STATEMENT: African Women & Girls Call on their Governments to Support Gender Equality in Totality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Kindly add your Organization’s Name and Country to Endorse this Statement
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African Heads of State and Government will join their counterparts in New York from 25th to 27th September 2015, to adopt the Post-2015 development agenda currently titled Transforming our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals in a landmark Summit that crowns several years of consultations and negotiations.

As advocates for the rights of women and girls in Africa, we noted with concern that during the negotiation phase several governments, including some African governments, expressed reservations on goals and targets related to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The African continent has some of the most progressive and inclusive regional instruments on sexual and reproductive health and rights, adopted by all 54 member states of the African Union (AU). These include The Maputo Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2006) which aims to achieve universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services by 2015; The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003) popularly known as ‘Maputo Protocol’ which contains explicit provisions on the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health and the Common Africa Position (CAP) developed through wide consultation of different African stakeholders and adopted by the African Heads of State and Government as its united position on the Post-2015 development agenda. Further information on the specific provisions of the above instruments are annexed to this Statement.

Under the leadership and mechanisms of the AU, these instruments have been implemented to various degrees in individual member states, with increasing emphasis on monitoring and accountability.

In the recent concluded African Union Summit in June 2015, convened under the theme “Year of Women Empowerment and Development Towards Africa Agenda 2063”, African Heads of State and Government, re-stated their commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights by resolving to “ensure that Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights of African women are implemented and mutually accounted for in the existing commitments to women’s reproductive health and rights, as adopted by the African Heads of State in the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol) in 2003, and the Maputo Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in 2006.”

Based on the regional commitments above and various national commitments at constitutional, legal and policy level, Africa has made commitments in line with the two key targets on SRHR in the Sustainable Development Goals, namely:

3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes;

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.

We therefore urge our Heads of State and Government to stand in solidarity with the millions of African women and girls affected by poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes, and explicitly support the SRHR targets 3.7 and 5.6 in the Post-2015 development agenda without any reservation.

We pledge our support to working with you to make these targets a reality.

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Statement Prepared by:-

SOAWR – Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (www.soawr.org)
A Coalition of 46 organizations drawn from 24 AU states to advance ratification, domestication and implementation of the AU Women’s Rights Protocol as read together with national, regional and international legal frameworks that advance the rights of girls and women in Africa. Equality Now’s Africa Regional Office serves as the SOAWR coalition secretariat and is committed to ending discrimination against girls and women. Contact on behalf of SOAWR, Kavinya Makau, kmakau@equalitynow.org and Naisola Likimani – nlikimani@gmail.com

FEMNET – African Women’s Development and Communication Network (www.femnet.co)
A women’s rights network of 503 African women’s rights organizations and individual gender advocates based in 43 African countries. Contact on behalf of FEMNET, Dinah Musindarwezo director@femnet.or.ke and/or Rachel Kagoiya: library@femnet.or.ke

Click here to Endorse the Statement

Read the Full STATEMENT here

News on Freedom of Information (FOI) in Africa

Call it ‘freedom of information (FOI)’ or ‘access to information’ or ‘right to know’ or ‘right to information’ – it is a fundamental and undeniable basic human right. Now, the right to access public information is the right of every person to know, to have access to the information s/he needs to make free choices and to live an autonomous life. The 2002 Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights reaffirms the ‘fundamental importance of freedom of expression and information as an individual human right, as a cornerstone of democracy and as a means of ensuring respect for all human rights and freedoms’.

Indeed, access to information is an enabling right, a vital tool in realizing a variety of other political, social and economic human rights. Freedom of or access to information is a core standard for participatory democracies in view of the fact that, only a well-versed population can effectively contribute to the construction of governments and political institutions. The relationship between information and power is profound. Without information, the people have no power to make choices about their government – e.g. no ability to meaningfully participate in the decision-making process, to hold their governments accountable, to thwart corruption, to reduce poverty, or ultimately, to live in a genuine democracy. According to UNESCO, “11 (eleven) African countries have passed national FOI laws (Angola, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe), while draft FOI laws in other African states are at different stages in the process towards their adoption. The implementation of FOI legislation in Africa has faced several challenges.”

