Malawi Government. Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare

Transcription

1 Malawi Government Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Facilitated by: Gender Mainstreaming Training Workshop Report 6 10 October 2014 Crossroads Hotel, Lilongwe 1

2 Introduction This is a report of a Gender Mainstreaming training workshop of key government personnel and stakeholders from development partners and civil society organisations in Malawi which took place at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe, Malawi from 6 th -10 th October A total of 38 participants attended the workshop and these included 23 women and 15 men. Annex A.1 shows the list of participants. The training was conducted at a time when Malawi had just finalised the review of its National Gender Policy which is about to be validated by stakeholders before it is formally submitted to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC). This was therefore an opportune time for the country to harmonise the provisions of the SADC Gender Protocol with the Policy Priority Areas of the Policy. Objectives The main objective of the training workshop was to harmonise the National Gender Policy to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. The specific objectives of the workshop were as follows: To understand the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and other gender instruments at regional and international levels. To strengthen participants understanding of the key gender planning concepts and development in the context of Malawi To strengthen participant s skills and knowledge of gender budgeting, gender mainstreaming and the SADC Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit. To further develop relevant sections of the Action Plan of the National Gender Policy in reference to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. To validate baseline data and set realistic targets and timeframes for activities proposed in the Action Plan of the National Gender Policy. Develop cost estimates of the activities in the Action Plan of the National Gender Policy To present the 2014 barometer findings and linkages with the alignment and costing exercise. Expected Outcomes Below are some of the key outcomes that are expected to be realized at the country level. Accelerated momentum towards the realization of the SADC Gender Protocol targets and Millennium Development Goal 3 as a result of a well thought through and costed Action Plan for the National Gender Policy. Enhanced capacity of participants to identify gender inequalities and the measures to address the inequalities. 2

3 Strengthened capacity of participants around gender responsive budgeting and motivating at budget hearing sessions. Sharing of best practices on gender mainstreaming at a policy level. Methodology The workshop was facilitated by Gender Links and a national consultant, Mr Henry Sapuwa using the SADC Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit and was based on the programme attached as Annex A.2. As can be observed from the programme, the workshop was delivered through a mixture of presentations, case studies, exercises, group works and plenary sessions. 3

4 Programme Content Below is a summary of the daily proceedings of the training workshop Day One Self-Introductions The Director of Ceremonies, Joseph Kazima, asked the participants to introduce themselves by mentioning their names, organizations they were representing and their positions. Opening Speeches In providing the background to the workshop and its objectives, the Director of the SADC Gender Unit, Magdalene Mathiba-Madibela pointed out the need for all relevant gender policies to be costed and harmonized to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. She also underlined that, for Malawi, the workshop was very timely since the National Gender Policy had just been revised which provided an opportunity for the country to harmonise the priority areas of the policy with the provisions of the SADC protocol to ensure the achievement of its objectives and targets at the country level. This was echoed by the representative of the Resident Representative of UN women who mentioned that the workshop was an opportunity to contextualize the implementation of the National Gender Policy within the Post 2015 Agenda especially coming at a time when Malawi had just submitted her Beijing +20 Report and also in view of the processes surrounding the Post 2015 Agenda. Furthermore, since Malawi is not going to achieve the MDG 3 and other goals most of which have gender connotations, she asked participants to take the workshop as an opportunity for reflection and re-strategizing to ensure better outcomes post MDGs. The director also indicated that the workshop was a good platform for enhancing capacity for stakeholders in gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting. In his opening speech, the Director of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Mr Peter Msefula reaffirmed the government s commitment in ensuring that the objectives of gender equality and women empowerment as outlined both in the Protocol and the policy are achieved.he called on the participants to be committed and actively participate in all the sessions in order to achieve the expected outputs of the workshop. He then thanked the SADC secretariat for the technical and financial support towards the workshop. Case studies of aligning national policies, action plans, linkages with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and monitoring tools The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development This session commenced with an overview of the SADC Gender Protocol as an instrument that guides the region in integration of gender into its development agenda. The objectives of the Protocol and its substantive provisions were discussed. The presentation then underlined the need for the protocol to have key targets and time frames which should be localized through the harmonization process to a costed action plan of the National Gender Policy. Experiences of other countries that have already embarked on this process were shared. In Namibia, for example, the process has been accorded high priority with 4

