Alliance news

Volume 16 (2) of the African Journal on Conflict Resolution This edition of this journal on African Conflict Resolution contains the following articles as well as a book review: Efficacy of […]

Achieving gender equality requires women’s active participation and involvement in decision-making at all levels, starting at home and extending to the highest levels of government. Several studies have gone beyond numbers to show that women bring different approaches and perspectives to decision-making.

As 2015 approaches, there is a mounting global debate around the post-2015 agenda, and the need to strengthen gender provisions in the next development framework. This therefore calls for member states to equally harmonise and align all relevant documents, in order to emerge with a stronger post-2015 agenda.

There is a confident swag in the way a South African woman walks through the office. She is used to being treated as an equal in recent years. Men do not routinely talk over her and her opinion matters.

For decades South Africa has worked towards achieving gender parity and signs of female empowerment can be seen all over the country: August 9th – a national holiday dedicated to South African women; the “Wonder Women” project to create a life size steel statues of iconic South African women; and the “Top Women” publication celebrating organisations that excel in gender empowerment. These are just a few examples.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will this September hold an interfaith summit on climate change in New York. Organised together with Religions for Peace, more than 30 religious leaders will take a united stand to encourage political leaders to address the causes and consequences of climate change.

The interfaith summit is being held immediately before the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit, which aims to galvanise action for climate justice, by reducing emissions and mobilising political will for a meaningful legal agreement in 2015.

The Southern African Broadcasters Association (SABA) is the latest media organisation to embrace gender mainstreaming as an integral part of public broadcasting. This was seen in the outcomes of the Annual General Meeting and Digital Conference held in Swaziland last month from 27 to 28 August.

The Norwegian Church Aid Policy Office for Southern Africa (NCA) in collaboration with the Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Southern Africa – Health Justice Network (FOCCISA-HJN), held the first of a series of country launches of the gender toolkit – Created in God’s image: A gender transformation toolkit for women and men in churches.

In 2008, SADC member states broke new ground by adopting the one-stop-shop of gender equality- the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. When the Protocol came into force in 2012, it was clear that gender equality in the region required political commitment, resources, monitoring and evaluation. Since the Protocol covers all ground to address gender equality gaps, many regions of the world have emulated it.

As the SADC region continues to pat itself on the back for this trademark, in-house clean-up, it is crucial that beyond 2015, the region takes responsibility of raising the bar once again in pushing the envelope on gender equality.

In August, Mozambique became the latest country in the region to align its National Policy and Strategy with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. This followed a workshop that brought together focal points of different ministries and their respective planners, members of the Alliance and Gender Links.

On behalf of my colleagues in the Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance, I feel very privileged and honoured to stand before you today and deliver this speech. The gender sector in our region is unique in the extent to which it has opened the door to civil society participation. Together with our Governments, we campaigned for a SADC Protocol on Gender and Development with 28 targets to be achieved by 2015. With two years to go until this deadline, also the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, we have changed our slogan from “yes we can” to “yes we must”!

We wish to thank SADC and UNWOMEN for enabling us to make our voice heard at this strategic gathering. We want to assure our governments that we are your firm partners and allies in taking forward the gender agenda in our countries. You have been elected to deliver a better life to all our citizens – especially for women. We are the hands, feet, eyes and ears, hearts and heads, that can help deliver these visionary goals. We are not your competitors but rather an implementing arm of our Governments.

In its role as the regional gender focal point, the Southern Africa Protocol Alliance participated in the Annual Civil Society Forum hosted by the SADC CNGO represented by the Secretariat, Think Tank and the national focal point for the host country, Forum Mulher with the aim of ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all discussions.

Participants who attended the fourth regional conference for African women in political leadership underscored the need to make recommendations for increasing women’s representation in political leadership to the United Nations, which is currently holding national, global and thematic consultations on what the next development framework after 2015 should address.