For women’s rights organizations, the right of access to information would capacitate women and girls to effectively influence financing for health, service delivery, compete favorably in the economic market, promote and protect their human rights including access to land and ownership, make decisions concerning their sexual and reproductive health, among others.

Since 2009, FEMNET has been championing collective participation of women’s rights organizations in lobbying for the enactment and implementation of FOI laws in their countries. This year, we are keen to highlight the latest updates/news and keep the momentum especially in supporting the enactment of FOI laws as well as increasing awareness amongst women’s rights organizations in linking women’s rights issues to FOI laws. Click these links below to read and share with others.

• Angola accepts Universal Periodic Review recommendations on amending FOI law
• Morocco: Parliament must improve Draft Law on Access to Information
• South Africa: Not So Transparent After All
• Groups Urge Climate Fund to Create Access Policy in Open
• Advancing the Right to Information Amongst Ugandan Journalists
• South Africa Sets Stage to Implement Secrecy Law
• Access to Information in Tanzania: Laws, Policies and Practice
• Ghana Parliament Opens Debate on RTI Legislation
• Report Scores compliance with South Africa FOI law
• UNEP Access Policy Criticized During Hearing in Kenya

For more information/feedback please contact Isabella Ngarurirwe, FEMNET’s FK Fellow (2015/2016) ingarurirwe2@gmail.com

Finance Her Future: Gender Responsive Budgeting

By Nyaguthii Wangui Maina*

(Pic Credits: World Bank Group)

As the Third International Conference on Financing for Development drew to a close last week, two messages that rang through the discussions when it came to achieving Gender Equality was that firstly, there is need for gender responsive tax and budgeting; and secondly,  more money is required for women’s mobilization groups, especially those working at the grassroots level.

However, what is gender responsive budgeting? What does it ideally look like? Was it reflected in the text of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda outcome document?

Borrowing from the analysis of UN Women, national development plans and strategies identify development priorities and articulate how these will be implemented, financed and monitored. Often, gender equality commitments are not adequately considered or included during the design, implementation and financing stages of planning. Despite efforts to formulate national action plans for gender equality and sectoral gender strategies, these are rarely integrated in national development priority setting and plans. Implementing gender equality commitments requires governments to take a series of actions including formulating policies that remove gender-based discrimination and guarantee women’s rights. Such actions require financial resources, institutional capacity and accountability systems that should be integrated in national plans and budgets in order to enable implementation.

Ministries of Finance have the mandate to set up public finance management systems, define budget ceilings and ensure sound macro-economic frameworks. Gender analysis supports ministries of finance to make better budget choices by highlighting existing gender gaps and the impact of public expenditures and revenue-raising on women and girls.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda was anticipated to be an instrument that would deliver in addressing some of the gender financing gaps as well as unlock the barriers. Did it deliver as much? Arguably no.

In their very well-articulated Op-ed in the Guardian, Ana Ines Abelenda and Nerea Craviotto argue that the text is almost entirely devoid of specific proposals that can be swiftly implemented to champion for women’s rights and address gender inequality. In my opinion the text has also to a large extent strongly diverted attention from the role of states in removing the global obstacles to development abdicating their duties through public finance and domestic resource mobilization to the heavily dominated and unregulated private sector.

The two cement this concern and reverberate succinctly as follows, “Rather than encouraging states to remove obstacles to development, mobilize official development assistance and commit adequate public resources, this approach puts the emphasis on private sector contributions,” – the very same sector that is highly unregulated and has evidently exacerbated women’s rights in the social and economic sectors. The article continues, “As a result, little attention is given to structural barriers to women’s economic rights or their ability to access, own and control economic resources. The unequal distribution of unpaid care work, poor access to health care services and natural resources, persistent gender discrimination in the labour market – all went largely ignored by the Addis delegates.”

“In addition, many OECD governments are shying away from aid commitments, preferring instead to rely on private sector contributions in the form of foreign direct investment and public-private partnerships. Again, this is problematic. As the women’s working group argues, private sector activities, including public-private partnerships, are promoted in the Addis agenda with scant regard for accountability mechanisms to uphold human rights standards, including environmental and social safeguards. Moreover, insufficient attention has been paid to the cost of public-private partnerships and the quality of services and infrastructure they will deliver.”

