African governments and civil society review Beijing Platform for Action

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in collaboration with UN Women regional and country offices is conducting the fourth review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) on the African continent. The ECA like all the four UN regional commissions is mandated to follow-up on progress and report on Africa’s implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Beijing Plus 20 regional review in 2014 will inform the global report to be presented to the fifty ninth session of CSW in 2015 and will review the extent to which African member states have met their commitments in implementing the BPfA, specifically progress made in addressing the twelve critical areas of concern. The analysis will capture the main achievements and impact, obstacles and recommended actions for each area of concern and in the process, highlight individual country experiences. The review will also assess progress in relation to the status of regional performance of the MDGs and the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA) +20 commitments.

The regional review report will be presented at a regional meeting to be held on 21-22 November 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the participation of the fifty four African member states, the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), African Civil Society Organisations, the UN system and other development partners. The meeting will be organised by the ECA with support from the UN Women, the UN Liaison Team steering committee in close collaboration with the AUC. The meeting will review the regional report which will have synthesised all the national reports. The regional meeting will provide a space for the various stakeholders to review regional progress, identify good practices as well as challenges, and also identify strategies for fast-tracking implementation and agree on emerging priorities for action by African member states.