in pursuing

strategic objectives.

—IFAD

www.ifad.org/sf


The majority of responding organizationsplaced their emphasis on achieving effec-tive, sustainable and replicable gender andage-sensitive models and strategies for basicservice delivery in three areas: increasingwomen’s access to and control over funda-mental assets, improving women’s incomesand providing loan guarantees.

In terms of women’s access to resources,donors such as JICA focus their poverty eradi-cation support on vocational training, techni-cal assistance in forestry and agriculture andrural development activities. WFP seeks toincrease women’s access to and control overfundamental assets such as food and themeans to produce it. It has implementedmeasures that strengthen women’s ability tomanage food rations distributed by theorganization and its partners by givingwomen entitlements to household foodrations, ensuring full participation of womenin all food distribution decisions, giving com-plete information about these entitlementsto women, facilitating women’s access tofood distribution points, providing foodpackages that do not overburden womenphysically and establishing appropriatemechanisms to prevent abuse during fooddistribution and allow for reporting of abuse.

Working at the national level, and often incollaboration with other agencies, UNIFEMis building capacity in several countries andadvocating for increasingly gender-sensitivemacroeconomic policies that address pover-ty reduction. Along with UNDP, it has sup-ported gender-sensitive budgeting in Kenya,Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania and Ugandaand the development of methodologicaltools for engendering MDGs and PovertyReduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) createdby national governments. In Nigeria CIDAhas provided funds in cooperation withUNIFEM for gender/economics expertise tobe applied to analysis of the poverty reduc-

tion strategy; the consequent documenta-tion is being used for advocacy involvingpertinent government authorities and civilsociety groups. UNIFEM and ECA’s AfricanCentre for Gender and Development (ECA-ACGD) have conducted regional training onGender and Macroeconomics forUnderstanding and Eradicating FeminizedPoverty in Africa, building on previous workwith the Network of African WomenEconomists.

At the regional level, ECA is developing aguidebook for integrating household pro-duction into poverty reduction policies. Thisapproach will help to improve the skills ofstatisticians, accountants and policy analyststo collect, analyse and integrate gender-disaggregated micro and macroeconomicstatistics into national planning instruments.ECA is also in the process of developing andtesting a gender-aware macroeconomicmodel for South Africa to analyse the differ-ing impacts of fiscal policies on women andmen.

B . E d u c a t i o n a n d Tr a i n i n g


1. Ensure equal access to education2. Eradicate illiteracy among women3. Improve women’s access to vocational

training, science and technology, and con-tinuing education

4. Develop non-discriminatory educationand training

5. Allocate sufficient resources for and monitorthe implementation of educational reforms

6. Promote lifelong education and trainingfor girls and women

The BPFA identifies education as a humanright and an essential tool for achieving thegoals of equality, development and peace. Itnotes that equality of access to and attain-ment of educational qualifications are neces-


sary if more women are to become agents ofchange, and that investment in formal andnon-formal education and training forwomen and girls is one of the best means forachieving sustainable development and eco-nomic growth. Most of the organizationsinvolved in supporting education and train-ing for girls and women report that theyseek to address all six of the Platform’sstrategic objectives. Interventions rangefrom increasing women’s participation inmath, science and technology at the univer-sity level to promoting the retention andparticipation of women and girls in primary,secondary and university institutions toincreasing access to vocational training andreducing illiteracy. Several of the organiza-tions are also supporting programmes thatoffer alternatives to pulling girls out ofschool to care for AIDS patients or orphans(see box p.14).

USAID is one of the reporting donors thathas made education reform a foundation ofits work. Its African Education Initiative is amulti-year effort to increase access to quali-ty basic education, especially for girls andwomen. The Initiative focuses on providinggirls’ scholarships, improving teacher train-ing, providing ICT tools, and involving com-munities in educational programmes.

Education is also a priority area in Africa forJICA, which has been supporting govern-ments to build and repair elementary schoolsand helping to create programmes that incor-porate a gender perspective in the schools.This includes programmes that guaranteesafe learning environments for girls anddevelop teachers’ capacity through trainingand seminars. In Malawi and Tanzania JICAassisted the Ministries of Finance to conductschool-mapping research that documentedgeographical distribution of target popula-tions, numbers of potential students, num-bers of teachers and their credentials, access

to schools and the availability of teachingmaterials. The research was used to developmicro planning policies. In a similar vein,UNICEF has established village and school-level information systems to provide gender-disaggregated data and training on genderanalysis for education ministries. In Senegal,UNFPA is helping some 10,000 girls andyoung women from poor families break thecycle of poverty through education. Through

C L O S I N G T H E G E N D E RG A P I N S C H O O L

E N R O L M E N T

Recognizing the importance of chil-

dren’s contribution to family suste-

nance in many developing countries,

the WFP instituted food support pro-

grammes as a way to increase

absolute enrolment for both boys and

girls in primary schools in Africa and

to close the gender gap in enrolment.

Closing the Gender Gap:

Over four years, the gender ratio

(number of girls compared to number

of boys) for enrolment in school-

feeding programmes grew by an

average of 15 per cent. The increase

in girls’ enrolment was 53 per cent

higher than that of boys’, a consider-

able step towards closing the gender

gap in education in Africa.

The Take-Home Ration Advantage:

The increases in the rates of change

in absolute enrolment for girls have

been greater in schools offering take-

home rations than schools with only

on-site feeding.

—WFP

www.wfp.org/eb/docs/2004/

wfp037799<6.pdf


close links with communities and NGOs, girlsare receiving comprehensive education, withan emphasis on gender and human rights.Some are being trained as peer educators. Inaddition to training in income-generatingskills, girls also have access to youth-friendlyreproductive and sexual health informationand services. Working to build economic lit-eracy, FAO has created simple numeracy andbookkeeping training programmes to helpilliterate women keep track of their econom-ic activities.

C . Wo m e n a n d H e a l t h


1. Increase women’s access throughout thelife cycle to appropriate, affordable andquality health care, information and relat-ed services

2. Strengthen preventive programmes thatpromote women’s health

3. Undertake gender-sensitive initiativesthat address sexually transmitted dis-eases, HIV/AIDS and sexual and repro-ductive health issues

4. Promote research and disseminate infor-mation on women’s health

5. Increase resources and monitor follow-upfor women’s health

Recent findings by the World HealthOrganization (WHO), UNICEF and UNFPAshow that overall, maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa is the highest in the world. Awoman living in the region has a 1 in 16 chanceof dying in pregnancy or childbirth, comparedto 1 in 46 in South-Central Asia, the next mostaffected region. In developed countries therisk is 1 in 2,800. But women’s health involvesmore than maternity – women often becomesick first and are sicker longer because of dis-crimination that keeps them from health clin-ics and dictates that what little money a familyhas is spent on male members first. TheHIV/AIDS pandemic’s impact on women inAfrica has been enormous, affecting allaspects of their lives. Women’s livelihoods,education, food security, care work and otherproductive and reproductive roles have all suf-fered under the burden of AIDS.

Given the impact of disease and maternal mor-tality in Africa, and the importance of buildingpublic health services, a large number ofrespondents reported work in this area of con-cern, on all five strategic objectives. Donorsreported interventions that include increasingwomen’s access to appropriate, affordable

U N D E R S T A N D I N G T H E I M P A C TO F H I V / A I D S O N G I R L S A N D

W O M E N A S C A R E T A K E R S

Recognizing the importance of the empowerment

of women in the fight against HIV/AIDS, UN-

HABITAT carried out a situation analysis that

included limited baseline surveys in selected urban

slums in Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda

targeting orphans and other vulnerable children.

The outcomes raised a number of gender and

women's empowerment issues. There was a strong

indication that orphan care and support is over-

whelmingly a female responsibility. Girl orphans in

particular are bearing the burden of care, since

they are often pulled out of school to look after

their siblings as well as the children of their care-

givers. In some cases, their labour is used to sup-

plement the household income of their caregivers.

Although the situation analysis and the baselines

found many NGOs, faith-based organizations, and

civil society interventions targeting orphans and

vulnerable children (OVCs), these were found to

be minimal, poorly coordinated and targeted the

individual child, not the household. Among the

women looking after OVCs, widows were over-

whelmingly represented. These issues should be

addressed during the follow-up phase.

—UN-HABITAT

www.unhabitat.org/programmes/genderpolicy


quality health care, information and relatedservices; strengthening preventive pro-grammes that promote women’s health; forti-fying systems required to deliver effectiveresponses to HIV/AIDS and maternal mortali-ty; and improving the delivery of essentialobstetric care within health facilities.