It is indeed common knowledge that national fiscal & tax systems must undergo deep reforms in order to ensure fairness and progressivity and as Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, Executive Director UN Women articulated, “To close persistent gender gaps in health, education, employment, justice, and decision-making, the chronic underinvestment in women and girls must be urgently reversed.” 

Is the fight over? From the various arguments written during and after the conference, I would say the general mood is that it is far from it; social justice advocates have chosen to see the conference as a foundation to address inequalities within and among states and particularly in championing for girls and women’s rights. Financing their future is a reality, but the work has only just begun. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International put it well when she stated as follows, “Citizens from all around the world must continue to challenge rigged rules that favor vested interests, and governments must listen. 2015 can still deliver the change we need towards a fairer future.”

*Ms Nyaguthii Wangui Maina is a blogger; connect with her on her blog Musings of A People and on Twitter @nm_wangui.

Women’s Forum: Feminist Perspectives on the Third International Conference on Financing for Development

By Nyaguthii Wangui Maina*

July 10th 2015, marked an important day when feminists from around the globe converged in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to share their views, reflect and consecrate their ideas ahead of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development.
With a vibrant room filled to capacity by both female and male counterparts, succinct and pertinent opinions were shared on the amalgamated view that the stakes are indeed high for realizing gender equality and women’s rights as development financing is shaped, negotiated and agreed upon in Addis Ababa. A consistent theme that did however run throughout the discussions was that transformation of mindsets was critical in surmounting the structural barriers impeding gender equality.

The forum was opened by Ms Dinah Musindarwezo from FEMNET and Ms Rosa Lizarde from the Feminist Task Force and Women Working Group on Financing for Development, both of them echoing the views and concerns of participants present in the room; that the road ahead was indeed bumpy.

Despite the well known fact of women’s empowerment and gender equality being basic human rights and central to human development, governments and global state actors alike have nonetheless mismatched their commitments with the required financing and policies. If anything, the alarming trend of women’s civil society spaces shrinking globally is a cause for concern and redress. A keen participant added to this point by raising the issue of women at home being excluded from influencing these very processes. “There is a strong disconnect between politics and the economy and women’s voices are missing everywhere, even at home in domestic processes,” she said.

Ms Rosa Lizarde of the Feminist Task Force, and Ms Dinah Musindarwezo of FEMNET

As the forum began with discussions on the issues at stake in the Financing for Development negotiations and strategic interventions on ways to overcome global obstacles for gender justice and sustainable and equitable development, Ms Lakshmi Puri, deputy Executive Director of UN Women, urged the audience to consistently remember that there can never be enough gender in these discussions. “The political declaration from CSW59 committed member states to support and provide a safe environment for women and girls, however, making all stake holders accountable is pertinent; the private sector has a massive role to play too,” she said. Ms Puri also urged for cohesive interventions in pushing for gender equality. “We must show solidarity between women from the north and south to push our common agenda forward.”

The forum took place in five consecutive sessions. The full program for the women’s forum can be seen here.

Session 1 highlighted the Red Flags for Women’s Rights around the Third Financing for Development Conference and the Post 2015 Development Agenda. An infographic on some of the key areas raised by experts from the Women’s Working Group can be seen below:

Session 2 included five thematic discussions on the red flags highlighted. These were as follows: Tax Justice & Domestic Resource Mobilisation; Private Finance; International Public Finance; Debt, trade, systemic issues and technology; and Follow up and Review.

Session 3 included a plenary session where there were report backs from the thematic group discussions. Thereafter discussions by simultaneous working groups on FfD3 regional priorities took place.

The final session included reflections dubbed, ‘Morning after Addis. What comes next?’  This was a very participatory discussion which encapsulated both stock-taking and looking forward in the horizon for feminist and women’s organisations looking at where they would find themselves post-Addis; a look at the links with Post 2015 and other processes at the regional and global level; and what in fact the Addis outcome could mean for the Post 2015 process. This session was summarised by the highlighting of the existing opportunities at regional and global level to advance the links between women’s rights and the FfD agenda.

