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IMPROVING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AND THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

24. On their part, the various development agencies present reaffirmed their recognition of gender equity as a matter of high priority within development planning and operations. In his address, Dr. Cyril Enweze, Vice President of Operations at the African Development Bank informed participants that these objectives are sought by the Bank notably through the sharpening of the gender responsiveness of their operational instruments to foster greater gender equality, and the restructuring of both the qualitative and quantitative staffing requirements, as well as building working environments which respect the principles of gender equality to ensure gender balance both at the implementation and leadership positions. Mr Enweze described the ADB'S strategic objectives projects as striving to invest in women's economic capacity and productivity and to improve women's access to education, health and other basic social services.

25. On initiatives to further reduce to poverty reduction, he informed participants of the recent creation by the African Development Bank of the African Development Fund Micro finance Initiative for Africa, referred to as AMINA. The AMINA programme, he said, was established with the objective of increasing the capacity of existing micro-finance institutions to deliver an appropriate range of financial services to micro entrepreneurs and the economically poor, especially women micro entrepreneurs. AMINA, he said, has provided support to over 36 NGOs delivering savings and credit services, with 40 to 100% of their main portfolios entirely devoted to women in urban and rural areas with the clear objective of improving their quality of their life and promoting their economic empowerment. He further outlined that in the Bank's new vision where gender equality is of high priority, special attention will be given to projects that;

1. provide increased support to functional literacy and other issues such as women in business, agro-process and marketing, water management and sanitation, primary health care, nutrition and family planning

2. eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education and

3. reduce infant and maternal mortality.

26. In an address presented on behalf the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme who was unavoidably absent, The Deputy Resident Representative, Mr. Aurélien Agbenonci, described the improvement of the status of women and gender equality for Africa as constituting a major preoccupation for the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP. Re recalled that 1995 edition of UNDP world report on human development, that focused on sex equality sadly observes that there was no society in the world where women enjoy the same rights as men, an indication of the seriousness and depth of the issues in question. While further describing the participation of women at the decision making level in the political and economic areas as a critical facilitator a greater equality between men and women, he expressed the readiness of the UNDP to support Governments as well as civil society associations groups towards dismantling barriers which today prevent women from fully exercising their citizenship rights.

27. The full enjoyment of women's rights, he said, translates challenge into channeling the traditional and demonstrated dynamism of women in the economic, cultural and social life in their communities as well as in their associations in the informal sector networks to feed the creation of new models of participation in leadership and management in the public sector. He described the Africa Women's Forum as a unique framework for the tinkering and synchronisation of African women initiatives and potentials into such veritable leadership and development partnerships.

28. The UNDP, he said, ensures gender mainstreaming in all its operations by seeking to ensure that women and men are provided with equal opportunities to develop and utilize their skills and talents and to participate in decision affecting their lives. Mr. Agbenonci reaffirmed that in its relations with governments, the UNDP will continue to work upstream to sensitize policy makers, on the crucial issues and while also working to strengthen their capacity for gender analysis. This he said would include assistance towards the adoption of the country policy and institutional assessment in which women's empowerment constitutes an element of assessment on the basis of which decisions to allocate resources to regional member countries are made. This, he said, will also involve examining the quality of the member Countries' policy, legal and institutional frameworks for the advancement of women in areas such as education of girls, health services and the implementation of pro-equality legal reforms, thereby assessing the seriousness of Governments towards implementing international conventions and laws to enhancing gender equality. Downstream, development institutions present reaffirmed their readiness to improve women's access to education, training and credit, access that can reduce poverty and increase creativity. At operational level, Mr. Agbenonci revealed that the UNDP has committed itself to investing 20% of its budgetary expenditure in programmes on gender equality and advancement of women.

IMPROVING THE INDEX ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA

Throughout the two-day meeting, participants unanimously underscored the of critical relevance of investing in the innovative process for developing and maintaining a comprehensive Index on the Status of women in Africa as initiated by the Africa Leadership Forum. The critical relevance of the Index lies amongst others things in the measurement of progress and achievements on the one hand, and the identification of gaps and obstacles to gender equality. It will be a useful tool for all the parties concerned to improve the status of women, in ways that will help them to define their own choices, to act on them and to participate more effectively in creating a prosperous society that offers better opportunities for the future for both men and women. To address the questions raised in the objectives focusing on modalities for improving and utilising the Index, participants examined the challenges involved in both plenary discussions and working groups. To extend its utilisation to a wider range of actors including governments, policy-makers, women's groups, civil society organisations and various development partners, a number of key measures would be undertaken under the auspices of the Africa Leadership Forum.