UNICEF, for example, is one of many donororganizations co-sponsoring the SafeMotherhood Initiative to reduce maternalmortality. Efforts include building clinics inrural areas where women previously had nohope of an assisted delivery and improvingthe capacity of national health programmesto provide skilled attendants who can pro-vide prenatal, delivery and postnatal care.UNICEF also has developed community-based programmes that provide educationfor adolescent girls – many of them married– on sexual and reproductive health. In addi-tion it is working with decision makers,women’s groups, government leaders andthe media in a regional effort in West Africato reduce maternal and neonatal mortalityby half by 2010. In Malawi, DFID is support-ing the Government in a project to reducematernal mortality and improve women’sknowledge of health-related issues. Projectactivities include educating pregnantwomen to seek timely assistance, improvingthe quality of care throughout the nation,establishing communications and transportsystems from homes to clinics or hospitalsand strengthening planning and monitoring.

UNFPA supports training for health personnelin various aspects of maternal care, includingemergency obstetric care, prenatal and post-natal counselling, delivery care norms andprocedures and use of postpartum familyplanning services. For instance, inMozambique, training nurses to performCaesarean sections helped to make emer-gency obstetric care available at the lowestlevels of the health care system and in remote

rural areas. In Benin, a partnership betweenthe Ministry of Health, UNFPA and a numberof NGOs resulted in the National Assemblyadopting two landmark laws in 2003 that pro-moted reproductive health and rights. Onelaw outlaws female genital cutting and theother affirms the right of men and women tobe informed of and to use the family planningmethods of their choice. In cooperation withthe government UNFPA also supports a pro-gramme for youth in Benin that integrates jobtraining with education about preventing HIVand unwanted pregnancies so trainees canalso become local advocates for health.

With 57 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases in Africaoccurring among women, a large number oforganizations are focusing their health-relateddonations on the pandemic. FAO and UNICEFconduct research on the gendered impact of

P A R T N E R S H I P S T OS T R E N G T H E N G E N D E R

D I M E N S I O N S I NH I V / A I D S R E S P O N S E S

UNIFEM has supported several initia-

tives to highlight the gender dimen-

sions of HIV/AIDS. In Nigeria it has

helped to build linkages among 40

NGOs, state governments and faith-

based groups in two states to under-

take an awareness campaign. As a

result, one of the states, Enugu, has

launched a gender-responsive

HIV/AIDS policy for health facilities,

the first of its kind in the country.

The policy standardizes practices,

links home care givers to health facili-

ties and addresses stigma and dis-

crimination against people living with

HIV/AIDS and those caring for them.

—UNIFEM

www.genderandaids.org


the HIV/AIDS epidemic on programme sectorssuch as education and food security. CIDA hassupported technical gender-equality workinggroups in Kenya and Malawi that have maderecommendations to HIV/AIDS coordinatingcommittees on how national strategies/planscan more effectively deal with the genderdimensions of halting the spread of the dis-ease. ECA, through the Commission onHIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, is con-ducting action-oriented research to increaseaccessibility of treatment, prevent mother-to-child transmission and identify the far-rangingimpact of HIV/AIDS on women. WFP providesfood assistance to HIV-positive pregnantwomen and lactating mothers in Rwandathrough Prevention of Mother-to-ChildTransmission (PMTCT) HIV centres. An evalua-tion of the programme concluded that thePMTCT projects had a positive health impacton pregnant women and lactating mothers aswell as on newborn babies, since the motherswere nutritionally better prepared to breast-feed. In addition, the food aid made it possiblefor women to get other critical necessities withthe money they would have spent on food.

A ground-breaking project in Sierra Leonesupported by UNFPA in collaboration withUNAIDS and UNIFEM uses peacekeepingtroops as community educators to stop thespread of HIV/AIDS. Because the impact ofthe disease on women is an important focusof the programme, peacekeepers are beingtrained in gender awareness and women’srights as well as HIV/AIDS prevention.

Several organizations reported progress onwork with governments, NGOs and regionalinstitutions in the area of HIV prevention.Some supported ministries of health in theirresponse to the AIDS pandemic and assistedNGOs in delivering HIV/AIDS-related servicesto vulnerable groups and improving theircapacity to provide such services. USAID hashelped local government and voluntary organi-

zations in Djibouti, Kenya and Tanzania devel-op their capacity to provide quality healthservices, particularly maternal and childcare forthose most at risk of HIV infection and otherpreventable diseases. With support from theJapanese Trust Fund on Human Security,UNIFEM has been working with national AIDScouncils in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegaland Zimbabwe to engender national AIDS poli-cies and programmes. UNDP is building a part-nership with the National Coalition of WomenAgainst HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia to strengthenwomen’s leadership in government and at thecommunity level to alleviate women’s andgirls’ vulnerability to HIV infection.

D . V i o l e n c e A g a i n s t Wo m e n


1. Take integrated measures to prevent andeliminate violence against women

2. Study the causes and consequences ofviolence against women and the effec-tiveness of preventive measures

R I G H T S - B A S E D T R A I N I N GF O R C R I M I N A L J U S T I C E

W O R K E R S

UNICEF is the lead agency supporting

the Women and Juvenile Unit of the

Police Services in Ghana, which pro-

vides a gender-sensitive environment for

women and children who seek redress

from abuse, neglect and violence. The

programme also trains members of the

judicial and legal professions. So far,

1,500 members of the Ghanaian

Attorney Generals’ Office staff, judges,

and police officers have been trained in

rights-based management and treatment

in cases involving violence and abuse.

—UNICEF

www.unicef.org/protection


3. Eliminate trafficking in women and assistvictims of violence due to prostitutionand trafficking

Violence against women is one of the mostbasic and obdurate obstacles to achievingthe objectives of the Beijing Platform. InAfrica, as elsewhere, domestic or partner vio-lence is a serious problem that is oftenignored for cultural or social reasons. Addedto this is the enormous violence inflicted onwomen by a series of civil wars in variousnations, which in turn has led to an increasein trafficking and greater vulnerability amongwomen and girls to sexual barter as a way toprocure food and services for their families.Progress in reducing violence against womenwas thus a primary concern for many of thereporting agencies. One of the main venuesfor working in this area has been the UNIFEMTrust Fund in Support of Actions to EliminateViolence against Women, which the General

Assembly asked UNIFEM to coordinate soonafter the Beijing Conference. The Trust Fundsupports community-based initiatives andadvocacy work on ending violence againstwomen throughout the world. It has provid-ed more than US$2 million to women’s proj-ects in Africa since its inception.

UN-HABITAT’s Safer Cities Programme helpslocal authorities develop sensitizing cam-paigns, services and shelters, and trains themin ways to make a city’s physical environmentsafer. In Dar es Salaam and Nairobi UN-HABI-TAT supported government efforts to creategender-disaggregated data through surveysand safety audits in various districts of thecities. In Guinea, UNICEF, partnering withthe International Rescue Committee (IRC),created shelters where 596 women soughtprotection. Community workers were trainedto provide advice on issues relating to vio-lence against women and the latest figuresindicate that 1,320 people, including 251men, have sought advice from them.

Female genital cutting (FGC) is an area ofparticular concern in the region: An estimat-ed 130 million adolescents and youngwomen, the majority of them in Africa, havebeen subjected to FGC, with 2 million girlsbelieved to be at risk every year. Variousdonor organizations report that they areworking to support national strategies thatattempt to eradicate FGC as a form of vio-lence against women. The Francophone com-munity (16 French-speaking countries inAfrica are affected by FGC) has developed anawareness-raising strategy based on part-nering with radio stations and individual tra-ditional leaders who work directly with ruralpopulations. UNICEF is working with part-ners around the world in a campaign for theabandonment of FGC everywhere within ageneration, using a rights-based model. InNiger community awareness campaignsaimed at key figures such as village chiefs,

F U N D I N G F O R A N T I - T R A F F I C K I N G A C T I V I T I E S

In 2003 USAID provided over US$15 million for

anti-trafficking activities in 36 countries, an increase

of more than 50 per cent over its 2002 anti-trafficking

funding. As a result, 1,400 women trafficking victims

in Nigeria received assistance in reintegration and

rehabilitation. An anti-trafficking in children activity

is being implemented in Benin to: (1) provide insti-

tutional and operational support to the Ministry of

Family, Social Protection and Solidarity; (2) assist

local civil society organizations to develop and

implement income-generating and literacy programs

in target rural areas; and (3) provide alternatives to

Beninese young women and children working for

cocoa plantations in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana who

are vulnerable to traffickers.

—USAID

www.usaid.gov


media, traditional and religious leaders,young people, teachers, nurses, midwivesand female excisers have had an impact: In2003 the government of Niger passed a lawcalling for fines or jail sentences for thoseconducting FGC.

The Netherlands supports NGOs in a similareffort to ban FGC and combat violenceagainst women and ECA provides technicalsupport to the Inter-African Committee onTraditional Practices Affecting the Health ofWomen and Children.

