Description

Policy briefing for African delegations attending the AU Ministerial Conference of Gender Ministers and the 8th African Regional Conference on Women to review 15 years of the Beijing Platform of Action, The Gambia, November 2009. This policy briefing argues that the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Africa, the AU Women’s Protocol and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa should be the focus of the declared Decade. It assesses the gap between continental and international policy aspirations and norms on the one hand and current national policy implementation and the reality of women and girls in Africa on the other. Finally, it recommends a multi-sectoral approach to implementing a set of thirteen legal, policy and institutional measures. Adoption of these measures would unleash the energy and results that would truly make the next ten years a decade Africa could be proud of.