The African Union’s gender policy has been officially adopted and forms the basis of a coherent strategy for the achievement of gender equality and the advancement of women on the continent. Its operational Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade: 2010-2020 aims to advance gender equality by accelerating the implementation of the Dakar, Beijing, and the African Union Assembly Decisions on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development was signed in 2008 and is a regional instrument for achieving the goal of gender equality established in the African Union’s Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. SADC women’s organisations have gone further to develop a barometer that will enable effective monitoring and evaluation of the progress on implementation in the region.

This seminar will share information on the African Union’s Gender Policy and Roadmap and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, teasing out their implications for the regional economic communities. It will also provide an understanding of how these instruments specifically address gender, peace building and peacekeeping at continental, regional and national levels. The seminar is indicative of the urgency felt by state and non-state actors to address gender inequality and discrimination, both in the institutional environments and in terms of service delivery. The urgency is especially relevant in light of the 30 years that have elapsed since the adoption of United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1979 and the tenth anniversary of UN SCR 1325.