A Commonwealth Expert Group has been con-vened on the issue of trafficking, focusing onthe commercial sexual exploitation of womenand children. DPKO has responded to con-cerns about trafficking in and around peacemissions by, among other programmes, devel-oping a guidance package for peacekeepingoperations with rule of law and/or humanrights mandates on how to combat humantrafficking. This package will include modellegislation, examples of national strategiesand awareness-raising materials. It will beused to assist missions that have developedlegislation on human trafficking but face chal-lenges in implementation.

E . Wo m e n a n d A r m e d Co n f l i c t


1. Increase the participation of women inconflict resolution at decision-making lev-els and protect women living in situationsof armed and other conflicts or under for-eign occupation

2. Reduce excessive military expendituresand control the availability of armaments

3. Promote non-violent forms of conflict res-olution and reduce the incidence ofhuman rights abuse in conflict situations

4. Promote women’s contribution to foster-ing a culture of peace

5. Provide protection, assistance and train-

ing to refugee women, other displacedwomen in need of international protec-tion and internally displaced women

6. Provide assistance to the women of thecolonies and non-self-governing territories

As the report from ECA’s Seventh RegionalConference on Women notes, "women’svoices in conflict prevention and peace-building are only faintly listened to, oftenleaving them at the margins of peaceprocesses."2 The international communityrecognized the disproportionate impact ofconflict on women and women’s actual andpotential roles in peace-building throughSecurity Council Resolution 1325 on women,peace and security. Recognition is only thebeginning of an extremely difficult task,however. Providing support for womencaught in the midst of conflict requiresfinancing, commitment, and the provision of

R E S P O N D I N G T OS E X U A L V I O L E N C ED U R I N G C O N F L I C T

In the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, UNFPA is leading a joint ini-

tiative, which constitutes the first

national comprehensive integrated

response to sexual violence in a con-

flict country. With the involvement of

nearly a dozen UN agencies as well as

NGOs and government, the UN

country team conducted a compre-

hensive joint needs assessment and

developed a multisectoral framework

for responding to sexual violence,

which addresses a broad range of

urgent issues from medical support

for victims to reestablishing the rule

of law to prevent impunity.

—UNFPA

www.unfpa.org


services in the midst of extreme danger.Post-conflict, there has been some success inbringing women to the periphery of thepeace table as advisors and implementers,but it has proven much more difficult toguarantee them a seat at the table.

Organizations providing information oninterventions in this area primarilyaddressed three of the six strategic objec-tives. Most focused on women’s role inpeace-building, facilitating partnershipsamong organizations and helping to fosterdialogues with a variety of local groups(women’s, men’s and youth) that contributeto peace-building and post-conflict recon-struction. UNDP, for example, supportedthe Femmes Afriques Solidarité, a regionalorganization, to train more than 200 womenin conflict prevention and peace-building. Ithas also facilitated monitoring of peace-building efforts in post-conflict areas with afocus on identifying gender needs in thereintegration and reconstruction processes,in support of SC Resolution 1325.

Organizations are also seeking ways to pro-vide aid to women caught in the midst ofconflicts such as those in the Darfur regionof Sudan and in the eastern region of theDRC. UNFPA and partners in the regionaround Darfur are helping communities toorganize women’s groups to support victimsof sexual violence and their families. Thesegroups also serve as entry points for treatingvictims who are hesitant to seek help at hos-pitals or clinics. UNFPA provides medicalsupplies, collaborates with and trains doc-tors, nurses and counsellors to treat theeffects of sexual violence.

UNIFEM’S peace and security programme,supported mainly by DFID and the UNFoundation, among others, has providedresources for women’s organizing and influ-ence over the last ten years in countries such

as Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone,Somalia and Sudan. The programme works tostrengthen women’s role in conflict preven-tion and resolution, in peace-building and toimprove methods for protecting and assist-ing women in conflict zones. As a result ofwomen’s participation in Burundi, genderequality was integrated into the Arushapeace negotiations – one of the first cleardemonstrations that women can make a tan-gible difference if they are present duringpeace processes. UNIFEM also supportedwomen’s successful efforts to participate in

W O M E N , W A R , P E A C E

UNIFEM has developed several projects

to call attention to the impact of

armed conflict on women. In 2002 it

commissioned Women, War, Peace, an

Independent Experts’ Assessment of

conditions for women in 14 conflict

zones, including several in Africa. The

report reiterated the need for systemat-

ic collection, analysis and sharing of

information on women and conflict to

ensure that gender concerns are con-

sistently included in decisions and

actions on conflict prevention and

peace-building. In 2004 UNIFEM’s

peace and security section launched a

web portal to serve as a centralized

repository of information. Targeted at

policy-makers, practitioners,

researchers and the media, the portal

offers gender profiles of conflict coun-

tries, briefs on issues that affect

women and girls before, during and

after conflict, and information on UN

gender programming in conflict zones.

—UNIFEM

www.womenwarpeace.org


the Inter-Congolese Dialogues, a regionalattempt to broker peace in the DRC. In other programmes, women on the borderof Kenya and Uganda receive support fromUSAID for training in mediation and conflictmitigation. Victims of war and post-war-related sexual assault and domestic violencein Sierra Leone receive counselling, commu-nity information, and training from USAID’sWest Africa Regional Programme and from aUNFPA-supported shelter and vocationaltraining programme. UNICEF has trainedover 54,000 refugees, community leadersand NGO staff on the prevention of gender-based violence and care of victims in refugeecamps. These efforts helped reduce suchviolence in camps by 33 percent between2002 and 2003. DPKO has created two train-ing packages around this area of concern:gender-awareness training materials for pre-deployment and induction training for UNmilitary and civilian police and a manual ongender issues in the various functional areascovered by peacekeeping operations.

To provide access for women at the highestofficial levels within the African Union, ECAfacilitated the creation of the AfricanWomen’s Committee on Peace and Develop-ment (AWCPD) and provides it with ongoingsupport. AWCPD provides a mechanism forwomen to participate in official efforts at con-flict prevention, resolution and management.It was instrumental in bringing women andtheir concerns into the peace processes for theGreat Lakes region, the Mano River Basin andSomalia, and provided valuable contributionsto the Beijing +5 evaluation, which in turn ledto the adoption of SC Resolution 1325.

F . Wo m e n a n d t h e Ec o n o my


1. Promote women’s economic rights andindependence, including access to employ-

ment and appropriate working conditionsand control over economic resources

2. Facilitate women’s equal access toresources, employment, markets and trade

3. Provide business services, training andaccess to markets, information and tech-nology, particularly to low-incomewomen

4. Strengthen women’s economic capacityand commercial networks

5. Eliminate occupational segregation andall forms of employment discrimination

6. Promote harmonization of work and fami-ly responsibilities for women and men

Women in much of sub-Saharan Africa are stillvirtually absent from or poorly represented ineconomic decision-making. They lack accessto resources, employment, markets andtrade. The majority of interventions reported

P A R T I C I P A T O R YF I S H E R Y D E V E L O P M E N T

P R O J E C T I N S E N E G A L

The Participatory Fishery Develop-

ment project in Senegal was created to

increase women’s economic empower-

ment. After fishing facilities and a pro-

cessing factory were established,

women were motivated to improve the

quality and quantity of their processed

fish products. The women took the

initiative to introduce better ovens,

improve their processing technique,

organize their own cooperative, and

start a micro-credit scheme. With the

additional income generated by their

efforts, the women are implementing

savings and credit activities and pro-

moting health and education for them-

selves and their families.

—JICA

www.jica.go.jp/english


in this area focus on providing business serv-ices, training, information and technologyskills, access to markets and strengtheningwomen's economic capacity and commercialnetworks. Some donors also provide tangibleitems such as food, water or firewood as ameans of freeing women from their tradition-al duties so that they can participate in eco-nomic development programmes.

Interventions in this area include the work ofFAO and IFAD with women farmers to improveaccess to agricultural support systems andservices; promote and develop labour-savingagricultural techniques suitable for womenfarmers; adapt agricultural extension servicesto women farmers’ needs; and enhance theskills of illiterate women so they will be better

able to manage economic endeavours. FAO ispromoting the integration of gender concernsinto PSRPs and other macroeconomic instru-ments, as is the Netherlands.

FAO has asked national governments to allo-cate 10 percent of their national budgets toagricultural development, making more fundsavailable for programmes aimed at improvingfood security and reducing poverty and thussupporting vulnerable populations such aswomen farmers. FAO has also been a leader inthe effort to expand national agricultural datato include gender-specific information. FAO-supported surveys have documented the fem-inization of the agricultural sector as moremen migrate in search of non-agriculturalwork. Some rural areas are primarily inhabitedby women, most of whom are supportingtheir families with subsistence agriculture.Surveys showed four women for every man inthe 24–45 age group in selected districts.