In her closing remarks, Ms. Emma Kaliya (FEMNET Chairperson) and the Women Working Group co-coordinators echoed the same sentiments. After all is said and done and there is sufficient mobilisation of resources, how will these resources be used to enhance gender equality? What does the governance architecture look like? How will we consistently and persistently mobilise ourselves to ensure that women’s rights are at the heart of development? Yes investing in women makes economic sense, but the current economic model in and of itself undermines addressing women’s rights as basic human rights.

*Ms Nyaguthii Wangui Maina is a blogger; connect with her on her blog Musings of A People and on Twitter @nm_wangui.

My Body, My Choice

In response to the incidence on November 7, 2014 whereby a woman was stripped in Nairobi, CBD for wearing a miniskirt, we shall hold a peaceful procession from Uhuru Park to Accra Road (Nairobi) on Monday 17th November at 10am. We shall go and deliver a message to the touts who stripped our sister that it is wrong and a woman has a right to dress the way she wants.

We urge you and your daughters to join and support us. We will meet on Monday at 10am at Uhuru Park and march peacefully to Embassava. This is our chance to stand together as women and deliver a message to our country that sexual violence and violations of our bodily integrity and dignity will not be tolerated. 

In order for this to happen we need your help. Ways you can stand with us:
1. Show up and walk with us  – RSVP here (not necessary but useful for us)​
2. Tell your networks ​ – share with everyone​: we want thousands of women

​3. Sign the petition ​

​4. Help us in kind resources: printing t-shirts sponsorships etc. Whatever you can help with.

​5. A financial contribution. We need funds to buy t-shirts, pay for security, placards etc. even the smallest contribution counts. (Contributions to be sent to Ruth Kmaust 0701994107)

​6. Join us online – #MyBodyMyChoice and #StripMeNot – make noise! ​

All are welcome to this walk- support your sisters, daughters, mothers and wives – your fellow human beings!

Join us Monday at 10am! “

 

Naomi Mwaura

naomimwaura@ymail.com

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

On Beijing+20 – How we must move forward

By Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda

November is a month of collective local and global reflection about women’s rights, empowerment and equality as we review the Beijing Commitment. I share with you my thoughts and some of the issues that have been sitting in my belly as I reflect on the journey from 1995 to the present.

Beijing agenda was a feminist agenda. It was about discourse on power and patriarchy; resources and opportunities for women; our knowledge and innovations. It was about women shaping communities, defining peace and development agenda. It was about  women as citizens, shareholders and stakeholders. I was young and breastfeeding; I felt that I can change the world. I knew that government and others have to play their role and be accountable, but essentially I believed in my own agency and that of my sisters, I found my voice, validated my lived experiences and did shake of a number of labels that confined and restricted my identity and my potential. I hope that in Addis, we will rise beyond the technocratic arguments, of crossing the t’s and REALLY reclaim our African feminist voice…beyond gender mainstreaming.

The Beijing Platform for action was about WOMEN! Gender equality was a subset and an ideal to work towards; as we sort to ensure that WOMEN and girls have rights and dignity. I often worry, especially these days when the Beijing review is reduced to a review on extent towards achieving “gender equality”. I think the goal post was about women having opportunities, choices and possibilities in life, and as we work towards these, we will be reducing the gender inequality gap. I just hope that Africa will reclaim the agenda and reframe the conversation so that at the centre is the WOMAN! I often find ourselves losing the focus on women and girls, in all our diversity in the pursuit of the elusive yet important equality ideal.

I do anticipate that in the Civil Society meetings, and in even the government meetings, there will be a lamentation about MEN. Someone will definitely ask “Where are the men?”.This for me is often not the right question. I assume that those men who understand, are supportive and convinced of the agenda will be in the room with us. I just find the whole discussion a distraction from the real focus which should be on male RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY. Men are there always there, every day and in everything, in our families and our lives. Men are the majority in parliaments, making policies and approving budget; they are in board rooms, defining resources allocation and employment options; they head key sectors services such as education, agriculture and health, making far reaching daily decisions on access to services; men led in media organisation defining public opinion and shaping the discourse; and lead in the faith and cultural institutions driving the norms and the values of society. Men are involved, they simply need to be responsive to women’s rights in their daily lives.  It is in these spaces that we expect them to deliver for women’s rights and gender equality, in their everyday space of decision making.

