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IWTC
WOMEN’S GLOBALNET #359 ACTIVITIES &
INITIATIVES OF WOMEN WORLDWIDE |
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BEIJING + 15: AFRICAN NGOS ORGANIZE |
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1. OVERVIEW OF BEIJING +15
PREPARATIONS From March 1 to 12 2010, government delegations
attending the UN Commission on the Status of Women will assess progress made
in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) 15 years
since it was adopted at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in
Beijing, China in 1995. Immediately
prior to the CSW, on February 27 -28, several thousand women will gather in
New York to celebrate Beijing +15 at the Global Beijing + 15 NGO Forum for Women. The BPFA is considered to be the most comprehensive
agenda for women’s empowerment. It contains strategic objectives and actions
on 12 critical areas of concern: women and poverty, education and training of
women, women and health, violence against women, women and armed conflict,
women and the economy, women in power and decision-making, institutional
mechanisms for the advancement of women,
human
rights of women, women and the media, women and the environment, and the
girl-child. In anticipation of Beijing + 15, governments and
non-governmental organizations around the world are engaged in preparatory
activities to assess progress made at both national and regional level and to
identify gaps and challenges requiring accelerated action in the years
ahead. This Women’s GlobalNet is the first of several
that IWTC will be producing in the coming months to track activities and to
stimulate collective action on issues of shared concern. The focus in this
issue is on organizing activities among NGOs in Africa. It will be followed shortly by a GlobalNet
on NGO Beijing + 15 preparatory activities in Asia and the Pacific, Europe
and Western Asia. 2.
AFRICA REGIONAL TASK FORCE FOR THE BEIJING + 15 REVIEW PROCESS Women’s organizations in Africa formed the Africa
Regional Task Force for the Beijing +15
Review
Process following the UN Commission on the Status of Women session in March
2009. The Task Force is responsible for mobilizing women’s organizations and
individuals in different countries to carry out activities at the national
level, aimed at raising awareness on the 12 Critical Areas of Concern and
ensuring that governments take further and appropriate measures and actions
to implement the Beijing Platform for Action. The Africa Task Force is encouraging women’s NGOs
and civil society organizations to participate in national review activities
and produce shadow reports, which will recognize the accomplishments made and
also make suggestions on how to fill in the gaps. These reports will be
collated sub-regionally, and sub-regional reports will inform the regional
civil society report. The Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA)
provided the questionnaires NGOs are using to facilitate the information
collection. FEMNET has circulated the questionnaire to all members of the
Africa Task Force. The Africa Task Force recognizes the urgent need
to mobilize resources for civil society review processes. UNECA indicated
that they do not have resources to support civil society. However, it
committed to facilitate NGO discussions through teleconferencing. For additional information on the work of the Africa Task Force on
Beijing + 15, contact:
Currently, the Africa Regional Task Force is
encouraging organizing at national level through the identification of
organizations willing to serve as national focal points. The African Women’s Development and
Communication Network (FEMNET), a Task Force member, is coordinating for
Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi in the Eastern Africa sub-region and
Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger in West Africa. Below is a list of the coordinating organizations
in different countries:
3.
KENYAN NGOS DEVELOP AN ACTION STRATEGY TO REVIEW BEIJING PFA In Kenya, FEMNET
convened a Beijing + 15 meeting on May 19, 2009 among women’s organizations
who decided on the following:
-
Incorporating activities in International human
rights days activities e.g. Day of the African Child; -
Engaging the media; -
Organizing activities at the provincial level for
the 9 Kenyan provinces; and -
Incorporating into our organizations’ existing
activities/materials. In July the Kenya Team met with the Ministry of
Gender and was invited to participate in a Taskforce to write the National
Report. The team also lobbied for a
stakeholders forum to provide input from civil society into the National
Report. The forum will take place before the end of July. 4. ORGANIZING FOR
BEIJING + 15 IN WEST AFRICA In West Africa, FEMNET held a regional meeting in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on June 4-5, 2009. The meeting allowed for
information sharing about the Beijing + 15 review process and solicitation of
commitments to participate and contribute to the process. Participants in the
meeting were from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger and Togo. The following are the Beijing + 15 national
coordinating organizations in West Africa:
5. ORGANIZING FOR BEIJING + 15 IN NORTH AFRICA and ‘the
ISLANDS’ FEMNET plans to organize a Beijing + 15 meeting
in North Africa in August 2009. The participating countries are Mauritania,
Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. A
sub-regional meeting for Beijing +15 review is
planned in October/November for the islands of Madagascar,
Comoro, Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion and Mayotte. 6. REGIONAL SCORECARD PROPOSED TO MONITOR GOVERNMENT PROGRESS
IN AFRICA In addition to the work of the Africa Regional
Task Force, the Eastern African sub-Regional Support Initiative for Advancement
of Women (EASSI) is monitoring how governments of Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda are implementing their
commitments to the BPFA.
EASSI organized
a regional meeting in Kampala, Uganda on July 17-18, 2009. The meeting
discussed a 'regional scorecard' on implementation of the BPFA. This meeting
also marked the launch of Beijing + 15 process in the 8 countries that EASSI
is working in –namely, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia,
Uganda and Tanzania. The scorecard meeting came up with a consensus
among participants to track issues of reproductive health, violence against
women, women and poverty, women, peace and armed conflict and women in
decision making. EASSI will hold a meeting in Northern Kenya on August 17-19,
2009 bringing women in from Northern Uganda to Kenya to discuss their
experiences of Beijing and the scorecard ratings for the two countries
focusing on the critical areas of concern for women, peace and armed conflict
and UNSCR 1325. The EASSI and its partners will monitor at the national level
and allocate scores according to the agreed rating. They plan to present
an analytical report as well as advocacy strategies during the Global Beijing
+5 NGO Forum in New York on February 27 and 28, 2010 based on their monitoring in
East Africa. Marren Akatsa-Bukachi 7. Uganda
BPFA Review Non-government Working Group In Uganda, the Icon Women And Young People’s Leadership
Academy has provided convening space for women’s groups, private sector and
the general public to review Uganda’s progress in the implementation of the
BPFA. It has supported the formation of the Uganda BPFA Review NGO Working
Group which has come up with the following objectives:
As a way forward, the Uganda BPFA Review NGO
Working Group agreed to:
- Identify and
contact the different actors handling the various areas of concern and
request each to review progress made; - Organize a
national conference; and - Publish
conference proceedings and present report to the NGO parallel session during
the 2010 CSW session in New York. Twelve sub-working groups composed of women’s
groups and civil society organizations have been formed to collect
information around the 12 critical areas of concern. 8. UN ECONOMIC
COMMISSION FOR AFRICA (UNECA) EXPERT GROUP AND MINISTERIAL MEETING ON OCTOBER
26-30, 2009; BANJUL, THE GAMBIA The UN Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA) is
responsible for facilitating the African intergovernmental preparations for
the Beijing +15 review. These include: Dissemination of questionnaires to national
gender machineries to assess progress on implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action (PfA);
UNECA will facilitate observer status for the
Africa Taskforce at the Ministerial meeting in October 2009. It will also
organize a space for civil society to have parallel activities and present
their findings during the meeting. |
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