29. Participant recommended that AWF should establish as a matter of priority, a broad-based working group to coordinate the process of data collection and analysis to regularly update the Index. Representation within this group should be extended to include technical experts with experience in the collection and analysis of statistical data. Data collection at national levels should be conducted by team groups representing women's organizations, government representatives and technical experts amongst others, using the standard methodology developed by the working group. The establishment of national teams should be facilitated by the AWF. Adequate time should be allowed for a comprehensive data collection exercise. Nevertheless, this process should not be prolonged beyond a 6-month time-frame, so as to sustain the momentum of the initiative.

30. The data collection process would require a broadening of the indicators identified for measuring women's empowerment in Africa, to include economic, religious and socio-cultural indicators. This process should further identify a range of qualitative indicators, and introduce a system of ranking for the indicators. In situations where statistical data may be unavailable, the Index could serve to provide substantive analysis of structures and practices that restrict women's access and participation in leadership processes. The index should serve to provide clear, accessible and user-friendly analysis of data on the status of women in Africa, which in turn be easily and widely disseminated and targeted to audiences at various levels;

BROADENING THE SUPPORT BASE FOR THE INDEX ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA: DEFINITION AND CONCEPTUALISATION OF WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

31. On broadening the support and Improving the Index, Participants noted the need to extend the conception of women's empowerment as a process, to include the following three indivisible indicators which are:
a. Access, ownership and control over material, human and social resources as well as entitlements, and the recognition of the legitimacy of women's future claims;

b. Institutional and agency empowerment through active participation and concrete exercise of power and decision-making in State communities institutions and societies, broadened to various structures and realms of decision-making, including those also within the formal and informal economic sectors and within civil society.

c. Achievements as shown by the occupation of leadership positions in critical numerical strength, the indices) well-being outcomes including longevity and less measurable and qualitative achievements such as negotiation capabilities and other political utilities.

In this light, some of the concepts contained in the draft Index, such as the concept of "self-reliance", would need to be revisited and further clarified. The definition of leadership should underline a transformative process which ensures that women leaders promote the values of gender equality and social justice for all sectors and groups within African societies, to inform and broaden accountability requirements in their respective social and political constituencies and springboards.

DISSEMINATION OF THE INDEX ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA.

32. Participants recommended that the final revised edition of the Index should be translated into the four languages: French, English, Arabic and Portuguese.

33. An Executive Summary of the Index should also be produced, in order to facilitate easy dissemination and utilization by policy and decision-makers in particular.

34. At national levels this process will be facilitated through a range of mechanisms, including national machinery, and women's organisations, and other institutions within civil society. Inter-governmental organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Development Bank (ADB), the Economic Commission For Africa (ECA) and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) should also be involved in the dissemination process.

35. To facilitate this process, it was recommended that an ad-hoc advisory group be established by the ALF to formally present the Index to the above organisations. COMMITMENTS OF THS SECOND AFRICA WOMEN' S FORUM Participants at the Meeting made the following commitments with respect to assistance towards data collection, more specifically financial assistance for this collection, revision or translation into some languages;

Ø The Women's Association of Tunisia-21 and AFTURO both of Tunisia will undertake research and make data to the Africa Leadership Forum for the improvement for the Index.

Ø Akina Mama wa Afrika promised to lend editorial and other supports to the Africa Leadership Forum for the writing and dissemination of the executive summary of the Index on the Status of Women in Africa.

Ø Institute for Gender Leadership and Democracy, Maputo, Mozambique promised to undertake the translation of the Index into Portuguese .

Ø The African Development Bank expressed its readiness to consider the support future activities of both the Africa Women's Forum and other women's networks.

Ø FEMNET undertook to disseminate the Executive Summary of the Index on its website.

Ø The Africa Leadership Forum will constitute the Committee for coordinating the collection of data for the index and its future Improvements. On local data collection representative would be identified by the forum at the national level.

Ø Furthermore, the ALF would also seek all the necessary support and draft standard working materials for the both the Committee and national local data collectors.

Ø The Africa Leadership Forum would also constitute a group to formally present the Index to the Organisation of African Unity

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