Many donors focus on micro-enterprises runby women as a strategy for sustainable pover-ty reduction. The ILO, for example, has heldseveral seminars in Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigerand Togo with the Association des FemmesChefs d’Entreprises on ways to implementproactive programmes that develop thecapacity of micro-entrepreneurs to improvetheir businesses.

Working with various governments, the ILOalso supports the design and formulation ofpolicies to improve women’s human capital,reduce barriers to female employment, andraise social awareness to expand women’schoices and opportunities. In turn, these poli-cies are promoted through Gender EqualityConventions that serve as awareness-raisingvenues for women’s human and economicrights and provide policy advice on work andfamily issues. ILO also provides other organi-zations with support for entrepreneurshiptraining and micro-credit programmes.

D I G I T A L D I A S P O R A I N I T I A T I V E

The Digital Diaspora Initiative (DDI) was launched in

2002 by UNIFEM in collaboration with the UN

Information and Communication Technologies Task

Force, UN Office of the Special Advisor on Africa

(OSAA), UN Fund for International Partnerships

(UNFIP) and UNDP. The purpose of DDI is to

improve African women’s lives through the use of

information and communication technologies. A

Global Advisory Committee, comprised of informa-

tion technology (IT) entrepreneurs in Africa and

throughout the Diaspora, provides overall guidance to

the initiative, offers innovative advice for African

women on funding and resource mobilization, and

participates and invests in country initiatives. Through

a pilot programme in Rwanda, representatives from

business-oriented women’s organizations are trained

to provide their members with ICT solutions for eco-

nomic empowerment. The women are then connect-

ed with local and international business mentors and

partners. After the pilot phase, the programme will be

expanded to eight other African countries.

—UNIFEM

www.genderwsis.org


To enhance information sharing and accessto markets, UNDP’s Regional GenderProgramme has been working with theFederation of National Associations ofWomen in Business in Eastern and SouthernAfrica (FEMCOM) in four areas: capacity-building, creation of information networksand services, documentation and trainingand advocacy of best practices.

Regionally, ECA is promoting the entrepre-neurial capacity and capability of Africanwomen entrepreneurs in informal and formalbusinesses by providing business-relatedinformation and advisory services. The pro-gramme is expected to expand in the comingyears. ECA, along with UNDP, also launchedthe Enterprise Development Facility, aregional network of women entrepreneurs,to address the business information needs ofAfrican women entrepreneurs.

G . Wo m e n i n Po w e r a n dDe c i s i o n - m a k i n g

Strategic Objective:

1. Take measures to ensure women’s equalaccess to and full participation in powerstructures and decision-making

As the Commonwealth Secretariat wrote inits response, “[G]ender concerns cannot bedivorced from mainstream political andsocio-economic issues and other prioritydevelopment matters. Existing power rela-tions prevent women from equal participa-tion in political life, which is critical to theincorporation of women’s perspective in alllevels of decision-making.” Interventionsreported on this area seek to (a) guaranteewomen’s equal access to and full participa-tion in power structures and decision-mak-ing, and (b) increase women’s capacity toparticipate in decision-making and leader-ship positions. Over the past 10 years, vari-

ous forms of assistance have been extendedby donor organizations to African women’sgroups for advocacy work; for developingshared strategies and action plans to ensurewomen’s full participation as voters, poten-tial leaders, civic educators and electionobservers; and for assisting governments todevelop strategies that help them meet tar-gets set for women’s participation in deci-sion-making in both the public and privatesectors.

WFP’s experience over these years hasshown that quotas for women’s representa-tion in local level decision-making bodies

E M P O W E R I N G W O M E NI N M U N I C I P A L I T I E S

Local-to-local dialogues are an inno-

vative global strategy for empowering

women through local action. They are

a method by which organizations

engage in an ongoing dialogue with

local authorities to forge sustainable

development and advance the capaci-

ties of women. The dialogues become

the means to open up channels of

policy discussion for grassroots com-

munities while at the same time

amplifying an understanding of why

gender matters, why women’s partici-

pation is key to local decision-making

and how democracy can be achieved

in a very practical, conflict-free way.

A toolkit, Local-to-Local Dialogues Tool

– Involving Grassroots Women in Local

Governance and Development, based

on experiences from more than six

countries worldwide, including

Uganda and Kenya, is available online.

—UN-HABITAT

http://www.unhabitat.org/campaigns/go

vernance/activities_7.asp


ensure adequate – and in some cases – equalparticipation. WFP has worked with localgovernments in Rwanda and Senegal to buildthe capacity of councillors, and has trainedwomen members of parliament and partycandidates in order to improve candidateselection and strengthen the role of womenin the parties and local and national govern-ments. UNDP has also put much effort intowomen’s political participation. In Niger ithas trained women parliamentarians in com-munications and held gender-sensitizationprogrammes for members of government. Ithas also supported women’s participation inlocal councils and trained local electedwomen in planning, budgeting and develop-ing and mobilizing resources. In RwandaUNDP, in partnership with the Ministry ofGender and bilateral donors, funded proj-ects to train women in decision-making, cre-ating exchange mechanisms, strengtheningcivil society organizations and establishingstructures for women at all government levels.

In the DRC, DFID, the UN Mission to the DRC(MONUC) and UNIFEM have supported theElectoral Commission and local women’sorganizations in developing a shared strate-gy and action plans to ensure women’s fullparticipation in future elections.

UNFPA and UNIFEM helped arrange thesixth regional conference of the Network ofAfrican Women Ministers andParliamentarians in Libreville, Gabon, inNovember 2004. The conference broughtwomen parliamentarians and ministers fromsub-Saharan Africa together to discussmeans of combating gender-based violenceas a key action towards achieving the MDGs.An advocacy kit that addressed gender-based violence in national contexts was pre-sented to participants at the conference.

H . I n s t i t u t i o n a l M e c h a n i s m s f o rt h e A d v a n c e m e n t o f Wo m e n


1. Create or strengthen national machineriesand other governmental bodies

2. Integrate gender perspectives in legisla-tion, public policies, programmes andprojects

3. Generate and disseminate gender-disaggregated data and information forplanning and evaluation

M O N I T O R I N G A N DE V A L U A T I O N

The overall goals of ECA’s Monitoring

and Evaluation (M&E) Programme

are to promote and reinforce gender

mainstreaming in national develop-

ment policies, plans and programmes;

and inform corrective action for poli-

cy adjustments conducive to acceler-

ating the concretisation of gender

equality. Specifically, the M&E

Programme seeks to:

• Strengthen the commitment of

member States to the implementa-

tion of the BPFA;

• Build the capacity of member States

to integrate the objectives of the

BPFA in their national policies and

programmes;

• Strengthen the capacity of member

States to appraise, evaluate and report

on progress made at the national,

regional and global level; and

• Undertake impact assessment of

gender mainstreaming on the status

of women in Africa.

—ECA

www.uneca.org/fr/acgd/en/1024X768/

acgd.htm


Since 1995 governments across the conti-nent have created or strengthened nationalmachineries and other mechanisms that sup-port women’s advancement and genderequality, and these machineries have, inturn, been supported by various internation-al donors. CIDA, for example, has formed aWomen's Working Group on Gender throughthe Africa-Canada ParliamentaryStrengthening Programme for increasing thecapacity of women MPs to play influential

roles, as well as helping parliamentariansgenerally to analyse and address genderissues. DFID has trained officials of theMinistry of Gender and the Advancement ofWomen in Rwanda and provided technicalassistance in the development of a medium-term poverty reduction strategy. FAO assist-ed the Ministries of Agriculture in Benin,Burkina Faso, Ghana and Guinea on a genderand agricultural development strategy, help-ing to create a policy document in support ofnational implementation of the BPFA. UNDPhas supported an effort in Tanzania tostrengthen the national gender machinery,comprising the Ministry of CommunityDevelopment, Gender and Children(MCDGC) and the Ministry of YouthEmployment, Women and ChildrenDevelopment (MYEWCD) in Zanzibar.

UNIFEM has facilitated the incorporation ofa gender perspective in the drafting of newconstitutions and legislation, including spe-cific laws on gender issues in several coun-tries including Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria,Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. UNIFEM has alsopartnered with UNDP to support subregion-al bodies such as the Common Market forEastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), theEconomic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), the Intergovernmental Authorityon Development (IGAD), the Southern AfricaDevelopment Community (SADC), theAfrican Union and NEPAD to ensure gendermainstreaming at subregional and regionallevels and accountability by member statestowards their gender commitments.

Recognizing the importance of institutionalmechanisms for monitoring and evaluatingBPFA implementation in Africa, ECA hasdeveloped a programme with tools fornational, subregional and regional levelmonitoring and evaluation. These toolsinclude the African Gender and Develop-ment Index (AGDI) to measure the status of

T H E G E N D E R M A N A G E M E N TS Y S T E M

The Gender Management System (GMS) is a

framework for mainstreaming gender. It is a net-

work of structures, processes and mechanisms

within an organization or country that helps

identify policies, mechanisms and procedures

for integrating gender at every level.

