Women’s rights and women-led organisations have called on Member States to take action on the Commonwealth’s Four Priorities on Gender Equality in light of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, they argue, has exacerbated gender inequalities the world over.
The call comes during the 65th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the principal UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Civil society representatives revisited recommendations made during the 12WAMM Civil Society Roundtable — which took place prior to the pandemic in September 2019. The group agreed that many of their recommendations remain the same but are by now, in a post-Covid world, more pressing than ever.
At the 11th Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting (11WAMM), held in September 2016 hosted by the Government of Samoa, Kenya was selected to host the 12th Women Affairs Ministers Meeting (12 WAMM).
The meeting will be held on 19-20 September 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya with the theme: ‘From Commitment to Action: Accelerating Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment for Sustainable Development.’
Kenya’s Big Four Agenda is effectively aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, at the continental level with Africa’s Agenda 2063 ‘The Africa We Want’, and at the national level, it is anchored to the Kenya Vision 2030.
In 2020, the global community will mark the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing +25) and the fifth year of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moreover, the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) and Commonwealth People’s Forum (CPF) will be held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2020.
In consideration of several parallel processes in support of Beijing +25 Platform for Action, amplifying the voices of women’s rights and women-led organisations will be prioritised. In this spirit and as a way to contribute to the advocacy and discourse on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the lead up to 12 WAMM and Beijing +25, the Commonwealth Foundation will organise a civil society roundtable in partnership with the Government of Kenya as the host country for 12WAMM on 16-17 September 2019. The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya) will be the co-convenor of the roundtable.
In consultation with FIDA-Kenya and the Government of the Republic of Kenya, the criteria for the selection of organisations and participants from across the Commonwealth in the civil society roundtable is as follows:
Representative networks and organisations working at the regional level which are already members of the women’s major group[1] and/or actively representing civic voices of women throughout the Commonwealth. This includes those that are working on policy and advocacy on the four priorities of the Commonwealth: Women’s economic empowerment, Women in leadership, Ending violence against women and girls, and Gender and climate change
Organisations and/or networks involved in national reviews and regional consultations on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and/or involved in the development of shadow reports of civil society consultations and/ or in annual consultation of Commonwealth National Women’s Machineries
Organisations and/or networks showcasing intersectionality in their membership: women from rural areas, young people and elderly generations, less privileged socio-economic backgrounds, among others, and are inclusive of voices in the margins/less heard voices in their internal governance
Representatives of women in media and leading feminist thinkers who have participated in critical reviews progress on women’s rights and gender equality, informing the Beijing +20 debate including feminist economists who can support governments with advice on accelerating results.
The Women’s Major Group is self-organised and facilitated by a team of 8 Organising Partners, including WEDO. The WMG has the mandate to facilitate women’s human rights and gender equality perspectives into UN policy processes on sustainable development. In recent years, the WMG program and project has been designed to influence two distinct phases in global sustainable development: (1) finalising a universal Post-2015 Development agenda that is grounded in national and regional realities, in particular realities for women; and (2) ensuring its robust implementation at the national, regional and global levels.
Expected outcomes of the roundtable:
Civic voice collectives across the Commonwealth effectively communicate policy priorities and recommendations on accelerating results for the delivery of SDG 5 to governments including recommendations to address the intersectionality of gender
Sustained engagement of civic voice collectives across the Commonwealth in the Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting process with the active co-convening role of women’s rights and women-led organisations in the host country.
2012 brings the Foundation back to the beginnings of its call for the renewal of the Commonwealth.
When the Foundation was re-launched in 2012 and given the mandate to support people’s participation in governance across the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth People’s Forum (CPF) was re-aligned to support this mandate.
In 2013 the CPF in Colombo, Sri Lanka contributed to the architecture of the Post 2015 Development Agenda and advocated primarily for gender equality and women’s empowerment as a stand-alone goal. That today is Goal 5 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Malta Declaration on Governance for Resilience was the result of the conversations in CPF2015.
Even as CPF anchors itself in the prevailing development discourse, it does so by offering counter narratives, challenging dominant paradigms and giving meaningful access to voices in the margins. In Malta, CPF2015 offered the governance lens to the discourse of resilience, which until then was analysed only within an economic and environmental context.
‘CPF2018 interrogated the issues of exclusion in the Commonwealth, sessions took on injustice as experienced by people in all their diversity and tackled accountability in governance.’
It was also in Malta where the Commonwealth Heads of Government recognized the consonance of the work of the Foundation with SDG 16, the shorthand of which is Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
These are the building blocks of CPF2018. In 16 April 2018, the Commonwealth Foundation in partnership with the UK Government opened the doors of Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. It did so with defiant hope that renewal in and of the Commonwealth is indeed possible.