5 stakeholder consensus being built around systems strengthening for sustainability. Emphasis has been put on capacity building at different levels across sectors. Multisector workshops have been held to improve coordination. Implementation is also being supported by gender focal points, the National Gender Responsive budgeting criteria and guidelines, placement of gender experts in ministries and training and capacity building by the responsible Ministry. The Gender Mainstreaming Tool Kit The workshop was delivered using a training manual adapted from the SADC Gender Mainstreaming Tool Kit. The Tool Kit was designed to facilitate the development of capacity at technical and policy levels. It was also designed to: facilitate integration of gender in all SADC policies, projects and activities at both Secretariat and Member States; ensure that the working environment is gender responsive and guarantees equal opportunities and treatment to both women and men and; support capacity building efforts on gender mainstreaming in SADC member states and the secretariat. Key Gender Concepts This session focused on key gender concepts and was delivered through an interactive session where participants discussed some of the terms that are used identified with men and women in terms of their expected roles, personality and/or behaviors. Through the discussions, it was concluded that most of these are stereotypes that are constructed by societies and can, in time, be deconstructed. In conclusion, it was summarized that: Stereotyping pushes women into silos in which they are expected to do only certain things and not others Society mostly expects women to engage in care work which is often not remunerated There is need to unlock the potential of all gender groups, including women to ensure increased productivity of any economy There is also need to focus on policies that deal with structural discrimination Key National and International Instruments for Gender Equality This presentation laid a good back-drop since one of the key objectives of the workshop was to harmonize the national policy to the SADC protocol. The presentation discussed in detail the National Gender Policy and provided an overview of the CEDAW; MDGs; and the SDGs, highlighting the common key principles across these instruments. These principles were in respect to the following: Gender equality which refers to a situation where women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights, and in which actions taken at the individual, relationship, community and societal level result in this equality being realized. Women s rights are integral to human rights. Women are entitled to bodily, emotional and psychological integrity; to making decisions over their own bodies, including their sexual and reproductive rights. Women s equal participation in decision-making in the private and public spheres is vital to the realization of their rights. 5

6 Economic empowerment of women is a prerequisite to attainment of gender equality. Women s ability to exercise voice and strategic forms of control over their lives is linked to being able to generate regular and independent sources of income. Efforts to promote women s empowerment need to do more than give individual women economic or political opportunities. They need to tackle deeper-rooted structural constraints that perpetuate inequalities. Affirmative action or positive discrimination, enshrined in the Constitutions of many countries, is a legitimate short- term strategy for redressing gender imbalances that should not result in tokenism or complacency. Women are not homogeneous and differ according to such factors as race, disability, class, culture, religion, sexual orientation and geographic location. Movement building, of the women s and men s sectors, is vital for achieving gender equality. Fostering public engagement and debate is essential to making policies that work for women s empowerment and gender equality. Customary, cultural and religious practices are subject to the right to equality. Religious and cultural rights that contradict, undermine or have a negative effect on the attainment of gender equality must be outlawed and eliminated. Changing attitudes and values is as important to bringing about women s empowerment as changing women s material circumstances and political opportunities. There was also a presentation on the Malawi Gender Equality Act of 2013 which was delivered through a debate in which participants argued for and against amendment of the Act. The objective of this presentation was to enhance the participants understanding of the Act. Day Two Planning Frameworks The day started with a participatory group exercise on Planning Frameworks focusing on targets, baselines, indicators and actions. Participants were asked to categorize different cards into their appropriate groups of Targets, baselines, indicators and actions. Through a discussion that followed, participants were able to get a conceptual understanding of targets, baselines, indicators and actions. The discussion was concluded with a summary that pointed out that the SADC Protocol has 28 indicators that need to be tracked for progress at both national and regional levels. It was pointed out that current initiatives to track this progress are guided by the SADC Gender Development Index (SGDI), Citizen Scorecard (CSC), and the SADC Gender Barometer. It was however indicated that, unlike the MDGs, the Post 2015 Agenda has included more gender indicators in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, under Goal 5) with special recognition of such issues as: Ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls in public and private spaces Eliminating all harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations. 6

7 Ensuring equal access to quality education and eliminate gender disparities at all levels of education and training. Ensuring women s equal access to full and productive employment and decent work, and equal pay for work of equal value. Reducing and redistributing unpaid care and domestic work through shared responsibility. Ensuring women s equal access to, control and ownership of assets and natural and other productive resources, as well as non-discriminatory access to essential services and infrastructure, including financial services and ICT. Ensuring full, equal and effective participation and leadership of women at all levels of decision-making in the public and private spheres. Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the ICPD. Promoting the availability of gender disaggregated data to improve gender equality policies, including gender responsive budgeting Fully engaging men and boys in efforts to promote and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Gender Responsive Budgeting Gender Responsive Budgeting was defined as a budget that goes beyond addressing the issues of males or females but also considers location, age, ethnicity, class etc. It is therefore not a separate budget for women. It was illustrated as the flipside of gender mainstreaming using the Rhonda model (Rhonda s Cake indicated below) which shows that most money for gender work can be identified within the government s mainstream budgets. Rhonda Sharp s cake on gender budgeting Specifically identified genderbased expenditures:-typically a very small proportion of the budget Equal employment opportunity expenditure (for example, re writing job descriptions to reflect equal employment opportunity principles):-a very small percentage as well. The mainstream budget by government departments and ministries. This should be assessed for gender impact. For example, does the education budget, less the above two considerations, reflect gender equity objectives? Are boys and girls equally represented in all categories of education? What proportion of the education budget goes towards educare and adult literacy? This assessment is critical for policy reform because the mainstream budget in Malawi constitutes the biggest proportion of government expenditure. It was however mentioned that while resources for gender need to be identified within the mainstream budget, there is still a strong case to be argued for increased 7

