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ECA, AU Hold Joint Gender Meeting in Senegal Addis Ababa,
11 October (ECA) - Over 30 African Ministers of Gender and Women's Affairs gather
Wednesday in Dakar, Senegal, for a meeting of one of Africa's key groupings on
women's affairs. The joint meeting of the Economic Commission for Africa's
Committee on Women and Development (CWD) and the African Union (AU) will be opened
by Senegalese President Aboulaye Wade. Speakers will include Senegal's
Minister for Families, Mme Aïda Mbodj, ECA's Deputy Executive Secretary Josephine
Ouedraogo, and AU Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare. The CWD, a group of experts
that advises the ECA on gender-related issues, was first established in 1977 in
Nouakchott, Mauritania, to promote the exchange of experiences and strengthen
solidarity among African women. Its core objective is advocacy for gender-sensitive
policies and institutional changes at all levels. In January 2005, at the
Beijing+10 conference (a decade after the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted
on gender issues), Africa agreed on a common position to achieve gender equality
and the empowerment of women, based on a document known as the Outcome and Way
Forward. ECA and the AU have adopted a joint strategy to follow up on the
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of this document and the Solemn Declaration
on Gender and Development in Africa. The Dakar meeting will concentrate
on defining a common national approach to this strategy, renewing membership of
the CWD, and reviewing the work programme of ECA's gender division, the African
Centre for Gender and Development, for 2006/7. Issued by the ECA Communication
Team PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 58 26
Fax:
+251 11 551 0365
Email: ecainfo@uneca.org
Web: www.uneca.org | 
