by Barbara Lopi – SANF 07 No 27
Southern Africa is finalising consultations on a draft protocol to promote gender equality that will be tabled at a summit of regional leaders in August.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, currently being developed, will assist in speeding up the process of achieving gender equality, equity and improve the status of women in the region.
A protocol is the most binding of SADC legal instruments, and would accelerate the implementation of gender commitments.
Consultations on the draft protocol have taken place at the national and regional levels following adoption of the first draft by SADC ministers responsible for gender or women’s affairs in November 2006.
At least 10 SADC member states have held national consultations since the end of 2006 and had their comments incorporated in the draft during a stakeholders’ consultative meeting held in Botswana from 16-18 April.
Two more meetings, which are scheduled for May and June and targeting the ministers responsible for gender and justice, respectively, will complete the consultative process.
The ministers of gender or women’s affairs in the 14-member SADC region will meet to consider the final draft of the protocol while the justice ministers are expected to clear the draft for tabling at the Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government scheduled for August in Zambia.
The Botswana consultative meeting was called to finalise the first draft of SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and was attended by representatives of government ministries responsible for gender or women’s affairs in the SADC region, civil society groups and development partners.
SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Augusto Salomão, said the consultations will ensure meaningful involvement, participation, ownership of the drafting of the protocol by all citizens of the region.
Salomão urged stakeholders to thoroughly review the draft Protocol on Gender and Development, and ensure that mechanisms are put in place to address the challenges slowing progress.
“SADC values the important role that stakeholders have played and continue to play in advocating for principles of freedom and social justice, including gender equality in the region,” said Salomão.
Since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, the SADC region has set milestones in establishing frameworks to advance gender equality, eradicate poverty, and improve the status of women. However, implementation still falls short of stated commitments.
SADC Heads of State and Government signed a Declaration on Gender and Development in 1997, followed by the signing of an Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children in 1998.
The head of the SADC Gender Unit, Magdeline Mathiba-Madibela, noted that, while policy frameworks for advancing gender equality in southern Africa have advanced significantly, the process to attain commitments has been slow and inconsistent.
“We have a challenge to overcome factors responsible for the slower than expected rates of progress in achieving gender equality objectives and targets in the SADC region,” Mathiba-Madibela said.
Salomão attributed the slow pace of progress in achieving gender equality objectives and targets in the region to technical and human resource constraints, weak implementation structures, and a lack of robust systems for monitoring and evaluation.
The conference theme was “SADC Accelerating Progress in Achieving Gender Equality”.
Drafting of the Protocol on Gender and Development began in 2005 when the SADC Council of Ministers endorsed the decision to transform the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development and its Addendum into a protocol.
The final draft protocol will be presented to the 2007 SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government for adoption in August in Lusaka, Zambia.
It is anticipated that once adopted, the protocol will address the issues hindering progress by southern African countries to fulfil their commitments to gender equality, justice and women’s empowerment.
The protocol will also incorporate commitments from all regional, global and continental instruments to which SADC is a party such as the Beijing Platform of Action, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Millennium Development Goals, the African Union Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Rights of Women in Africa.
It is expected to enhance the instruments by addressing gaps and setting specific, measurable targets where they do not already exist; and to advance gender equality by ensuring accountability at sub-regional level as well as providing a forum for sharing best practices, peer support and review.