The GMS was developed between 1996 and

1999 in consultation with member governments

and other key stakeholders to strengthen the capac-

ities of national women's machineries (NWMs) and

of the Commonwealth Secretariat itself.

The GMS is a useful tool that helps NWMs to

understand the links between gender issues and

key development objectives, recognize the shared

responsibility for gender mainstreaming and shar-

ing of resources and be able to put into place gen-

der impact assessments, and gender planning and

analysis to bring about broad policy changes.

The flexibility of the GMS allows it to be

used as a tool for advancing gender equality that

can be adapted to the needs and programmes of

countries, organizations and institutions. It

allows for partnerships with other stakeholders

and lays the foundation for coordination, collab-

oration and cooperation.

—The Commonwealth Secretariat

www.thecommonwealth.org/templates/STPDInte

rnal.asp?NodeID=34014


women as compared to men in the social,economic and political spheres. The Indexwill serve as a tool for African policy makersand their partners to measure gender equali-ty, equity and women’s empowerment andadvancement. In addition to monitoringprogress in implementing conventions thatAfrican countries have ratified, the Index isexpected to stimulate interdepartmentalcooperation within the ministries in which itwill be applied. Capacity-building and train-ing are also major components of the pro-gramme, and ECA has conducted a series oftraining workshops to familiarize and pre-pare monitoring and evaluation officers from19 African countries.

The African Evaluation Association (AfrEA),in collaboration with UNIFEM, is developinga rights-based and results-oriented systemfor monitoring and evaluating developmentprogrammes in Africa for effectiveness andgender-responsiveness. As part of thiseffort, AfrEA has established the AfricanGender and Development Network (AGDEN)for sharing information, knowledge andevaluation resources across the continent.

All of the respondents emphasize that datadisaggregated by sex and age are essentialfor measuring the impact and sustainabilityof various projects, particularly in the con-text of the MDGs. FAO for example, hasassisted member countries in collecting andanalysing sex-disaggregated data, which wasthen used for agricultural planning and poli-cy formulation as well as monitoring andevaluating development interventions. Inaddition, FAO has supported governments inenhancing the availability of sex-disaggre-gated agricultural data, since in many casesnational statistics services collect data dis-aggregated by age and sex but do not usethat data when developing programmes andpolicies.

I. Human Rights of Women

Strategic Objectives

1. Promote and protect the human rights ofwomen, through the full implementationof all human rights instruments, especial-ly the Convention on the Elimination ofAll Forms of Discrimination againstWomen

2. Ensure equality and non-discriminationunder the law and in practice

3. Achieve legal literacy

CEDAW has served as the basis for improv-ing women’s human rights, and has influ-enced gender policies, declarations andguidelines adopted by several subregionalintergovernmental bodies, such as COMESA,ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC. Several national

T O O L S F O R M E A S U R I N GP R O G R E S S

The African Gender and Development

Index (AGDI) has two components.

The Gender Status Index (GSI) cap-

tures quantitatively measurable issues

related to gender equality. It is based

on three blocs: social power ‘capabili-

ties,’ economic power ‘opportunities,’

and political power ‘agency.’ The sec-

ond component, the African Women’s

Progress Scoreboard (AWPS) measures

government policy performance

regarding women’s advancement and

empowerment. It focuses on qualitative

issues and fills the gap between purely

quantitative indicators and more coun-

try-specific or sector-specific indicators.

The AWPS is comprised of four blocks:

women’s rights, social power, economic

power and political power.

—ECA

www.uneca.org/acgd


governments have also enacted or amendedlegislation on women’s human rights. Donorshave used these and CEDAW’s provisions tosupport efforts to extend and improvewomen’s rights throughout the region. Forexample, DPKO has provided training onCEDAW and gender-based violence to uni-formed and civilian peacekeeping personnel,as well as to legal and judicial professionalsand civil servants in host countries.

Many organizations noted successful part-nerships in this area. IFAD, FAO and theInternational Land Coalition conducted astudy of select FAO member countries’ com-pliance with the provisions of the CEDAWconvention in support of rural women. Thesesame partners undertook an initiative toexplore the possibilities of using Article 14of CEDAW, which relates to rural women, asan advocacy tool to advance women's rightsto equal access to land and property, inheri-

tance and legal capacity. In Namibia, UNDPhas also been involved in efforts at landreform, supporting measures to allowwomen to own and control property. CIDAhas provided support in Zimbabwe andSouth Africa to legal resource organizationsthat have educated women about theirrights and brought test cases to court as abasis for gender-sensitive legal precedentsand law reform.

UNIFEM has also worked with several part-ners to popularize CEDAW and develop leg-islation to protect women’s rights in manycountries and at the subregional level. Onesuch project involved working with UNICEFto train women judges on how to applyhuman rights instruments.

In Rwanda, UN-HABITAT and Pro-femmesTwese Hamwe worked in partnership to sup-port a Plan of Action for capacity-building inhuman rights, housing rights, land andwomen’s rights to inheritance, which influ-enced the enactment of a Rwandan law onsuccession and matrimonial rights. The newlaw allows women equal rights with men infamily succession.

Working at both the regional and nationallevels, ECA has sought to build the capaci-ties of a variety of target groups and stake-holders through programmes to enhanceawareness of women's human and legalrights and to advocate for mainstreamingwomen’s rights in formal and informal edu-cation and justice administration. It has pro-vided technical support to the Governmentsof Botswana, Comoros and Togo for thepreparation of national reports on the imple-mentation of CEDAW, and advisory servicesto the Government of Niger in formulating alegal framework for the advancement ofwomen and a strategy for the ratification ofCEDAW. According to ECA, this advisory andtechnical support has strengthened national

P R O T E C T I N G W O M E N ’ SP R O P E R T Y R I G H T S I N Z I M B A B W E

A project in Zimbabwe focused on customary prac-

tices that left women with no means of livelihood

when their spouse or parent died. The project

sought to ensure that on the death of a person, sur-

viving spouses and dependants could access and

utilize inheritance laws rather than be disinherited

or left out of the distribution of assets through

administrative discrimination or lack of knowledge.

The government made radical changes to the

laws to ensure the development of a consensus-

building process with all family members. A key

element of the project was the implementation of a

communications strategy, which led to increased

knowledge among the population of changes in the

laws, their relevance for people’s lives, and how

advice and help could be accessed.

—DFID

www.dfid.gov.uk/countries/africa/zimbabwe.asp


and regional debates on the issue ofwomen’s rights and has helped to place theissue high on the political and legislativeagenda in many nations.

J. Women and the Media


1. Increase the participation and access ofwomen to expression and decision-making in and through the media and newtechnologies of communication

2. Promote a balanced and non-stereotypedportrayal of women in the media

Advances in information technology havefacilitated a global communications networkthat increases the potential for the media tocontribute to the advancement of women. Asthe world goes online, it is especially impor-tant that Africa joins the information andcommunications revolution. More organiza-tions are beginning to focus on media of allsorts, including radio, which is a prime venuefor reaching the illiterate, a majority of whomare women. Media have been used in Africato provide information on, for example,health care and prevention; the importanceof girls’ education; and HIV/AIDS awareness,

prevention and care. Several organizationsreported on interventions that used media,both to increase women’s participation inand access to decision-making and to pro-mote a balanced and non-stereotypical por-trayal of women in the media. For example,UNDP, among others, supports the AfricanWomen’s Media Centre (AWMC), which pro-vides women journalists with training,resources and tools to ensure that the por-trayal of women in the media is unbiased.

In support of ICT, UNIFEM and Nordicdonors aided in the establishment of aGender Caucus for the World Summit on theInformation Society (WSIS) to be held laterthis year. The Caucus, created in 2002 at theWSIS preparatory conference in Mali, hascontributed to strengthening the commit-ment to gender equality in the WSIS decla-ration, which affirms that women should bean integral part of, and key actors in, theinformation society and that informationand communications technologies should beused as tools for achieving gender equality.

UNFPA has supported training on partner-ships between radio networks and communi-ty-based health organizations in eightAfrican countries to raise awareness andincrease action on HIV/AIDS. Participantswere trained on how to create life-like radiodramas that reach out to listeners and pro-duce positive behavioural changes. Theworkshops also developed plans to enhanceradio programmes and involve more youth,women and people living with HIV/AIDS.

All of the respondents also believe effortsshould be made to strengthen the mediaportrayal of the BPFA, which could be doneby developing programmes on radio and TVthat highlight the Platform and show thevaried roles women have played in Africa’sdevelopment. DFID has been funding effortsin this area, supporting media in several

T H E D I M I T R A P R O J E C T

Named after Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of

agriculture, Dimitra is a tool for women and their

organizations to make their voices heard at the

national and international level. The project aims to

provide rural populations with easier access to

information, which can be used as a means to

mobilize people for change. Dimitra's main goal is

to empower rural women and to improve their liv-

ing conditions and status by highlighting the extent

and value of their contributions.

