The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the pre-eminent global policy forum on issues affecting gender equality and the advancement of women, and is particularly mandated to regularly review implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) at the global, regional, sub-regional and national levels. The focus of the 2010 CSW 54th Session, held from March 1-12, 2010 in New York, was the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, 15 years after adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) played an active role in the NGO processes of the Beijing +15 review in Africa, as part of the Africa NGO Taskforce on Beijing +15.

Following up on the remarkable participation by African women in the processes of the Beijing +15 review, and considering the critical opportunity of the African Women’s Decade, FEMNET aims to convene several sub-regional workshops to disseminate and discuss the findings of the official and NGO Beijing +15 reports, and develop strategies and action-plans on the African Women’s Decade at national and sub-regional levels to ensure that both state and non-state actors act together to make the Decade make a difference in women’s lives. The Debriefing & Strategizing Meeting for East Africa will take place on 23-25 June 2010, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. For more information send an email to advocacy@femnet.or.ke.

Strengthening the Role of Women in Building Democratic Societies in Africa

Last year in September, FEMNET in collaboration with ROFAF (Réseau des Organisations Féminines d’Afrique Francophone) organized the first Africa Women's Leadership Conference in Lome, Togo. The Regional Conference brought together women leaders in countries that had presidential and parliamentary elections in 2009 and 2010 to reflect together on two questions: (1) What is the experience of women in political leadership in Africa and in particular the countries represented at the Conference? (2) What do we do to strengthen the role of women in building strong democratic societies in Africa? In other words, how do we mobilise women to participate and take up political leadership in significant numbers? By the end of the three-day Conference, participants were inspired and energized to take action so that women’s participation in the democratic processes in their countries particularly around the forth coming elections is revolutionalized. Clearly, leadership in Africa is about sharing power and authority and these will not be given up that easily by the power holders (majority of whom are men). It will only take women's courage, commitment, a deep seated desire to change the status quo. A copy of the Report with the full conference proceedings can be requested by sending an email to library@femnet.or.ke

• To increase consciousness and appreciation of the role that women play and can/ should play in the process of building strong democratic societies;
• Discuss ways in which women can develop and sustain strong networks to support women that are actively involved in political leadership in their respective countries and across the region;
• Profile different women leaders in the region that are flag bearers in political leadership at different levels.

The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the pre-eminent global policy forum on issues affecting gender equality and the advancement of women, and is particularly mandated to regularly review implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) at the global, regional, sub-regional and national levels. The focus of the 2010 CSW 54th Session, held from March 1-12, 2010 in New York, was the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, 15 years after adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) played an active role in the NGO processes of the Beijing +15 review in Africa, as part of the Africa NGO Taskforce on Beijing +15.

Following up on the remarkable participation by African women in the processes of the Beijing +15 review, and considering the critical opportunity of the African Women’s Decade, FEMNET aims to convene several sub-regional workshops to disseminate and discuss the findings of the official and NGO Beijing +15 reports, and develop strategies and action-plans on the African Women’s Decade at national and sub-regional levels to ensure that both state and non-state actors act together to make the Decade make a difference in women’s lives. The first such meeting will take place on May 13-14, 2010, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for seven (7) Central African countries namely DRC, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Rwanda and Burundi. For more information send an email to advocacy@femnet.or.ke.

The Conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya on the 25th March 2010. We Can is a global Campaign to end societal acceptance of violence against women through a Changemakers concept. A change maker is any person who denounces violence against women and commits to talk to ten other people to end violence in the next five years. We Can Campaign is built on the premise that violence against women is acquired and that men and women can change their attitudes towards accepting violence against women as a norm. It takes cognizant that prevention of violence is fundamental as there are some effects of violence that are irreversible. Through a one on one dialogue, individuals are sensitized to understand that violence is a vice that must be eradicated. In the last two years, the African Women’s Development and Communication Network – FEMNET together with other stakeholders has spearheaded the campaign activities in Kenya. We Can Campaign has a target of recruiting 1.3 million Changemakers and 13 million Kenyans by 2012, the campaign has developed a database of Changemakers and alliance members at a regional and national level. The National Changemakers conference will bring together at least 20 Changemakers from each of the five regions in a learning and sharing forum.

For more information send an email to mentomen@femnet.or.ke