AU WATCH

Gender & Agenda 2063

“If we don’t put women in history books, they get edited out of history.” 

Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

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Gender Equality & Development

Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 calls for “An Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children.” Agenda 2063 therefore requires that we live in a more inclusive society where all the citizens are actively involved in decision making in all aspects and where no child, woman or man is left behind or excluded, on the basis of gender, political affiliation, religion, ethnic affiliation, locality, age or other factors.  Article 3 of the Protocol on Amendments of the Constitutive Act of the African Union recognises the critical role of women in promoting inclusive development and calls for the AU “to ensure the effective participation of women in decision-making, particularly in the political, economic and socio-cultural areas.”

The AU recognises that that gender equality is a fundamental human right and an integral part of regional integration, economic growth and social development and has developed the AU’s strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) to ensure the inclusion of women in Africa’s development agenda.

The GEWE strategy focuses on 6 key pillars namely:

  1. Women’s Economic Empowerment and Sustainable Development – Women’s empowerment is key to growth, prosperity and sustainability
  2. Social justice, protection &Women’s Rights – woman’s rights are human rights; they span all spheres- social, political, legal and economic.
  3. Leadership & Governance – good governance demands equal and effective participation by women.
  4. Gender Management Systems – providing access and investing resources (financial and other technical resources) to support women
  5. Women, Peace and Security – Ensuring women’s perspectives  are included on issues of Peace – Prevention, Protection, Promotion Programmes
  6. Media & ICTs – Given women a voice in African media and access to technology for knowledge

AU Watch Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

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Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale. For societies to thrive, women and girls, men and boys must have equal access to education, healthcare, and technology. They must have equal control of resources, lands, and markets. And they must have equal rights and opportunities as peace-builders and leaders.

Transforming the ways in which we engage men and boys in gender equality and women’s empowerment efforts is essential to long-lasting social change. We must enlist their support for the empowerment of women and girls across their lifespan, and also encourage them to challenge the negative cultural and social definitions that can limit their own ability to achieve their full potential.

What We Do

AU Watch believes that gender equality and women’s empowerment are fundamental for the realization Agenda 2063 and key to the unity of Africa. AU Watch works round the clock to improve the lives of women and girls by addressing their distinct needs. We have a long history of support for gender equality and women’s empowerment to lead powerful, transformational changes within societies.

  • We generate ideas and foster debate on women’s policy issues facing the AU and AUMS. We promote constructive leadership and engagement in regional and international affairs, about women, based on the central role of the AU in meeting the regional challenges of the 21st century.
  • Our media, communication, outreach and public relations abilities provide a platform for all women to join in the AU debate and project, empowering all of us not only to ask questions of our leaders and take control of our own lives, but also to demand social justice, and to ensure that all of us contribute to the AU dream of a truly united, peaceful and prosperous Africa.
  • Our Gender Unit conduct an active agenda of research and publishing, organizing events, and giving practical development assistance to women’s groups. Our work on women’s rights includes collaboration with regional and international CSOs, governments, development, policy, business and academic communities around Africa and the world. Through our work, we are dedicated to bringing information and analysis to those who make or influence human rights policy on the AU and to assisting the AU and AUMS in promoting women’s rights in Africa.
  • We have adopted a suite of gender equality policies and strategies within our organisation to ensure that staff members, Council Members and all our volunteers adhere to the vision and mission of the organisation work on Agenda 2063.
  • We are launching ‘Agenda 2063 Incentive Fund For Women’ to promote women’s leadership, and reduce gender-based violence. The Fund can also be used to accelerated investments in women peacebuilders, parliamentarians, agricultural producers, and owners of small and medium enterprises.
  • Did you know that most of the food on your plate is provided by women? Yet they own virtually no land and have little or no access to credit facility. We, therefore, lead Africa’sfood initiatives for women to strengthen agriculture-led growth, nutrition and resilience.

