Gertrude Shope Annual Dialogue Forum Closes
Source: DIRCO
The Gertude Shope Annual Dialogue Forum closed on 28 August after two days of panel discussions. To watch the discussions, you can find the videos of the three sessions below.
Session 1: Leadership Accountability for the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
Session 2: The Role of Women in Silencing the Guns
Session 3: Building and Strengthening New Architectures for Peace
Expert’s Take: Four Lessons from COVID-19 that Should Shape Policy Decisions Everywhere
Source: UN Women
All crises have gendered impacts – simply put, they affect women and men, girls and boys in different ways. COVID-19 is no different. Six months into the pandemic, what have we learned? What do policymakers and activists need to do to ensure that decades of progress on gender equality is not rolled back and efforts to ‘build back better’ benefit women and girls? UN Women has released a series of policy briefs that outline clear choices and measures that will actively eliminate, rather than exacerbate gender inequalities in care, employment, safety and decision-making.
Find the for four key lessons from this research here.
African Union Office of the Youth Envoy and African Leadership Institute Launch a Report on “Greater Inclusion of African Youth in Public Service and Governance”
Source: African Union
‘Youth inclusion should be institutionalized and fast-tracked.’ As part of its mandate, The African Union Office of the Youth Envoy and the African Leadership Institute with support of the African Union, Department of Political Affairs hosted a two-day virtual engagement to launch the ‘Greater Inclusion of African Youth in Public Service and Governance Report.’
As expressed by the African Union Commissioner of Political Affairs,H. E Mme Minata Samate Cessouma, in her introductory remarks during the launch of the youth inclusion report, “My call to the African heads of state and government is to invest more in youth, that will determine the pathway for our continent development”, When you invest in youths, you invest in the economy and turn out strength of a nation. It is the youth that determines and shapes the future of a country, hence the need to empower them at an early stage for sustainable results at a later stage.
The Report is a useful resource for member states as it summarizes insights on achieving greater youth inclusion in governance across the continent, and it also provides eight practical recommendations, the AU commissioner, explained in conclusion.
Read more here.
2020 Women’s Parliament is a Platform for Solution-Finding, Says NCOP Deputy Chairperson
Source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
Parliament today held a hybrid 2020 Women’s Parliament with the theme “Generation Equality: Advancing our collective efforts to end gender-based violence and femicide”.
Delivering opening remarks, the Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Ms Sylvia Lucas stated that this parliament serves as a strategic platform for leaders to share ideas, engage constructively and come up with solutions on gender-based-violence (GBV). GBV requires multiple approaches and the time for theories is over, Ms Lucas said, therefore the three arms of the state are part of this parliament.
Ms Lucas told Members of Women’s Parliament, including Members of the National Assembly (NA) and the NCOP, that the 2020 Women’s Parliament is a continuation of the 2019 Provincial Review Sessions of the Women’s Charter, which started in the Western Cape. This review assessed the women’s rights regime to identify policy gaps, legislative oversight mechanisms, and barriers to gender equality. She described this women’s parliament as a strategic session seeking to distil points of views that must either shape or influence state policy on gender-based violence.
Read more here.