My sisters, we must go beyond the traditional thinking, that women’s issues are only social and micro! Yes, the social sectors are fundamental, as it is the space within which we reproduce society. However, we should step up and make the women’s agenda in Africa MACRO and MACRO. We should talk about women in mining, construction, trade and finance; women defining technology. For instance, the women’s market in Africa should not be viewed as micro, requiring micro credit, but MACRO demanding huge investments and prioritisation. We must claim our global citizenship as define our local actions.

Africa is rising and we must shape a new narrative that goes beyond  Africa’s labels of poverty, starvation, disease, death and wars.  I hope we can all work on a clear re-articulation of Africa, and reclaim how the continent is filthy rich even if the African women and girls are licking the spoon. Yes, we have to demand our government to invest more in health care (ebola and HIV crisis); etc; and this should be from a perspective of building a prosperous Africa at peace with itself, and not from a hand to mouth and humanitarian lets save lives perspectives.

Africa is more than its borders. The seed of Africa is on all the continents, if we count from the shipment of ancestors to far-off lands during the slave trade, the plunder of Africa and its people during colonialism and now the new diaspora and wave of economic and political migrants. The discourse on Beijing for Africa should embrace and seek solidarity with issues of women and girls of African descent, and turn the brain drain of the continent into the brain grain.

It’s about Inter-generational justice. I hope as we celebrate Beijing, and the road Mama Getrude Mongella and others paved, we will be lifting the leadership, voice and capabilities of young women and girls. For us to unleash such potential, we have to really recommit, roll up our sleeves and address some of the unacceptable human rights violations and practices such as child marriage, which I know we can end in a single generation.

I understand there will be No Agreed Conclusions at CSW59, but a Political Declaration. Therefore we have to be clear about what we are demanding and asking of our governments. Lets call for FULFILLMENT of the Beijing commitments accompanied by an ACCOUNTABILITY and a RESOURCING Framework. Yes, we need a stand-alone goal on gender equality with clear means of implementation.

I share these thoughts as I honour the many women who inspire me every day in the YWCAs; each one of you as my sisters; my late mother, Rozaria and daughter Farirai.  Unfortunately, I am unable to join you in Addis this time.

I celebrate you, wish you strength and courage. Africa is indeed rising. You are Afrika.  Arise.

Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda is the General Secretary of YWCA. Connect with her @vanyaradzayi. 

Engage Online – Beijing+20

As you may know, the 20 year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, a landmark moment and declaration for the rights of women and girls is underway.

A statement read by FEMNET at the Beijing Conference in 1995 signified the Vision for African women. “Our vision is that we the African women will reclaim, reconstruct, and transform Africa, on the basis of gender equality, giving credence to the principles of democracy and human rights; mobilising and utilising human and other resources; and take our rightful place in the global arena, on the basis of equality with other nations, from now into the future, in partnership with our men, girls and boys.”[2]

Countries and regions have been undergoing reviews and submitting reports, with civil society organizing and submitting regional shadow reports. 51 African member states have submitted their reports.

The inter-ministerial meeting for Africa will take place at UNECA in Addis from the 17-19 November. Prior to that, CSOs will be convening from 14-16th November. Please join us as we engage online.

Please find a Beijing+20 Social Media Toolkit with sample twitter messages and targets. Kindly make use of it – and forward to your communication focal points please. The hashtags we’ll be using are #Beijing20 (to link to global conversations on the BPfA, and #TheAfricaWeWant to tie it into our Africa regional perspectives.

Third Regional Conference for African Women in Political Leadership.

A major priority for both the African Women’s Decade (2010‐2020) and of the new super-agency for women’s empowerment ‐ UN Women ‐ is increasing women’s political participation and leadership. This is no coincidence both at the regional and international levels where there is renewed emphasis on enhancing women’s participation in decision making as a pre‐requisite for women’s empowerment and realizing genuine democracy on the continent.

