1.
These
briefs
are
made
possible
through
the
generous
support
of
Anonymous
and
the
Ford
Foundation.
The
Center
for
Women’s
Global
Leadership
is
the
global
coordinator
of
the
Post
2015
Women’s
Coalition.
For
more
information,
please
contact
info@post2015women.com.
Africa
CSO
Review
Meeting
on
Beijing+20
UN
ECONOMIC
COMMISSION
FOR
AFRICA
IN
ADDIS
ABABA,
ETHIOPIA
14-­‐16
November
2014
The
African
Women’s
Development
and
Communication
Network
(FEMNET)
in
consultation
with
its
CSO
task
force
on
Beijing+201
organized
a
civil
society
meeting
ahead
of
the
9th
Inter-­‐governmental
Regional
Conference
on
Women
(Beijing+20)
from
14-­‐16,
November
2014.
This
meeting
brought
together
190
representatives
of
diverse
group
of
CSOs
working
on
gender
equality,
women’s
rights
and
women’s
empowerment.
The
objectives
of
this
meeting
were
to
review
progress
made
in
the
last
20
years
since
the
adoption
of
the
Beijing
(BPfA),
validate
the
draft
regional
CSOs
shadow
report
on
Beijing+20,
prepare
and
agree
on
the
CSOs
position
statement
on
Beijing+20
that
will
inform
lobbying
and
advocacy
with
governments
during
the
Ninth
Inter-­‐governmental
Regional
Conference
on
Women
(Beijing+20)
and
CSW
59,
develop
strategies
for
African
women’s
involvement
and
concrete
inputs
into
the
Financing
for
Development
(FfD)
discussions,
and
strengthen
participants’
advocacy
and
lobbying
skills
and
strategies.
The
CSO
meeting
had
three
major
components
which
included
CSOs
perspective
on
implementation
of
Beijing
+20
and
how
Beijing
can
be
an
effective
tool
to
advance
the
agenda
of
women’s
rights,
financing
for
Sustainable
Development
(FfD),
and
practical
training
in
advocacy
and
lobbying
on
CSW.
These
components
culminated
in
a
holistic
dialog
on
key
structural
discussions
of
how
women’s
rights
and
gender
equality
will
be
integrated
into
the
relevant
processes
through
a
feminist
lens
for
the
African
continent.
In
terms
of
the
Post
2015
development
agenda,
discussions
revolved
around
the
need
to
change
the
narrative
and
dialogue
that
has
remained
the
same.
There
must
be
active
engagement
from
African
CSOs
at
the
global
level
and
African
voices
should
be
included
in
the
discussions.
There
is
also
a
need
to
advocate
African
experts
who
are
playing
a
prominent
role
in
the
development
of
the
sustainable
agenda
process
such
as
the
President
of
the
UNGA,
co-­‐facilitator
of
the
negotiations
and
the
UNSG
special
advisor
on
Post
2015.
In
this
regard,
the
challenges
include
the
increasing
gap
and
disconnect
among
capital
and
NY
mission
representatives
and
the
continuous
push
of
regressive
language
on
women’s
rights
and
gender
equality
in
global
negotiations.
Currently,
a
high
level
committee,
1
CSO
task
force
is
composed
of
WiLDAF–West
Africa,
FAS,
AAWORD,
EASSI,
Servitas-­‐Cameroon,
Akina
Mama
wa
Africa
(AMwA),
YWCA,
Young
Women
Leadership
Institute,
Girls
Child
Network,
ACORD,
Ipas
Africa
Alliance,
Groots
Kenya,
Akili
Dada,
International
Women’s
Health
Coalition,
Equality
Now
and
Solidarity
for
African
Women
Rights
Coalition
(SOAWR).

2. 2
These
briefs
are
made
possible
through
the
generous
support
of
Anonymous
and
the
Ford
Foundation.
The
Center
for
Women’s
Global
Leadership
is
the
global
coordinator
of
the
Post
2015
Women’s
Coalition.
For
more
information,
please
contact
info@post2015women.com.
composed
of
country
representatives
at
the
sub-­‐regional
level,
has
been
appointed
to
develop
a
common
document
that
will
assist
delegates
in
the
Post
2015
intergovernmental
negotiations
informed
by
the
Common
African
Position
(CAP).
These
countries
are
Liberia,
Guinea,
Ethiopia,
Mauritius,
South
Africa,
Namibia,
Chad,
DRC,
and
Mauritania.
This
presents
a
great
opportunity
for
engagement
for
African
CSOs
to
inform
and
contribute
to
the
discussions.
Regarding
the
Financing
for
Development
(FfD)
process,
challenges
and
opportunities
from
a
feminist
and
women’s
rights
perspective
were
discussed
with
the
aim
of
developing
strategies
for
African
women’s
involvement
and
inputs.
The
main
elements
of
the
discussion
focused
on
laying
the
background
on
past
and
present
discussions
from
Monterrey
and
Doha
to
the
upcoming
Addis
Ababa
financing
for
development.
It
was
pointed
out
that
both
the
Monterrey
Consensus
and
Doha
Declaration
are
documents
which
reflect
more
on
the
intentions
of
Member
States
rather
than
concrete
actions.
