SADC Gender Protocol 2010 Barometer ~ Joburg Launch

Another launch, yes it the SADC Gender Protocol 2010 Barometer ~ Joburg this time
“SADC Secretariat is so proud of the work done by the Alliance in producing the Barometer. You will find this book on my desk, and I use it all the time”, said Magdeline Madibela, Head of SADC Gender Unit, as she launched the publication recently in Johannesburg.

The launch was attended by regional delegates participating in the National Action Plans to end GBV review meeting, Alliance member of the GBV cluster, Alliance cluster leaders on Economic Justice, Gender Peace and Security, GBV and Care Work. The launch was used to profile the thematic clusters of the Alliance. Each cluster leader was given opportunity to profile work done by their respective cluster.

Naome Chimbetete, Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre Network (ZWRCN), which lead the Economic Justice cluster elaborated on the extensive capacity building initiative done by the cluster to empower of the economic justice provisions of the SADC Gender Protocol.

Cheryl Hendricks of the Institute of Security Studies, representing the Gender, Peace and Security cluster, spoke about the importance of implementing Resolution 1325 in Southern Africa, which forms an important dimension of the SADC Gender Protocol’s provisions on peace building and conflict resolution, with particular focus of women’s involvement. Not confined to the support structures, but at strategic positions that influence peace and stability in the region.

The ISS has initiated the process of establishing national working groups across the SADC region in order to formulate a Regional National Action Plan around the implementation of Resolution 1325 that can be implemented at country level.

Kurayi Kawoyi, Deputy Director of VSO RAISA, leading the cluster on Care Work, was officially welcome to the Alliance network.

He gave an interesting and informative presentation about the organisation’s programmes around care work in Southern Africa, and recounted the numerous challenges faced and achievements won in advocating around the need to recognise and incorporate care work as an official part of government’s response to HIV/Aids, as well as mainstreaming and budgeting for palliative care and pain management into mainstream responses to HIV/Aids. There was also a need, according to the Mr. Kawoyi, for care work to be politicised and mainstreamed into the political agenda. He emphasised that care work is an essentially gendered area of addressing HIV/Aids, not least because women were expected to perform these roles within the household and 92% of home-based care workers are female.

Claire Mathonsi of the Western Cape Network on Violence against Women (WCNVW), the thematic cluster addressing Part 6 of the Protocol’s provisions on gender-based violence (GBV), spoke about the immense difficulty faced by civil society organisations dealing with GBV in the face of institutional and policy fatigue around the issue. Priorities for the WCNVW around the Protocol involved, increasing fundraising to address the implementation of the Protocol, establishing strategic partnerships and identifying organisations within the SADC region working in the area of gender-based violence to obtain feedback around national implementation of the Protocol’s gender-based violence provisions in SADC states which informs the Barometer. Mathonsi said the Barometer served the additional function of acting as a resource to simplify national government’s processes of reporting back to CEDAW.