A note from the editor

Welcome to the 18th edition of Roadmap to Equality! tracking progress towards the implementation and ratification of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. My name is Loveness Jambaya Nyakujarah and I am now the editor of this e-newsletter. It is good to be back as Manager of the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance after my recent maternity leave. I had a bouncing baby girl! Viva to more women power!

August is just around the corner and it promises to be an eventful month on the gender calendar. South Africa will be celebrating women’s month while the Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance has many activities lined up in different countries ahead of the SADC Heads of State Summit scheduled for 17 August in Luanda. The Alliance will launch the 2011 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer, the third edition in an annual series of this publication. The SADC Council of NGOs will also be hosting a 7th Civil Society Forum from 8-9 August in Johannesburg, with a smaller caucus meeting in Angola on 13 August, with an open invitation to all members of civil society across the region.

August will also see the exciting re-launch of the 50/50 Campaign to promote women in decision-making and a Gender and Governance cluster meeting in Harare from 4 -5 August. The Lesotho Alliance Network will host a similar event on 3 August in Maseru. Following these events, an Alliance meeting will be held from 10-11 August in Johannesburg to draw up strategies for organising and mobilising at country level and for further strengthening Alliance institutional mechanisms. An Alliance delegation will also head to Angola, together with a group of Portuguese-speaking journalists from Mozambique who will be trained on reporting based on the economic provisions of the SADC Gender Protocol.

So yes, it will be a busy period ahead as we soldier on promoting gender equality and equity in SADC. Click here to read more.

The June/July period which soon draws to a close has not been without its fair share of footwork by Alliance gender activists. Many Alliance country networks held reference group meetings to review inputs into the 2011 Gender Protocol Barometer and others used the opportunity to regroup.

At an institutional level, it is exciting that Angola, which has been largely out of the SADC loop since the Gender Protocol campaign began in 2005, will soon serve as an Alliance network country focal point Platforma da Mulheres Accao (PMA), elected at a roundtable meeting on 5 July 2011. Welcome!

Here’s to August! Happy women’s month and strength to South Africa!