In
addition,
there
is
a
strong
South-­‐North
divide
in
these
discussions
where
western
countries
have
continually
refused
to
open
up
key
financing
institutions
for
Southern
countries.
For
instance,
in
the
upcoming
FfD
in
Addis
Ababa
the
North
countries
want
to
focus
on
new
opportunities
and
sources
of
funding
while
the
South
are
more
focused
on
discussing
and
tackling
the
challenges
in
the
implementation
of
the
FfD
so
far.
Analysis
of
funding
for
women’s
rights
organizing
has
shown
mixed
picture
in
the
2012
review
on
Financing
for
Gender
Equality
and
the
Empowerment
of
women
at
the
Commission
on
the
Status
of
Women.
In
addition
AWID’s
research,
“Where
is
the
money?”
reviewed
the
overall
funding
of
740
women’s
organizations’
and
uncovered
that
it
was
equal
to
the
overall
budgets
of
big
international
organizations
such
as
Greenpeace
and
World
Vision.
Additionally,
it
was
also
pointed
out
that
the
report
submitted
by
the
International
Committee
of
Experts
on
Sustainable
Development
Financing
lacked
a
gender
analysis.
This
shows
that
there
is
a
need
to
engage
in
discussions
around
financing
to
ensure
actions
towards
women’s
rights
and
gender
equality
are
implemented.
Financing
issues
and
discussions
have
various
implications
on
gender
equality,
women’s
rights
and
women’s
empowerment.
African
governments’
focus
on
economic
growth
and
incentives
to
foreign
direct
investors
actually
impacts
the
tax
base
as
nationals,
especially
poor
women,
are
taxed
heavily
which
reduces
domestic
resource
mobilization.
For
instance,
the
current
Ebola
crisis
has
affected
poor
women
who
end
up
taking
care
of
their
family
and
communities
in
the
absence
of
public
services.
During
this
discussion,
most
participants
expressed
concerns
on
not
being
in
the
loop
as
well
as
not
having
the
relevant
expertise
for
substantive
engagement.
However,
it
was
pointed
out
that
financial
expertise
is
not
that
much
needed
and
thinking
that
it
is
needed
is
tantamount
to
stereotypes
that
limit
women
to
micro
financing
and
primary
education.
In
this
regard,
the
need
for
collaborating
and
creating
synergies,
especially
with
those
that
are
focusing
on
this
area,
and
identifying
opportunities
for
engagement
was
emphasized.
In
the
lead
up
to
the
Addis
Ababa
FfD
conference,
there
will
be
three
substantive
sessions:
led
by
Norway
and
Nigeria
from
November
to
January
2015.
There
will
also
be
a
NGO
hearing
in
March
or
April
2015.
In
addition,
there
are
various
drafting
sessions
that
will
take
place
from
February
2015
to
June
2015.
Currently,
the
Women’s
Working
Group
on
FFD
has
been
reactivated
and
is
starting

3. 3
These
briefs
are
made
possible
through
the
generous
support
of
Anonymous
and
the
Ford
Foundation.
The
Center
for
Women’s
Global
Leadership
is
the
global
coordinator
of
the
Post
2015
Women’s
Coalition.
For
more
information,
please
contact
info@post2015women.com.
various
advocacy
work
on
the
issue.
Those
interested
in
joining
can
send
emails
to
wwgonffd@gmail.com.
More
information
on
this
initiative
will
be
available
on
the
website
www.wwgonffd.org.
There
is
also
another
listserv
–
Global
social
economy
mailing
list
where
those
interested
can
sign
up
as
well.
The
last
day
of
the
meeting
was
dedicated
to
a
practical
training
in
advocacy
and
lobbying
on
CSW
and
Beijing+20
Review.
The
presentations
around
these
included
briefings
of
the
role
of
the
NGO
CSW
NY;
the
CSW
bureau
and
how
it
works;
the
use
of
agreed
upon
language
for
advocacy
purposes,
how
to
lobby
government
delegates
etc…
Lastly,
the
CSO
position
statement
was
opened
up
for
comments
from
participants.
Participants
actively
contributed
to
the
draft
prepared
by
the
organizers.
However,
it
was
evident
that
there
are
still
some
diverse
views
and
understandings
on
certain
issues,
necessitating
the
need
to
also
focus
on
targeted
advocacy
efforts
towards
civil
society
members
itself.
But
at
the
end,
a
decision
was
reached
with
the
aim
of
ensuring
the
commitments
made
in
the
BDPfA
and
other
international
and
regional
commitments
on
rights
of
women
in
recognition
of
women
in
all
their
diversities.
Access
the
full
Africa
CSO
position
statement
at:
http://femnet.co/index.php/en/beijing-­‐plus-­‐20/item/326-­‐africa-­‐cso-­‐position-­‐statement
Access
the
press
release:
Governments
must
re-­‐dedicate
themselves
to
women
and
girls'
rights
commitments
http://femnet.co/index.php/en/press/item/327-­‐governments-­‐must-­‐re-­‐dedicate-­‐to-­‐womens-­‐girls-­‐
rights-­‐commitments