According to 2011 data from the Inter‐Parliamentary Union, women currently occupy 19.4% of parliamentary seats in Sub‐Saharan Africa, which is slightly higher than the world average of 19.3%. Rwanda leads the way with 56.3% in its lower house, while South Africa is at (44.5%), Mozambique (39.2%), Angola (38.6%), Uganda (37.2%), Tanzania (36%) and Burundi (32.1%) which all exceed the 30% threshold set in the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women.

In the period 2011‐2012, at least twenty African countries are scheduled to hold elections. Thus far, Uganda, Cape Verde, Chad, Niger, Benin, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Djibouti have held their elections, albeit with irregularities in some cases and an overall reduction in the percentage of women in political leadership from the previous year.

In Uganda there was one female presidential candidate, who ultimately received less than 1% of the total vote. Following the election, the country saw an increase of about 6% in women’s representation in parliament, and Hon. Rebecca Kadaga was elected as the first female Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament.

Both Cape Verde and Central African Republic increased the number of women parliamentarians by about 3%, and now have about 21% and 10% women in parliament respectively. Chad experienced a significant jump since its last elections in 2002, and currently 14% of parliamentarians are women, up from 5%. Niger was finally able to hold elections after several postponements since the coup in 2010. The country now has 13% women in parliament, up from about 10% before the coup. Benin registered almost a 3% decline in the proportion of women parliamentarians, and now stands at 8.4%. It is Nigeria, however, that saw the most dramatic regression in its recent elections, cutting the proportion of women in both the upper and lower houses by half. Nigeria is now near the bottom of the table internationally with less than 4% parliamentarians being women.

Since December 2009, Sub‐Saharan Africa in general has seen an increase in women’s participation in parliament, from 18.7% to the current 19.4%. This is cause for celebration considering the challenges women experience in penetrating the spheres of political leadership, the continued patriarchal opposition to women’s leadership from various quarters, and the increasingly hostile environment for civil society organizing witnessed in several countries. Conversely, the marginal increase at regional level belies the fact that established democracies like Namibia and Botswana have experienced almost 3% declines in women’s participation in their most recent elections. Other major democracies like Kenya and Zambia are also holding elections in the coming months. What can we expect from them and how can we avoid further losses in terms of numbers?

No country except Rwanda has achieved gender parity, which is the African Union standard, in their respective parliaments. This is ultimately the goal, and is supported by various regional and international human rights instruments to which most African governments are party. The same governments have now committed themselves to accelerating the realization of women’s equal participation in public and private life over the course of the African Women’s Decade, therefore it is imperative to strategize on how to capitalize on this political will and provide the necessary support mechanisms and structures to increase women’s participation and capacity to do so.

In the recent past there have been attempts to assess the extent to which increased women’s representation in democratic institutions is contributing to changing the cultures of these institutions and the way they conduct their business. Such studies have been undertaken in Uganda and South Africa. The findings reflect a mixed experience, and questions of sustainability of the changes are constantly raised. It is against this backdrop that the Third Regional Conference on African Women in Political leadership organized by FEMNET annually will devote time to explore some of the best practices and attempts that have been made to make these institutions more gender sensitive in their rules and procedures and the way the agenda is generated and implemented.

The Conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 29th – 31st August, 2011 at Sarova Panafric Hotel. The purpose of the Conference will be threefold:
1.Conceptualizing a Funding Framework for Women in Politics and Governance: To delve deeper discussion on how to set up such a Fund, including mechanisms for accessing the fund, eligibility and its location.

2.Deliberate on Support Mechanisms for Women in Politics at National, Regional and International Levels: To allow participants to strategically identify the successes and gaps of existing initiatives, as well as the value addition that a new network could provide.

3.Share best practices and attempts made to influence the culture and agenda setting practices in institutions of democracy like parliaments and local councils in Africa. This will enable participants to appreciate some of the hurdles women in politics face and strategize together on how best to overcome them.

In addition the participants will continue to reflect on issues of balancing their private and public lives, self care, minimizing burn‐out and failure to sustain a decent way of life beyond the time in active politics. The Conference will provide space for participants to learn from each others’ experiences, and provide skill‐building information and practical exercises in this area.

