Gender Linked, Issue 14, February 2011

Date: March 4, 2011

“One of the things about equality is not just that you be treated equally to a man, but that you treat yourself equally to the way you treat a man. – Marlo Thomas

Issue 14 | February 2011

Table of contents

Editor’s Note

Executive Director’s Office
Executive director’s office

Corporate Services
Corporate services news

Board News
Board members stay gender linked

Satellite Office News

Botswana
Activities in Botswana
Workshops

Mauritius
Activities
Travels
Workshops and events

Gender Links Facebook

Gender Events

Public Holidays

Programme Updates

Gender and Governance

Gender and governance update

With the next Gender Justice and Local Government Summit and Awards a month away, February has been an extremely busy period for the Governance team…. Read more

Lesotho:

After busy weeks of collecting and documenting case studies for the Summit and Awards this year, activities for the Lesotho office will now include completion of stages 3 and 4 in the remaining COE councils: … Read more

Namibia:

Many gender experts and those who embrace ideals of equality say the absence of women’s representation and participation in all structures of governance means democratic principles are being compromised. … Read more

South Africa:

Preparations are full steam ahead for the Summit and I have been doing video interviews with all entrants and assisting with documentation, from the Western Cape right to Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. … Read more

Zambia:

Zambian women are so excited they cannot wait for 8 March, the most popular date on the annual calendar for women. International Women’s Day: It is amazing how much government attention is given to this event…. Read more

Gender and Media

Communications Department spreads its wings

The Communications Department is taking off with its team work. At the end of January, Danny and Mona paid a visit to Mpho and Ntolo in Lesotho, the Kingdom in the Sky. On the first day, Mpho and Ntolo took Danny and Mona to Ha Mohale, where they went horse-riding up steep but beautiful hills…. Read more

Media

The Media Department is happy to announce that three interns have recently joined the Gender Links media and communications team. They come to us from the media departments at the University of Limpopo, National University of Lesotho and the University of Malawi. Welcome to Hunadi, Thato and Daud! … Read more

Gender Justice

GBV Indicators Project

Gauteng: This period involved the finalisation of the GBV Indicators Gauteng report. Efforts to obtain more data were fruitful and we received information from the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development and Lifeline. A fact-finding meeting has also been scheduled with the Gauteng Community Safety Department…. Read more

SADC Alliance

Ratification of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development

So close, yet so far away….what is at stake? The signature of a Protocol by a SADC Member State signifies an initial endorsement of that Protocol. However, it’s not over yet: SADC Article 41 then requires that a two thirds majority of member states should then ratify and deposit Instruments of Ratification with the SADC Secretariat. Only then can a Protocol come into force. … Read more

	Editor’s Note

By Vivien Bakainaga Welcome to the February edition! One month and half into 2011 and we have hit the ground running and our team is already swamped with work. Of course, this is not a novelty due to the kind of work we do at Gender Links. Gender Links keeps re-inventing itself, which is why there is never a dull moment. Our staff members are busy writing their inputs for the annual report and also for the 10-year commemorative publication, which will be launched next month before the big day! We are also getting ready for a major audit, writing proposals to donors, completing election reports and working on GBV research, among many other things. Our first quarter is usually the busiest time of the year because of planning, our annual board meeting and the beginning of the new financial year. This year will be even busier as we prepare for our 10-year anniversary and our second Gender Justice Summit, both at the end of March. GL is also spreading its wings over Southern Africa and we’ve officially registered our newest office in Lesotho. March will also see the launch of another new GL office in Mozambique. At the moment we are busy translating several institutional publications into Portuguese (talk about diversity!). These are very exciting times in terms of institutional growth and expansion. We were recently privileged to welcome former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to our Johannesburg GL office where we had an interactive discussion with her about her recent research paper: “Women – a driving force to win against poverty: seen through the Complexity and Scenarios nexus”. Yes you guessed right, we were back in our academic/think tank mode. And why not, with all our connections to people who are passionate about gender advancement. I thought this month’s quote was appropriate for that reason. Yes sisters, on this journey let us remember to treat ourselves kindly and with compassion as we treat our husbands, brothers and children. We should first and foremost respect ourselves and in doing so we can treat others with the same respect and continue to also earn that respect back. Happy reading and stay tuned for our March news.
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	Executive Director’s Office