—FAO

www.fao.org/Dimitra/new_index.jsp


countries to use popular programmes to pro-mote peace and women’s rights. For exam-ple, it has funded Radio Okapi in the DRC tosupport women journalists and sensitizemale journalists about gender equity. Itworks with radio and television programmesin Angola to integrate women’s rights issuesinto their story lines.

K. Women and the Environment

Strategic Objective:

1. Involve women actively in environmentaldecision-making at all levels

Women play an essential role in the develop-ment of sustainable and ecologically soundconsumption and production, and in manag-ing natural resources, yet they remain large-ly absent from policy formulation and deci-sion-making on environmental issues.Various organizations have attempted tomeet the objective of the BPFA in this area inseveral ways: helping to develop appropri-ate technologies for women farmers; record-ing gender specific indigenous knowledgethat protects bio-diversity; promotingwomen’s livelihood activities in and aroundconservation areas and training women asresource persons for these areas; strength-ening agricultural and rural developmentusing gender, biodiversity and local knowl-edge systems; and conducting gender analy-sis of the environmental contributions, chal-lenges and needs of both men and women. Acommunity-based environment and repro-ductive health initiative in two rural districtsin South Africa was initiated in 1998 by theGovernment together with PlannedParenthood Association of South Africa,Working for Water Programme, and UNFPA.The initiative’s original objective was torestore water flows to rivers and streams,but it then became linked to the provision ofclean water, reproductive health and otherbasic services, including addressing

HIV/AIDS and the need for employment,especially for women.

Through its Environmental Management andAssessment Capacity Building Program,USAID has trained more than 500 women in16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa on meth-ods of protecting their environment. FAO hasdeveloped and field-tested gender-sensitiveindicators for natural resources managementto assist technical divisions and membercountries to monitor progress in gendermainstreaming resource management.

L. The Girl Child


1. Eliminate all forms of discriminationagainst the girl child

2. Eliminate negative cultural attitudes andpractices against girls

3. Promote and protect the rights of the girlchild and increase awareness of her needsand potential

4. Eliminate discrimination against girls ineducation, skills development and training

5. Eliminate discrimination against girls inhealth and nutrition

6. Eliminate the economic exploitation ofchild labour and protect young girls atwork

7. Eradicate violence against the girl child 8. Promote the girl child’s awareness of and

participation in social, economic andpolitical life

9. Strengthen the role of the family inimproving the status of the girl child

In many regions of Africa girls are at the bot-tom of the social scale, with fewer rightsthan boys and less status even than women.Fewer girls attend school than boys; they areinstead trained to serve the men in theirfamilies and their future husbands. In con-flict areas, families under pressure have usedtheir girls to trade sex for food, shelter and


other necessities. But girls are not silent vic-tims – in many cases they have becomeagents of change, standing up to traditionslike FGC and insisting on their right to betreated as equals. Several organizations sup-port girls and are helping them to improvetheir situation. This effort is becoming allthe more urgent in light of the AIDS pan-demic in Africa, which is partly rooted ingirls’ and women’s second-class status andtheir inability to negotiate sexual relations.Six of the nine strategic objectives wereaddressed by respondents who work withgirls, with the majority of activities involvinggirls’ education. UNICEF supports 21 coun-tries in Africa to improve girls’ education.Interventions include encouraging girls tostudy non-traditional subjects such as mathand science; supporting and advocating forquality girls’ education; promoting girl-friendly schools; and intensifying nationaland regional campaigns for girls’ education.Both UNICEF and USAID support girls’ schol-arship programmes and conduct researchand interventions to eliminate gender-basedviolence in schools.

UNFPA and WHO, with funding from theUnited Nations Foundation, have instituteda global pilot initiative, “Meeting the

Development and Participation Rights of

Adolescent Girls,” covering 12 countries andterritories, including Benin, Burkina Faso,Mali, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe andSenegal in Africa. The initiative’s activitiesvary from country to country, depending onlocal needs, but its ultimate goal is to putadolescents at the forefront of the develop-ment agenda of the implementing UN agen-cies. The initiative allows for adolescentgirls’ participation becoming institutional-ized and adolescent issues and rights beingmainstreamed. Indicators beyond health andeducation are being developed, and bestpractices and lessons learned are beingincorporated into policy frameworks.

UNFPA is also spearheading a project onmarried adolescents to address the issues ofearly marriage and pregnancies, which canlead to complications of childbirth andunsafe abortion. Thus, UNFPA and UNIFEMare partnering with the Population Council,the International Planned ParenthoodFederation and UNICEF to conduct researchand learn how to increase social and eco-nomic opportunities for girls in Ethiopia.

Other means of addressing the needs of thegirl child include promoting laws to protectgirls; supporting research relating to traf-ficking and sexual exploitation of girls; elim-inating economic exploitation and providingprotection for girls at work; and preventingthe violation of girls’ sexual rights and repro-ductive health, especially in regard to FGC.


V I . s t r a t e g i e sa n d a p p r o a c h e st o i m p l e m e n t i n gt h e B P F A

Information provided by the respondentsidentified three primary ways in which donororganizations support governments,women’s organizations and other civil socie-ty groups in building gender equity: techni-cal assistance, joint programmes and region-al and subregional strategies.

Te c h n i c a l S u p p o r tAgencies work with governments and localorganizations to provide funding and techni-cal assistance so that national institutionshave the capacity to adopt policies that sup-port gender equality throughout all theiractivities and in all technical fields. Theywork to build the knowledge and capacity ofwomen’s organizations as well as other civilsociety organizations and technical line min-istries that focus on areas such as health oragriculture, seeking to ensure that theybuild gender policies into their work.

J o i n t P r o g r a m m e s Coordination and synergy between develop-ment partners are crucial, but not alwayseasily attained. They require effort and care-ful planning, with different requirements indifferent countries and regions. Successfuljoint programmes are not necessarily basedon common interests or approaches. Somerespondents reported that partnerships withorganizations with different foci were pro-ductive because they each complementedthe work of the other. Regular meetings,joint evaluations and reviews at national andtechnical levels facilitate such partnerships.Respondents identified joint problem analy-sis as helpful in identifying inherent andpotential gender biases in various projects,and noted the importance of joint or coordi-nated actions to address these problems.The Commonwealth Secretariat has encour-aged collaboration with regional develop-ment bodies, multilateral agencies, individ-ual governments and their ministries, andcivil society. Civil society is especially impor-tant, notes the Secretariat, since “civil socie-ty acts as a critical voice in ensuring thatresources, wealth and power are equitablydistributed between women and men, with-in communities, and across social groups andregions.” While most donors recognize theimportance of collaboration, many notedthat much work remains to be done toimprove coordination and synergy amongpartners and to encourage more effectivecross-sectoral implementation.

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R e g i o n a l a n d S u b r e g i o n a l S u p p o r tMost respondents believe that regional levelefforts lead to better programme delivery inall areas, including implementing the BPFAin Africa. The Africa Liaison ProgramInitiative (ALPI) – a tripartite effort involvingUSAID, private voluntary organizations(PVOs) in the United States and AfricanNGOs – was created to support "a continu-ous dialogue among three key groups ofdevelopment stakeholders" to discuss thechallenges they face in working towards sus-tainable development and to identify oppor-tunities that might help them overcome suchdifficulties. ALPI links lessons learned ondevelopment relationships in the field topolicy-making in Africa and the U.S. to pro-mote coherency and agreement on joint pro-grammes in support of BPFA implementa-tion. IFAD is also engaged in networking andsharing of gender-related information andexperiences. It has partnered with UNIFEMin Western and Central Africa to strengthenwomen farmer groups and to provide techni-cal support for initiatives in the region.UNIFEM has also strategically partneredwith subregional bodies such as COMESA,ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC to ensure gendermainstreaming at subregional levels andaccountability by member States towardstheir gender commitments.


V I I . b e y o n db e i j i n g + 1 0

Remarkable progress has been made in lay-ing the groundwork to ensure that womenare full participants in all aspects of life inAfrica, from peace-building to economicempowerment to disease eradication. But asframeworks and strategies are applied, newchallenges arise and new questions must beasked. The challenges described below werelisted by a majority of respondents andreflect their ongoing experience in movingwomen’s rights from theory to reality. Mostof them are interlinked: the lack of sex-dis-aggregated data, for example, makes itextremely difficult to monitor budgetaryspending on women’s items and the limitedintegration with the MDGs impedes effortsat mainstreaming development objectivesfor women.