The conference will bring together seasoned women politicians as well as political aspirants from the countries holding elections in 2011‐2012, leading women’s rights activists, civil society and research organizations engaged in women’s leadership development, and key development partners who support women’s political participation initiatives. Special efforts will be made to ensure participation of young women political leaders and aspirants. The countries to be represented at the Conference include: Kenya, Zambia, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Southern Sudan, Egypt, Cameroon, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda , Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Tunisia.

FEMNET host Debriefing Meeting Post the 53rd Session of the 2009 CSW For Immediate Release

FEMNET host Debriefing Meeting Post the 53rd Session of the 2009 CSW For Immediate Release

30^th April, 2009

For Immediate Release

Women in Africa have for a long time shouldered the responsibilities of providing care and support to their families and communities, in order to build strong families, communities and nations. African women have become unduly burdened by responsibilities of care giving, due to several factors including limited development of rural infrastructure, and unequal sharing of responsibilities between women and men. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has further compounded the burden of care giving on women and girls, by increasing the need for and scope of care provided. The impact is decreased household and economic productivity, limited access to education particularly for girls to participate in care giving, increased stress, violence in the public and private spheres, economic insecurity and decreased development in many communities.

Recently, representatives of United Nations Member States, UN entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all over the world met in New York at the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women, from 2 to 13 March 2009. The theme for the session was “The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care giving in the context of HIV/AIDS” which is critically relevant in the context of Africa.

In the Agreed Conclusions of the session, which is the final outcome document submitted to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the Commission noted that the unequal sharing of responsibilities between women and men is very costly to the progress of development in society. The representatives also acknowledged that this imbalance weakens women’s labour market attachments in the form of women foregoing jobs, opting for shorter working hours, and being confined to mostly informal work, which results in lower wages and increased levels of poverty.

Women’s access to social security benefits is also weakened, and women are left with less time and resources for training, skill building and education, as well as for leisure and self-care.

The heavy demands on women’s time also makes it extremely difficult for women to engage in political activities, which would increase their self-awareness, self-development and opportunities to make their voices heard on various issues impacting their lives.

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) in collaboration with its members in Uganda that is Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET), the National Association of Women Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU) and ICON (Women and Young People Leadership Academy) organized the first Post – 2009 Commission on the Status of Women debriefing meeting for Eastern and Southern Africa, to strategize on actions that NGOs, faith-based organizations, community groups and donors can take to support African leaders and governments to address the crisis of unequal sharing of responsibilities in care giving at all levels.

As Africa celebrates International Labour Day on May 1, 2009 FEMNET and all the participants at the Meeting urge:

African governments to ensure that unpaid labour, especially women’s labour expended in care giving is acknowledged as an economic resource and is taken into account in the national and regional economic figures. The first step in this process is for the African leaders and governments to ensure the collection of gender disaggregated data on labour including in the informal sector which would be critical in identifying and incorporating the value and cost of unpaid labour in society.

• African leaders and governments to commit resources for care giving including provision of equipment, human resource, drugs, nutrition, information dissemination and ensuring that programs are in place to support the retention of skilled labour in our countries
• African governments to mainstream gender perspectives in the development of legislation, policies and programmes addressing unpaid labour, social protection, work conditions, health care services and development of public infrastructure.
• Governments to take their primary responsibility of promoting awareness of the value of care giving as an essential element and the need for involving men and boys in sharing care giving responsibilities in order to reduce the disproportionate and costly burden on women and girls, and society in general.
• African governments that have not ratified the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa to do so before the next African Union (AU) Summit in July 2009 as a sign of clear commitment to implement one of the principles of the Constitutive Act of the AU, the promotion of gender equality which would go a long way in reducing the imbalances that result in the disproportionate burden of care giving on women and girls.
• The government of Uganda to ensure that in the 2009/ 2010 budget they cater for the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission as one of the key organs that can monitor progress made to reduce gender inequalities and imbalances that impact on the capacity of women and the girls to enjoy and realize their full rights and potential.

For Further Information Contact:

Carlyn Hambuba, Communication Officer, FEMNET: communication@femnet.or.ke

FEMNET Secretariat: admin@femnet.or.ke or TEL: +254 202712971/2

Ms. Norah Matovu Winyi, FEMNET Executive Director, TEL: +256 772 825 829