Executive director’s office This is final countdown to end of the financial year, our donor briefing, summit and tenth anniversary. Next week a team of managers and staff will retreat to put together a ten year commemorative book on GL’s achievements and challenges. It’s an exciting but daunting task, knowing we have reached 40 000 people, yet knowing that there are so many more we need to reach. Its heartening to see all the entries coming in for the Gender Justice and Local Government Summit, as the work of the SADC Gender Protocol also takes off and takes shape with this instrument about to come into force. Next month we also formally open our new office in Mozambique, as we anticipate the SADC Heads of State Summit in Angola and look to extend our footprints into the Lusophone countries. So many steps taken: so many still to go! I hope we all keep our cool, keep calm, and most of all keep our sense of humour in the weeks ahead. Keep up the great work!
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	Corporate Services

Corporate services news Greetings from the corporate unit! We are delighted to welcome Fanuel back to our team. His assistance at this crucial time will be invaluable. As you know, March is the busiest month for Corporate Services. Audit preparations are in full swing and board meeting and Gender Justice Summit logistics are also under way. We are calling upon everyone’s usual cooperation to make the upcoming audit (our biggest evaluation of the year) a success. … Read more
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	Board News

Board members stay gender linked Board member Ferial Haffajee celebrated her birthday on 20 February. We wished her a happy birthday – and may she have many more! Deputy Chairperson Scholastica Kimaryo and board member Thenjiwe Mtintso accompanied the former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to GL when she recently paid us a visit. It is always a pleasure to have board members check on us and urge us on. Our board member in Mozambique, Eduardo Namburete, has been tirelessly working on preparing our new Lusophone office there. He is currently busy coordinating the translation of documents among other things. He was recently in Johannesburg helping complete editing of several Portuguese publications which will be launched with the office in March.
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	Satellite Office News

Botswana
Activities in Botswana The Botswana office started the month of February with a bang and a successful launch of the Botswana GMPS and GIME reports on 1 February 2011 at Gaborone’s President Hotel. The reports were officially launched by Professor Kgomotso Moahi, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Botswana. … Read more Workshops Students from the UB’s Department of Media Studies attended a media literacy workshop in early February. The event was facilitated by Head of Department Eno Akpabio and Kubi Rama and GL Botswana staff members joined the group during the opening session…. Read more
Mauritius
Activities The month of February provided the Mauritius Satellite Office with some particularly interesting learning opportunities. In the context of the upcoming Second Gender Justice and Local Government Summit Awards, video expert Kendy Mangra came to the office over two days to deliver intensive video training, as well as give tips for effective photography…. Read more Travels Loga travelled to Madagascar recently, weighed down with various reports that were printed in Mauritius at reduced cost. She attended several key events in Madagascar, including the launch of the Gender In Media Education and Gender and Media Progress Studies and the launch of Gender Policies for Radio National Malagasy (RNM) and Television National Malagasy (TNM). … Read more Workshops and events Loga and Mary attended the debate: “Labour Laws: are women more vulnerable?” organised by Women in Networking on 25 January. All agreed that recent amendments impinged on the labour rights of employees. Unfortunately the debate did not stress the aspect of women’s vulnerability in the labour market…. Read more
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Laugh Out Loud

Laugh out loud

At a recent software engineering management course, the participants were given an awkward question to answer. “If you had just boarded an aeroplane and discovered that your team of programmers had been responsible for the flight control software how many of you would disembark immediately?”

Among the ensuing forest of raised hands, only one man sat motionless. When asked what he would do, he replied that he would be quite happy to stay onboard.

With his team’s software, he said, the plane was unlikely to even taxi as far as the runway, let alone take off.

Teamwork & Dreamwork

Birthdays

Happy Birthday! – This month Mpumelelo Mlilo, Mona Hakimi and Board Member Ferial Haffajee celebrated their birthdays!

Upcoming birthdays
Priscilla Maposa – 1 March
Oarabile Monggae – 9 March
Kubi Rama – 25 March
Kelelo Tekateka – 29 March

Wellbeing

Wellness activities

On 4 February staff and interns went to watch the movie Made in Dagenham. The evening was made more special with a group dinner.
On 5 February our new interns and few staff members went to Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens to enjoy nature. … Read more

Gender Links Facebook

New kids on the block

Welcome new staff – Ncane Maziya
Local government country facilitator: Swaziland
Ncane Maziya has been the Gender and Media Swaziland (GEMSWA) country facilitator since 2006. She is a Director and shareholder of ProImage Multimedia Company as well as the co-founder of Swaziland Media Gender Watch, where she served as an assistant coordinator. She also facilitated and coordinated the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Care Work project both in 2005 and 2007 in Swaziland. She is a member of the MISA-Swaziland Chapter and serves in the National Governing Council (NGC). She holds certificates in secretarial services, desktop publishing, frontline and public relations, and gender and media. … Read more