Department of Women convenes consultative forum for Gender Focal Points on strengthening the National Gender Machinery
In on-going efforts to strengthen the National Gender Machinery, The Department of Women, led by Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Women, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, will meet with Gender Focal Points in national, provincial and local government to evaluate the capacity and effectiveness of the National Gender Machinery.
The National Gender Machinery encompasses all structures and institutions of the State, Civil Society, and the private sector that have the common goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The Department of Women held a successful Consultative Forum with components of the National Gender Machinery on 25 January 2019 in Pretoria. Participation in the Forum was inclusive of government, academia, parliament, youth organisations, the private sector, independent bodies, Gender Advisory Committee, gender experts and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
The Consultative Forum with Gender Focal Points seeks to further evaluate the capacity of South Africa’s institutional mechanisms for gender equality to meet its legislative as well as international commitments.
On the same day, The Gender Advisory Committee (GAC) will be meeting to continue with its work of doing a 25-year review on the advancements made towards attaining gender equality and empowerment of women.
These engagements will build towards a Diagnostic Review Report that gives an outline of the programming, organisational efficiency, and resource needs of various NGM structures. Evaluating the country’s National Gender Machinery will provide vital statistics to form part of the National Report to be tabled at the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63), to be held in New York in March 2019.
The Consultative Forum of Gender Focal Points will be addressed by Minister Bathabile Dlamini, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Baleka Mbete; the Deputy-Minister for Public Service and Administration, Dr. Chana Pilane-Majake; amongst others.
Enquiries:
Shalen Gajadhar
Cell: 060 979 4235
E-mail: halen.gajadhar@women.gov.za