Discrimination against WomenA classic dilemma of discrimination is thatefforts to end it become part of the cycle of

prejudice and inequity. All too often in thecase of attempts to increase women’s equal-ity, funding is left out of action plans, com-mitments are given lip service but not mus-cle, and few people with authority advocatefor change. Many organizations reportedthat the BPFA is often not seen as a prioritywithin their own halls, making it even moredifficult to convince governments that itshould be a priority within theirs.Discrimination at the highest political levelscan stymie efforts to reduce gender biasthroughout a nation or even in local commu-nities, but the spiral does not have to godownward. Efforts to raise awareness and topressure political figures to honour commit-ments with resources can bring results thatmake apparent how important women’srights are to national and local development.The BPFA can serve not only as a model butas an inspiration in this sense – as womengain control over resources, use informationand participate in decision-making, they andthose around them can see improvements inmany areas. Achieving this requires renewedcommitment on the part of women and theirsupporters, and a willingness to find innova-tive ways to link gender priorities with otherinstruments, such as the MDGs and thePSRPs.

T h e N e e d f o r S e x - D i s a g g r e g a t e dDa t aThe limited availability of gender analysisand lack of sex- disaggregated data are aserious obstacle to BPFA implementation.Without information on key indicators forgender equality and women’s empower-

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ment, such as formal vs. informal work, paidvs. unpaid work, and without information ontime and energy expenditures in regards towomen’s burden of care and work in subsis-tence production (both of which are mademore onerous by the HIV/AIDS pandemic), itis extremely difficult to devise programmesthat address gender bias effectively. Eventhough African women play a large role inagriculture and food security, national agri-cultural censuses and surveys have onlyrecently begun to expand the focus of theirdata collection beyond standard informationsuch as crop production and livestock main-tenance to gender-specific, socio-economicindicators. As a result, for much of the lastdecade, African women’s work in the agri-cultural sector remained invisible, their con-tributions to household and national foodsecurity were not recognized and they werenot included in technical assistance trainingprogrammes.

At the same time, the MDGs – an unprece-dented global initiative to improve livingstandards – only require sex-disaggregateddata for targets and indicators that specifi-cally refer to women. And while many organ-izations would like to prepare disaggregateddata, civil society groups in particular, whichare generally the ones attempting to holdgovernments accountable, simply do nothave the capacity in terms of time, money orstaff to collect the data and present it inusable forms.

A majority of the respondents recognizedthe necessity of supporting efforts to obtain

sex-disaggregated data. DFID, ECA,UNIFEM, WFP and several others are allfunding efforts to collect sex-disaggregateddata or to make available data that havealready been disaggregated but lie unusedand ignored.

I n t e g r a t i n g Ge n d e r i n t oN a t i o n a l a n d R e g i o n a l P r i o r i t i e sOne of the central questions in fosteringwomen’s empowerment is how to find themeans that have the greatest likelihood ofachieving the desired ends. Much of the

B A S E L I N E S U R V E Y S O NT H E C O M M I T M E N T S T O

W O M E N

In 2004, for the first time, WFP has

conducted standardized country-level

Baseline Surveys on the implementation

of its Enhanced Commitments to

Women. The surveys consist of two

parts: (1) country office self assess-

ments; and (2) surveys at the pro-

gramme implementation (local) level.

A set of country-level questions focuses

on gender mainstreaming indicators. A

follow-up survey will be conducted in

2007 in order to measure change.

Twenty-eight WFP country offices in

Africa have engaged in the self-assess-

ment and 15 of them participated in

the local level implementation surveys

as well.

—WFP

www.wfp.org/index.asp?section=1


debate centres on whether to support andstrengthen women in arenas devoted totheir concerns, or whether to “mainstream”their issues into already existing arenas,many of which – labour or agricultural min-istries, for example – have not focused ongender in the past. From the responses inthe questionnaires, organizations appear tobelieve that neither method can succeed onits own. Several organizations cited theimportance of making links with nationalwomen’s machineries and ministries respon-sible for women’s affairs, but acknowledgedthat these machineries are often marginal-ized, understaffed, and under-funded. As aresult they may have little or no influence intheir governments. Perhaps even more dis-concerting, they may have little or no con-tact with women’s organizations working inareas relevant to their mandates.

A number of organizations have focused ongender mainstreaming, and most believethat the concept has great potential, butonce again the reality has not yet lived up tothe promise. As UNIFEM Deputy DirectorJoanne Sandler has noted, “Gender main-streaming, as practiced, is more often used asa strategy for obscuring and undervaluingthe significance of gender inequality. Wecan have solid gender analysis, high qualitygender training and a superb gender policy,yet when it comes to getting the work done– convening the task forces, assigning thebudgets, distributing medicines for HIV orthe food in a refugee camp – women andgirls still have diminished access and influ-ence as compared to men, resulting ingreater threats to their lives, their securityand their future potential.” 3

Several respondents believe that the solu-tion is to combine methodologies while con-tinuing to develop new strategies. Planners,for example, can see to it that women’s con-cerns are not sidelined in poverty reduction

proposals or peace agreements, and empow-ered women’s ministries with viable fundingcan ensure that the gender policies built intothese proposals and agreements are actuallyimplemented. To achieve this, women’s min-istries and machineries should be supportedand encouraged to take up advocacy andcoordinating roles, focusing their actions onintegrating the BPFA critical areas of con-cern into the programmes of the technicalministries. At the same time gender main-streaming should be financed and fostered,especially in technical line ministries such asagriculture or health. The goal at all timesshould be direct and transformative changethrough interlinked strengths.

Resource AllocationImplementing the BPFA requires financial aswell as technical resources, but whenresources are allocated, whether by govern-ments or by donor organizations, they mustthen be monitored and evaluated, a taskthat has often proved extremely difficult.Does the answer lie in separate budgets forgender programming, which are easy totrack but risk marginalizing programmes forwomen? Is gender mainstreaming animprovement over separate women’s budg-ets or does it lead to agreements that arerarely backed up with resources? And ifresources for women are made available, is itpossible to monitor them if they have beenmainstreamed into larger categories?

Most donors who responded to the ques-tionnaire tend to use gender mainstreamingin their own budgets and as a result, report-ed that they were not always able to docu-ment specific financial commitments to gen-der equality and women’s empowerment.For example, DFID’s budget is constructedon countrywide allocations in the Africancountries in which it works, and it is there-fore unable to identify specific annual allo-cations for BPFA priorities. IFAD also found


it difficult to separate gender-related budg-et items from programme budgets and workplans. Some projects are able to track rela-tively small allocations tied directly to gen-der mainstreaming, such as gender aware-ness training, the cost of a gender specialiston a project management team or the cost oftechnical assistance on gender.

The Commonwealth Secretariat and JICA aremore able than most donors to report onbroad gender-specific resource allocation.JICA, for example, documents that in recentyears it has allocated approximately 12 per-cent of its annual budget to gender-relatedactivities, of which about 30 percent wasspent in Africa. The CommonwealthSecretariat has instituted gender main-

streaming codes in its auditing practices tofacilitate the analysis of gender expendi-tures. It notes that gender accounting andauditing will become ever more critical asthe Secretariat assesses mainstreameddevelopment programmes and performance.

At the government level, many organizationssupport gender-budgeting as a way to moni-tor expenditures with an eye towards theirimpact on women. Gender-budgeting allowsdonors, NGOs and governments themselvesto identify expenditures (or the lack ofthem) for empowering women. It breaksdown each area of a budget and analyses itsimpact on women, allowing civil society andgovernments to address gender disadvan-tage, integrate gender into macroeconomicpolicy, emphasize the role of fiscal policy inaddressing poverty and social need, enhancegovernance and monitor and evaluate gov-ernment spending. The CommonwealthSecretariat and UNIFEM have supportedgender-budgeting initiatives in several coun-tries, as has DFID, which has worked withUNIFEM, the International Budget Initiativeand South Africa’s IDASA BudgetInformation Service.

A consensus also emerged among respon-dents that engendering the PovertyReduction Strategy Papers and similar policyinstruments would build capacity for includ-ing and tracking budget items relating towomen. Engendering the PSRPs wouldrequire strengthening the collection, analy-sis and use of gender disaggregated data ininstruments such as censuses and surveysthat feed into policy formulation. Somework is currently being done in this area. Forexample, the Development Co-operationDirectorate (DAC) Gender Network of theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) has created a toolkitfor policy planners on how to integrate gen-der equality into the PRSP process. Leading

L I N K I N G C E D A W , B E I J I N G A N DT H E M D G S

UNIFEM is working to link CEDAW and the

BPFA with the MDGs so that gender equality can

inform every level of the MDGs’ poverty reduc-

tion strategies. Currently, the global targets and

indicators set for each Goal are the weakest part

of the framework in terms of gender equality

even though gender concerns are central to each

Goal, from women’s access to primary education

to their role in managing the environment to the

specific ways in which gender inequality feeds

women’s impoverishment. In Pathway to Gender

Equality: CEDAW, Beijing and the MDGs, UNIFEM

shows how to use the actions and resources

already mobilized around implementing CEDAW

and the Beijing Platform to invigorate the MDG

process with gender-equality strategies — strate-

gies that have already been analysed and fine-

tuned through the CEDAW and Beijing Platform

review processes.