8 allocations to the Ministry of Gender to support coordination activities, oversight, supervision, monitoring and capacity building, among others. Key Gender Planning Concepts Participants were asked to discuss Strategic Gender Needs (SGN) and Practical Gender Needs (PGN) by isolating the SGN and PGN from case studies. This was followed up by another interactive session where the participants were organized into three groups. The first two groups discussed and presented their understanding of Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD). The third group was composed of officers from the Ministry of Gender who validated the two presentations. WID was discussed as an approach focusing on issues affecting women only, considering them as a homogenous group leading to interventions and projects that are specifically targeted towards women. GAD was discussed as an approach aimed at promoting women in relation to other social groups as informed by a gender analysis. This approach takes into account the prioritized Strategic and Practical Gender Needs of both women and men. Another key presentation was on Gender Mainstreaming. The facilitator organized the participants into groups to analyze a case study, isolate policy issues and then define terms and concepts related to gender mainstreaming. It was concluded that gender mainstreaming is about considering the different gender issues that affect different gender groups throughout the program cycle. It requires a clear understanding of gender concerns and figuring out how to address them. Day Three Mock Budget Debates Participants were organized into four sector groups of Health, Agriculture, Governance and Gender. They were expected to discuss and develop a case for increased resource allocation towards gender activities within their sectors by the Treasury. The objective of the activity was to enhance the capacity of sectors in resource mobilization for gender activities. During the mock presentations, it was observed that sectors do not adequately prepare for budget hearings and therefore have weak arguments to convince Treasury for increased resource allocation for gender activities. Participants were then advised to ensure that they are able to establish a strong case, with enough evidence to argue for the required resources. It was also agreed that there is need to clearly highlight the contribution of the sector gender activities towards national development goals within the sector mandate and not to assume that Treasury is already aware of this. Action Planning and Costing A draft harmonization template based on the Implementation Plan of the National Gender Policy was circulated to the four sector groups to review the objectives, strategies/actions, establish baselines and targets and timeframes and get them harmonized to the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. The groups were also expected to estimate the cost of the strategies/actions and scrutinize the national 2014/15 Output-Based Budget documents from various ministries to identify 8

9 potential existing resources for gender mainstreaming using the concept of Rhonda s Cake. This activity took the whole day. Day Four Plenary Groups continued with the harmonization, action planning and costing exercise until 12:00 noon when plenary session commenced. The groups presented their work for comments and further inputs from the rest of the participants for adoption into the synthesized Draft National Gender Action Plan. The following issues were however raised during the plenary: It was not easy to exactly identify most of the harmonized actions with the available indicators. Identification of the available resources within the mainstream budget was not easy because of differences in phrasing of the actions between the Output Based Budget documents, the policy and the protocol. There is need to streamline the column of responsibility to ensure accountability among stakeholders The absence of participants from other key ministries affected the finalization of the action plans Harmonization of some areas needed more consideration as they were inadequately tackled in the policy s action plan such as Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights; Gender Justice; and Gender and the Media, Information and technology. In concluding this session, participants talked of the need for the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare to ensure that the excitement and momentum generated at the workshop is sustained by, among others: Continuously building the capacity of personnel in key sectors and organizations so that they are able to effectively champion for gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting. Exploring opportunities for cross-learning between Malawi and other countries Strengthening the relevant systems for oversight, monitoring and supervision within the secretariat of the National Gender Machinery. Expediting the finalization of the National Gender Policy and its harmonized and costed Action Plan and ensure its implementation Presentation of Certificates of Participation and Closing On the last day, the Director of Gender Affairs, Mr. Peter Msefula presented certificates of participation to the participants and this was followed by closing remarks by the SADC Secretariat and the Ministry. The Director of SADC Gender Unit, Magdeline Mathiba-Madibela thanked the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare for organizing the workshop to harmonize the National Gender Policy with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and to develop and cost the Action Plan 1. She pledged her unit s commitment to the whole process. She observed that objectives of the workshop had all been achieved and commended the participants for their commitment and 1 See annex 3 9

