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Portrait de Alvin Munyasia
Alvin
Munyasia

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8 years 1 month

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This is an important opportunity to influence the narratives on the future of Africa and the important actions that have to be taken to address the situation of poor women in Africa and women's rights in the continent. Africa has what is considered by many, to be the best and most progressive women's rights policy instrument in the Protocol on the Rights of African Women. Regional and global frameworks have reinforced Africa’s commitment to accelerate gender equality and women’s empowerment in social, economic and political spheres. Both the African Common Position on the post-2015 agenda and the Outcome Document of the Rio+20 Conference emphasize gender equality as a fundamental goal underpinning other targets..... Gender equality is also a cornerstone of African Union’s (AU’s) Agenda 2063. In terms of a policy framework - we believe we have it covered, and I hope this applies to that touching on energy.What is needed now are concrete actions, strategies and programmes that can translate the policy into reality for women.At regional level, we have the 2005 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, the Solemn Declaration of African Heads of States on Gender Equality (2004, adopting of 2014 as Women’s Empowerment Year and declaration of 2010–2020 as the African Women’s Decade by the African Union (AU). ECAs Gender and Development Index (AGDI) facilitates the monitoring of Africa’s progress in the implementation of global, regional and sub-regional commitments affecting women At national level, governments have national machineries, such as ministries of gender, gender commissions and gender focal points to coordinate and action towards gender equality. All these serve as instruments that provide the basis for holding governments accountable for advancing the status of women in their respective countries.
In spite of the advances made, engrained social norms that promote discrimination against women persist; poverty and traditional customs continue to undermine gains made and continue to pose barriers to efforts to see the condition of women improve throughout the continent. There is still a lot of work that remains, with regards to policy implementation.

Poverty, inequality, discriminatory practices, gender based violence persist, as do images and stories of women who have to bear the weight of traditions and cultural practices that continue to marginalize and disadvantage women. In most countries, women remain marginalized in spite of strides made. Forms of discrimination and harmful practices against women remain unaddressed, and women continue to experience human rights violations. Lack of data obscures statistical information on how many women are left untouched by the progress made. Therefore, much remains to be done to realize the human rights of women in Africa.

The question then is, how can stakeholders, particularly women’s advocacy and rights groups take advantage and drive conversations, shape political opinions and initiate actions that will address the persistent challenges that remain in spite of the policy frameworks and activities taken thus far? We have international consensus, we have good will from national governments and regional organisations including AfDB through your Gender Strategy 2018, we have policy frameworks, we have platforms for action, and now 2063. A number of recommendations to move us forward so as to transform women’s lives pertain;

1. Acknowledge the critical role of women’s voice and collective action in driving the transformation of women’s lives and changes that lead to women’s empowerment and use their voices to map women, especially poor women into such releveant coversations e.g on renewable energy and amplify their voices in advocacy spaces from national, regional, continental and global levels and how then that impacts on women rights.
2. Build, strengthen and resource a pan-African women's movement with links that are anchored in the realities of the poorest women so that recommendations and changes advocated by strong, powerful women have resonance and pertinence at the local levels too.
3. Women must use their positions to champion the translation of existing policy frameworks, international and regional consensus, government good will, national momentum towards gender equality and women’s empowerment to real tangible, measurable and observable improvements in women’s status.
4. Women must make continue to make the necessary connections that drive efforts for change and continue to strive to enter those power positions from which they are still kept, but from which decisions that affect women’s lives and can transform women’s lives are made.
5. Bring poor women to the conversation tables about interventions, and efforts to transformation their lives and improve their status; Bring them in through their life stories, and narratives so that their life stories are constantly at the conversation tables to inform the nature and direction of our conversations on how to raise and improve the status of poor women and have the at the heart of what we do.
a. Their life stories would then guide decisions on the kind of interventions and initiatives to be undertaken that would work or what would not work to transform their lives. It will also inform the composition of factors that keep intervention measures from reaching them and lifting them up, or the combination of measures that would offset these walls that keep them from access to initiatives aimed at improving their status.
6. Continuously monitor persistent challenges to women realizing their rights, empowerment or equality, both existing ones and emerging ones like the rise of fundamentalism and identify best ways and means to address these.
7. Do research, desegregate data by gender, provide information and knowledge of poor women’s lives and build understanding of the reforms that are most effective in enabling gender-responsive good governance. Availability of data will remove the large gaps that obscure our knowledge of what works best, what doesn’t and why.
8. Meaningfully balance the achievements made vis a vis the plight of poor and marginalized women so we can build on what we have rather than on what we don’t have.
9. Relentlessly engage governments, regional organizations, and the international community to play their roles remains just as pertinent as it has been before.