CPF2018 interrogated the issues of exclusion in the Commonwealth, sessions took on injustice as experienced by people in all their diversity and tackled accountability in governance. The forum pressed on to come to an understanding of the imperatives of a renewed Commonwealth. At the end of three days, civic voices crafted the London Declaration on Inclusive Governance for a Renewed Commonwealth with an accompanying Call to Action.
The Declaration and the Call to Action argue that Commonwealth renewal is no longer an option, but an achievable imperative. Civic voices concluded:
‘We stand at the threshold of a new Commonwealth future, built on equality, diversity, a constant questioning, and interrogation of the constraints and challenges that face us and the opportunities, strengths and values that unite us as human beings with shared stories.
We will achieve this through common effort, shared experience, action with vision and imagination, and by building inclusive, participatory, responsive and accountable systems of governance that leave no-one behind.’
In these perilous times, now more than ever civic voice matters. And it is with a buoyant optimism that the Foundation will persist with its commitment to support the call for the renewal of the Commonwealth for the interests of civic voices.
More voices for a fairer world.
The CPF2018 Declaration and Call to Action cover 13 key policy areas:
Reforming colonial-era laws
Accessing justice
Rights of indigenous peoples
Women negotiating peace
Migration
People centred health and education
Climate justice
Just world order and just economies
Digital age, one that enables but also protects the peoples of the Commonwealth
Separation of powers
Accountability in development
Decentralising power
Media accountability
Myn Garcia is Deputy Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A newsletter item which was hyperlinked to this article and circulated on 30 April 2018 incorrectly identified Myn Garcia as Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation.
I memorised the rhythm of your heart, almost inaudible but I heard you, a beating body inside a body being beaten.
Growing within me
Growing with me
The tiny footprints you made on the home we shared, I could never erase them, and you had me wrapped around your finger while his fingers were wrapped around my neck.
My daughter, you never felt the sun kiss your brown skin
My daughter, you never felt the sand tickle your tiny feet
My daughter, you never felt the river flow through you
My daughter, you never heard the love song the birds sing for you
My daughter, you never knew the love of your mother through the world she would show you
Because of a man who knew only of planting his seed inside me but could never tend to the flower that was to grow
Convened by EASSI, the multi-stakeholder dialogue intended to present and discuss the findings of the pilot implementation of the EAC Gender Barometer and to lay the foundation and build partnerships for an evidence based advocacy tool for promoting gender equality in the East African Community (EAC). The Commonwealth Foundation supported the dialogue, which was held in Kampala in May 2017.
Under EASSI’s leadership the dialogue provided a space for civil society, government representatives from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda as well as women’s rights activists to interact on the findings of the EAC Gender Barometer. Some of the highlights from the pilot:
Need for bold steps to address gender redistributive justice, and to reorient entitlements of women and men. All governments achieved low scores in this regard
Gender-based violence: need for issue based conscientization campaign and the need for accountability channels, where currently none exist.
Sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS: there has been a reversal of gains in countries like Uganda; social responses need to be strengthened.
Rwanda taking the lead in institutionalising gender budgeting. Macro economic frameworks still largely impervious to gender and equity concerns
Good progress made on legislation; challenge is in implementation.
At the dialogue a government representative from South Africa offered the SADC experience on the use of the barometer in the Southern Africa region and spoke of how important the collaborative partnership to advance gender equality is.
In addition, five policy briefs based on identified gender priority issues were developed to include targeted policy recommendations on realisation of gender equality in the EAC.
Priorities for the way forward: 1) Popularising the Gender Bill nationally, 2) National ratification, 3) application of the Gender Barometer
Every three years, Commonwealth Ministers responsible for women’s affairs meet to discuss progress and challenges relating to gender equality in the Commonwealth. The 10th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministerial Meeting (10WAMM) took place in June 2013, hosted by the Government of Bangladesh under the theme ‘Women’s Leadership for Enterprise’.
Held in the wings of the 10WAMM, the Partners’ Forum provided an opportunity for civil society, academics, donor agencies and other women’s affairs experts to meet, share and learn from each other; to discuss critical issues and barriers to delivering women’s empowerment and gender equality; and to engage with Ministers and Senior Officials in order to contribute to Commonwealth and global agenda-setting processes.
The Partners’ Forum was organised by the Commonwealth Foundation in partnership with BRAC, in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Representatives of key national and regional organisations also provided formal input into the planning of the Forum.
Keep in touch
Discover grant and job opportunities, stories from civil society and updates on our work
