UNIFEM-EC Conference, Brussels
The event, which was organised with support from EEPA, bought together more than 160 gender equality advocates and development practitioners from both developing and developed countries and provided critical space for discussing the challenges and opportunities for gender equality that have been brought by the changing aid architecture.
Delegates, including representatives of the European Community institutions, the World Bank and the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, examined the implications of a shift in aid allocation from project to budget support on the promotion of gender equality and elaborated on the strategies required to firmly embed gender issues in these new aid trends.
Gender advocates from Latin America, Africa and Asia all voiced strong concerns that in spite of the plethora of political commitments and promises to promote gender equality, insufficient progress has been made on the ground. Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, spoke of a "crisis of implementation" and Dr Mohan Man Sainju, Vice-chairman of the Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal, remarked that "the cost of lack of implementation has not yet been appreciated".
The European Commission, which co-financed the event, was represented by Koos Richelle, Director-General of EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Bernard Petit, Director of the DG Development directorate with responsibility for development policy and sectoral questions and Dr Lieve Fransen, Head of the Human and Social Development Unit of DG Development. In their interventions, the representatives of the European Commission gave assurances that their institution would step up its efforts to ensure that political cmmitments would result in more effective action on the ground. However, on a more critical note, Glenys Kinnock MEP asked: "How can the EU's commitment to gender equality be taken seriously when there is not even one gender specialist working in the Commission's development directorate-general?"
Thougout the three day conference, presentations and discussions centred around the question of accountability. Various delegates stated that the move towards budget support could only be truly effective if decision-makers and power holders are accountable to all stakeholders, including to women and gender equality advocates. In order to achieve genuine accountability, it is imperative that appropriate checks and balances are in place. Moreover, citizens must be well informed of their entitlements and some form of sanction must be in place in case power holders fail to perform.
The conference was an important event for bringing together many of the actors and stakeholders in the new aid architecture and the promotion of gender equality and it provided an important opportunity for exchanging experiences. There was widespread agreement that if real progress is to be made, gender equality advocates from both the South and the North, donors and governments must all work together. As Noeleen Heyzer put it in her closing remarks, "One cannot clap with one hand only".
Gender advocates from Latin America, Africa and Asia all voiced strong concerns that in spite of the plethora of political commitments and promises to promote gender equality, insufficient progress has been made on the ground. Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, spoke of a "crisis of implementation" and Dr Mohan Man Sainju, Vice-chairman of the Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal, remarked that "the cost of lack of implementation has not yet been appreciated".
The European Commission, which co-financed the event, was represented by Koos Richelle, Director-General of EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Bernard Petit, Director of the DG Development directorate with responsibility for development policy and sectoral questions and Dr Lieve Fransen, Head of the Human and Social Development Unit of DG Development. In their interventions, the representatives of the European Commission gave assurances that their institution would step up its efforts to ensure that political cmmitments would result in more effective action on the ground. However, on a more critical note, Glenys Kinnock MEP asked: "How can the EU's commitment to gender equality be taken seriously when there is not even one gender specialist working in the Commission's development directorate-general?"
Thougout the three day conference, presentations and discussions centred around the question of accountability. Various delegates stated that the move towards budget support could only be truly effective if decision-makers and power holders are accountable to all stakeholders, including to women and gender equality advocates. In order to achieve genuine accountability, it is imperative that appropriate checks and balances are in place. Moreover, citizens must be well informed of their entitlements and some form of sanction must be in place in case power holders fail to perform.
The conference was an important event for bringing together many of the actors and stakeholders in the new aid architecture and the promotion of gender equality and it provided an important opportunity for exchanging experiences. There was widespread agreement that if real progress is to be made, gender equality advocates from both the South and the North, donors and governments must all work together. As Noeleen Heyzer put it in her closing remarks, "One cannot clap with one hand only".
- Click here to see the conference programme
- Click here to visit the conference website
