agencies in Africa. These institutions will present their reports directly to the Conference.
The Seventh African Regional Conference will review the regional evaluation reports and will facilitate the distillation of the regional consensus on priority gender issues and the way forward. It is the outcome of this process that will constitute Africa's input into the global Beijing +
10 review process.
(b) Review and Appraisal by NGOs (i) At the national level
In conformity with the decision of the Bureau of the Committee on Women and Development at its meeting from 16-17 September 2003, NGOs are requested to organize their own review and appraisal process at the national level in order to submit a national report to the NGO Subregional Organizing Committee. At the same time, NGOs in each country should select the NGO that will represent them in the NGO Subregional Organizing Committees. The NGO national reports should be submitted to the NGO Subregional Organizing Committees by December 2003 through the ECA Subregional Offices.
(ii) At the subregional level
The NGO Subregional Organizing Committees should be set up by the end of November 2003.Their membeship will include NGOs that are selected to represent their countries and the NGOs that are currently members of the CWD. The Committees should hold their first meeting by January 2004 to elect their Bureaux and plan the subregional review and appraisal process.
This meeting will be initially chaired by ECA/ACGD and then handed over to the Chairperson and the Bureau of the Organizing Committee. The Subregional Organizing Committees will discuss and establish the agenda of the subregional review meetings and divide up tasks for preparing the substantive documents. In this regard, the principal document should be the synthesized report of the NGO national reports. The dates of the subregional review meetings
37
should be set at the initial meeting of the Organizing Committees and should be held just before the intergovernmental subregional review meetings so that their reports are presented at that fora.
The final outcome of the NGO subregional meetings should be also submitted to the Regional Organizing Committee.
(iii) At the regional level
The Bureaux of the NGO Subregional Organizing Committees will comprise the Regional Organizing Committee. It will meet to plan and organize the NGO regional meeting in August 2004 thereby setting the objectives and agenda of the meeting and distributing responsibilities for the preparation of the technical documents. The main document of the regional meeting will be the synthesis of the outcomes of the NGO subregional reports. The regional meeting should be held just before the Seventh African Regional Conference on Women so that its outcome is submitted to the Conference.
IV. Linkage between Africa's and the global review processes (a) Africa's outcomes of the review and appraisal process
The outcome of Africa's review and appraisal process will be discussed and endorsed by the Seventh African Regional Conference on Women in November 2004. It will have inputs from the subregions, the subregional and regional intergovernmental institutions, the NGO regional meeting and the UN agencies in Africa. Throughout the review process, it will be critical that opportunity is noi provided for backsliding on the agreed issues by past conferences. Even as gaps in the implementation of the BPFA are identified, suggested solutions should be formulated taking into consideration existing policy frameworks, international conventions and plans of action at regional and global levels.
The Committee on Women and Development (CWD) has officially requested the Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) to consider the outcome of Africa's review and appraisal process as part of the official documents of the CSW in its meeting in March 2005.
(b) At the global level
The regional report on the review and appraisal of implementation of the BPFA will be reviewed by CSW in March 2005. Thereafter, it is not yet decided what further actions will be taken at the level of ECOSOC and the General Assembly in this regard. A report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the General Assembly on the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to i:he outcomes of major UN conferences and summits recommended the possibility of a high level event on the Millennium Declaration (MG) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In the interest of simplification and harmonization of UN processes, the review of the MG and MDGs could possibly be combined with the review of the implementation of BPFA and the recommendations of ICPD. Further discussions in ECOSOC may provide more guidance.
38
Annex 1: Evaluation Questions.
• Do the objectives identified for the three areas address the national needs in relation to the advancement of gender equality?
• Are the objectives in line with the government's priorities and policies?
• Are the objectives considered useful to the target groups?
• Are they complementary to other gender mainstreaming interventions?
• Should they be adjusted, eliminated or new ones added in light of new needs, priorities and policies?
Source of
• To what extent have the agreed upon objectives been attained?
• Have the programmes contributed to the goal/s of accelerating the implementation of the Platforms for Action?
• Have the institutional arrangements in place facilitated the implementation of the Platform?
• The
• To what extent has the implementation of the BFA impacted on national leaders' (government ministers, members of parliament, among others) values and attitudes with regard to gender equality?
• How and to what extent have government and NGOs' organizational systems been influenced by the implementation of the PFA
• To what extent has the PFA implementation contributed to changes in government and NGOs' policies, plans and programmes?
• Will the institutional arrangements in place facilitate the continued flow of the benefits set in motion by the implementation of the PFA?
• Will the institutional arrangements in place facilitate the use or adoption of the PFA implementation results to different contexts or changing environment?
Annex 8: Closing remarks by the Chairperson of the CWD Bureau Meeting - Ms. Marie Gorethi Nduwimana, the Honorable Minister of Social and Women Affairs of
Burundi.
Statement by the Minister ofSocial and Women's Affairs ofBurundi, at the closure ofthe session of the Bureau ofthe Committee on Women and Development
Addis Ababa, J 7 September 2003
Distinguished Ministers,
Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Services, Representatives of the United Nations Agencies,
Madam Director of the African Centre for Gender and Development,
Experts from the member States of the Bureau of the Committee on Women and Development, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Once again I have the honour to be with you here at ECA in order to close the session of the Bureau of the Committee on Women and Development.
I should like to present my sincere thanks to all of you for your participation in this session, and in particular to the Ministers who have kindly made the effort to take an active part in all our work. We are also very grateful to ECA for its organizational work and for having provided its excellent logistical support, and to all the United Nations agencies which have helped the Bureau to show the progress already made and have given us their moral support in preparing the assessment process of the Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action.
Distinguished guests,
The Committee, the only body which can provide a framework for exchanges, has been reinforced by new members selected in all objectivity: five national NGOs, five subregional NGOs, thiee African NGOs, five specialized NGOs, and national experts who are, of course, highly
reputed. Thus, given the context in which it will be functioning, which is the preparation of Dakar and Beijing+10, we can look forward to this renewed Committee promoting specifically African solutions. The African Centre for Gender and Development (ACGD), the initiator of the African Gender Development Index (AGDI), is highly deserving of congratulations from the Bureau. The Index is a very important instrument, making it possible to evaluate both women's work and the
40