Today, hundreds of millions of people across Africa go to bed hungry every night, most of them women and smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture to make a living and feed their families. Despite an explosion in the growth of urban slums over the last decade, nearly 75 percent of poor people in developing countries live in rural areas. Growth in the agriculture sector — from farm to fork — has been shown to be at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. Investing in these smallholder farmers—many of whom are women—and in the markets around them is more important than ever. In order to feed a population expected to grow to 2 billion people in Africa by 2050, we will have to double its current food production. At AU Watch we are doing our part to increase food security in Africa.

  • Providing emergency food assistance, to women and girls population, especially those caught in domestic violence and crisis times situation.
  • We provide strategic leadership, training, and technical assistance on gender equality and women’s empowerment programming all over Africa and work to shape and institutionalize policies within the AU and AU Member States that empower women and girls.
  • Global health efforts, grounded in investments in health systems strengthening and breakthrough innovation, are focused around three strategic priorities: Preventing child and maternal deaths; controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic; andcombating infectious diseases. Through efforts in family planning, maternal and child health, malaria, and nutrition, AU Watch is now working with communities in The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea Bissau to prevent child and maternal deaths by helping women and children access essential, and often life-saving, health services.

Agenda 2063

Flagship Projects

 

Connecting African capitals and commercial centers through a High-Speed Train Network; facilitating the movement of goods, factor services and people as well as reducing transport costs and relieving congestion of current and future systems through increased rail connectivity.

Transforming Africa from a raw materials supplier by enabling countries to add value, extract higher rents from commodities, integrate into global value chains promote diversification anchored in value addition and local content development.

Accelerating intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations.

Removing restrictions on Africans’ ability to travel, work and live within their own continent by transforming restrictive laws and promoting visa free travel to enhance movement of all African citizens in all African countries.

Ending all wars, civil conflicts, gender-based violence, violent conflicts and preventing genocide in the continent by 2020.

Generating an estimated 43,200MW of power to support current regional power pools and their combined service to transform Africa from traditional to modern sources of energy and ensure access to clean and affordable electricity.

Promoting intra-regional connectivity between the capital cities of Africa by creating a single unified air transport market in Africa, as an impetus to the continent’s economic integration and growth agenda.

Multi-stakeholder meeting bringing together the Africa’s policy makers, private sector, academia and civil society to reflect on accelerating Africa’s socio- economic development and transformation by harnessing its vast resources.

Accelerating integration and economic development through the establishment of organisations which will play a pivotal role in the mobilization of resources and management of the African financial sector.

Transforming Africa into an e-Society by implementing policies and strategies that lead to transformative e-applications and services in Africa such as broad band terrestrial infrastructure, cyber security and revolutionary bio and nanotechnology industries.

Strengthening Africa’s use of outer space to bolster development in critical sectors such as agriculture, disaster management, remote sensing, climate forecast, banking and finance, defense and security.

Using ICT based programmes to increase access to tertiary and continuing education in Africa by reaching large numbers of students and professionals in multiple sites simultaneously.

Incorporating emerging technologies in Africa’s development plans and ensuring these technologies are used for the benefit of African individuals, institutions and nation states by ensuring data protection and safety online.

Preserving and promoting African cultural heritage by creating awareness of Africa’s vast, dynamic and diverse cultural artefacts and Africa’s continuing influence on world cultures in art, music, language, science, and so on.

AU Declaration on 2015 Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development Towards Africa’s Agenda 2063

We, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, having met at our Twenty Fifth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 14 to 15 June 2015, on the 2015 Theme “Year of Women’s Empowerment towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”. Read More

The Gender Agenda In Agenda 2063. Dr. Rose Mwebaza – Advisor, Women’s Econominc Empowerment And Political Participation

The vision of Africa expressed in Agenda 2063 is one of an Africa whose development is people-driven, especially relying on the potential offered by its women and youth; 

Under this vision, it is envisaged that there will be gender equality in all spheres of life and an engaged and empowered youth. Read More