—UNIFEM

To order go to www.unifem.org


partners in this effort were Germany, theNetherlands, the European Commission andthe World Bank.

L i n k i n g t h e B P FA w i t h C E DAW ,t h e I C P D a n d t h e M D G sAlthough it is generally recognized thatpoverty eradication, human rights and gen-der equality are intrinsically interrelated,development action plans and programmeshave not always incorporated these interre-lationships. Ministries of health working onmaternal mortality may not coordinate withministries of education even though intro-ducing health education into formal andinformal education is an important way tohelp reduce deaths linked to pregnancy.Judicial machineries working to build humanrights do not always consult women’smachineries or gender advocacy groups toensure that their programmes address thestrategic objectives of the BPFA. Manydonors report that improving these interac-tions are a major concern.

Both multilateral and bilateral organizationsindicated that they are conscious of theneed to incorporate both MDG targets andICPD goals into the main framework of theirefforts. There is a conscious shift to using arights-based approach in addressing thePlatform’s critical areas of concern, andbringing that approach to the MDG process.All the respondents state, in one way oranother, that the MDGs cannot be fullyattained while women/girls and men/boysdo not enjoy equal rights, treatment andaccess to resources in a climate of freedom

from discrimination, and that at the sametime it will be difficult if not impossible toaddress the concerns of the BPFA if develop-ment goals are not met. Internally, manyorganizations are trying to develop greatercoherence in their work. There is an ongoingeffort to place more emphasis on the impor-tance of the BPFA for achieving the MDGs,as well as addressing gender in key planningdocuments. One notable obstacle is the lackof sex-disaggregated data in much of theMDG process, which UNDP, among others,has called attention to. In addition, moreprogress is needed on sexual and reproduc-tive health for women if certain goals of theICPD and the MDGs are to be met, particu-larly in the areas of child and maternal healthand HIV/AIDS. Improvements in these areaswill not only affect the specific MillenniumDevelopment Goals that address theseissues, but will also accelerate progress onthe goals that relate to eradicating extremepoverty and hunger and achieving universalprimary education.


V I I I . c o n c l u s o n :t h e t i m e i s n o w

“In spite of African women’s mobilization,advocacy and increased representation ingovernance at regional and national levels,normative gains are not yet reflected in sub-stantial changes in women’s lives. Africanwomen, especially those living in rural com-munities and those with disabilities, stillface daunting challenges.”4 Thus the ECAdescribes conditions for women in Africa atthe start of the Beijing +10 Review. Dauntingthough they are, these challenges can befaced if the political will and resources areavailable. The 10-year review should help allstakeholders to assess what has been done,and use that information to direct futureendeavours.

Along with the information presented hereon progress attained, several respondentsnoted areas that will be critical in the comingyears. One is the necessity of including menas partners in achieving the goals of the

BPFA. The experience of women the worldover has shown that men’s active and supportive involvement is an essential com-ponent for building gender equality. Thiswill necessitate popular awareness-raisingthrough the media and schools, gendertraining for public officials, implementationof gender parity frameworks in governmentsand organizations, partnerships betweenmen’s and women’s civil society organiza-tions and support to communities and families.

The other areas of concern for the futurehave already been noted, but it is their enor-mous toll on all of Africa that must beaddressed with greater commitment:HIV/AIDS, regional and ethnic conflicts andthe growing poverty throughout the region,which is in many cases linked to HIV andconflict.

Several critical steps to address these con-cerns have been outlined in this document:• Building capacity at all levels• Signing, ratifying and implementing all

instruments that relate to women’s humanrights

• Improving monitoring and evaluationmethodologies

• Generating sex-disaggregated data andextending the reach of gender-budgeting

• Developing partnerships among an arrayof donors and stakeholders

• Improving coordination and synergy

The AU as the unifying regional organizationhas played an important role as motivator

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and innovator on gender issues, with theSolemn Declaration on Gender Equality, theOptional Protocol on Women’s Rights to theCharter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and,at the operational level, with its Women,Gender and Development Division, mandat-ed to mobilize member States’ commitmentson gender equality and women’s empower-ment. The Division’s focus on three program-matic areas based on the Solemn Declaration– the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS, peacenegotiations and violence against womenand women’s economic empowerment –should ensure a new, deeper commitment toimplementation of the many instrumentsthat can be brought to bear on the situationof women and their families in sub-SaharanAfrica. At the same time, conditions haveadded a new urgency to the goal of women’sempowerment. Ongoing conflict andHIV/AIDS have both made clear that womenare not affected by natural or politicalcalamities in the same way as men, and thatspecific, gender-based solutions are neededat all levels. And as the deadlines for MDGachievements approach, it has become clear-er than ever that women’s empowerment iscentral to these goals; ongoing efforts haveshown that women are not bystanders todevelopment, whose needs can be met bygeneralized approaches. A gendered analysisof issues and women’s inclusion at all levels

is now recognized by a majority of donors ascrucial. The next steps require continuedcommitment to implementation, innovativesolutions to enduring problems, and a lead-ing role for the women of Africa in determin-ing solutions.


a p p e n d i x 1

Par tnerships for Gender Equality: The Role of Multilateral & Bilateral AgenciesQUESTIONNAIRE FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT

Name of Organization

Period covered by the Report: 1995 - 2004

1. Which critical areas of concern in theBeijing Platform for Action (BPFA) hasyour organization’s work focused on?

a. Women and Poverty b. Education and Training of Women c. Women and Health d. Violence against Womene. Women & Armed Conflict f. Women and the Economyg. Women in Power and Decision-makingh. Institutional Mechanisms for the

Advancement of Womeni. Human Rights of Women j. Women and the Media k. Women and the Environmentl. The Girl Child

2. What are the specific strategies andapproaches used by your organization insupporting governments, women’sorganizations and other civil societygroups in implementation of the BPFA?

3. How do you assess your organization’ssupport for the BPFA in these areas?

4. What is your organization’s annualbudget allocation and disbursement insupport of BPFA priorities?

5. What particular constraints does yourorganization face in providing supportfor BPFA programmes?

6. Please highlight some good practices inBPFA implementation your organizationhas been involved with.

7. What recommendations does yourorganization have for strengtheningBPFA implementation, advocacy andprogramme outreach?

8. Are there any general comments aboutthe BPFA process that your organizationwould wish to make?

9. What are your organization’s plans inmoving forward beyond the Beijing +10review meeting? Please be specific interms of areas of focus and resourcecommitments.

10. What actions did your organization taketo implement the outcomes of themidterm review on the implementation ofthe BPFA that were stated in the outcomedocuments of the Special Session of theUN General Assembly on Beijing +5?

11. Has your organization integrated thegender equality goals of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) and those ofthe International Conference onPopulation and Development (ICPD)?

12. What are your views and recommenda-tions on promoting coordination andsynergy of UN agencies and other multi-lateral and bilateral partner’s activitieson gender issues at national, sub-regional and continental levels?


e n d n o t e s

1 “Millennium Development Goals in Africa:Promises and Progress, ” report prepared byUNDP and UNICEF.2 “Decade Review of the Implementation ofthe Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action:Outcome and the Way Forward,” presented atthe Seventh African Regional Conference onWomen, Addis Ababa, 12-14 October, 2004. 3 “Whither Gender Mainstreaming? ” AWIDPerspectives Paper, September 16, 2004.4 Decade Review.

COORDINATOR: Letty Chiwara

EDITORIAL CONSULTANT: Gloria Jacobs

DESIGNER: Van Gennep Design

PHOTO EDITOR: Susan Ackerman

COPY EDITOR: Tina Johnson

PRINTER: Prographics

COVER PHOTO: © Martin Harvey/Corbis

For 10 years, the Beijing Platform for Action has served as a model and

a road map showing the way to women's equality and empowerment.

Since 1995 regional authorities, national and local governments, NGOs

and other members of civil society have developed innovative meth-

ods for implementing the strategic objectives of the Platform and have

sought to ensure that women's rights remain at the forefront of all

international endeavours. This report documents the work of

various multilateral and bilateral donors in Africa to meet the goals of

Beijing. It describes efforts to meet the strategic objectives of all 12

areas of concern in the Platform, offers lessons learned that will be of

value in the future and identifies the challenges that remain. It also

provides examples of initiatives from which partners can learn and

share experiences for a more coordinated effort as we move beyond

Beijing +10.

partnerships for gender equality: the role of multilateral...

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