10 hard work and urged them to continue their collaboration with the Ministry. She expressed hope that the finalization of the action plan would be done in good time. The Director of Gender Affairs, Mr. Peter Msefula applauded the commitment of the participants to the workshop demonstrated by their impressive patronage throughout its duration. He promised the stakeholders of the Ministry s continued leadership to ensure that the process is duly concluded and implementation commences. He called for continued support from the participants to sustain the momentum generated at the workshop to ensure the achievement of gender equality. He thanked the facilitators for a job well done in guiding the proceedings of the workshop. He then wished a safe trip for the facilitation team as they prepared to travel back to Botswana. Next Steps and Closure Gender Links and the National Consultant will further refine the draft harmonized National Gender Action Plan and submit a final draft to the Ministry of Gender Children, Disability and Social Welfare or adoption. The Ministry will then take the lead in bilateral dialogue with other sectors to ensure that any existing gaps are addressed. The Ministry will also lead the sector in getting the policy approved by the Office of the President and Cabinet before it is launched. 10

11 ANNEXES Annex A.1: List of Participants No. NAME ORGANISATION TELEPHONE NUMBER 1 Henry Sapuwa National Consultant sapuwahk@gmail.com 2 Sifiso Dube Gender Links alliance@genderlinks.org.za 3 Emma Kaliya SADC Alliance/NGO-GCN emmakaliya@yahoo.co.uk 4 Colleen Lowe Morna Gender Links ceo@genderlinks.org.za 5 Margaret Beatrice Lwanda Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and margielwanda@yahoo.com Water Development 6 Pamela Mkwamba UN women Pamela.mkwamba@unwomen.org 7 Joseph Kazima Ministry of Gender, Children, / jkazima@gmail.com Regina Kumukumu Ministry of Gender, Children, regkumukumu@gmail.com 9 Alice Naomi Mkandawire Ministry of Gender, Children, mkandawireana@yahoo.co.uk 10 Ronald Edward Phiri Ministry of Gender, Children, ronaldphiri8@gmail.com 11 Ezinala Zenengeya Ministry of Gender, Children, ezinalazenengeya@yahoo.com 12 Peter Msefula Ministry of Gender, Children, msefulapeter@yahoo.com 13 Ada Kasopa Ministry of Justice, Legal Aid thandisupa@gmail.com Department 14 Mercy Makhambera Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre 15 Victor Maulidi NGO Gender Coordination Network vic.maulidi@gmail.com 16 Gift Munkhondya Ministry of Finance watupa2000@yahoo.co.uk 11

12 17 Professor Maureen Leah Prime Health Consulting & Services Chirwa 18 Viginia Lozo Centre for Alternatives for Victimized women and Children (CAVWOC) 19 Koyi Nyirongo Akaf Foundation Bertha Magomero Fracher Kalilombe Ministry of Gender, Children, Bruce Phiri Prime Health Consultancy & Services Richard Mthunzi NGO GCN Negeyazo Jere UN Women Florence Mgaye Ministry of Gender, Children, Innocent Hauya Ministry of Gender, Children, Amon Lukhele Outreach Scout Foundation Chikondi Chabvuta Action Aid Malawi Christopher Jimu The Nation Newspaper 30 M. White Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Water Development 31 Mary Mulombe Phiri Reproductive Health Unit, MoH Atuweni Kotamo Department of Human Resources, Management and Development 33 Justin Hamela Ministry of Gender, Children, Lily Tiwonge Mwandira UN Women Purity Innocencia Women s Legal Resource Centre puricencia@gmail.com Kasambara 36 Dr Margaret Wazakili Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare magwaz@gmail.com 12

13 37 Magdeline Madibela SADC Secretariat Mosetsanamotho SADC Secretariat mmogawane@sadc.int Mogawane 13

14 Annex A.2: Programme Malawi Alignment and Harmonisation of a Costed National Gender Action Plan with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development Lilongwe - 6 to 10 October 2014 TIME ACTIVITY WHO MATERIALS Monday 6 October 08h00 08h30 Registration ALL SADC Gender and Development Protocol Gender Links DVD DVD Introductions and Objectives 08h30 08h45 Ice breaker Facilitator Introductions Facilitator 08h45 09h00 Background and workshop objectives SADC GU Concept note Official Opening Ceremony and the Launch of the 2014 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer : Director of Ceremony: P.S. Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare; Dr Mary Shawa 09h00-09h15 Remarks by UN Women Alice Shackleford UN Women Representative 09h15-09h45 Remarks by SADC Secretariat SADC GU 09h45 10h00 The Southern Africa Gender Protocol Emma Kaliya Alliance Pamphlet Alliance: Objectives and achievements 10h00 10h15 Presentation of 2014 barometer findings CLM Power point 10h15 10h45 10h45 11h00 Keynote Speech by Honourable Patricia Kaliati, Minister of Gender and Child Welfare and Lauch of the 2014 Regional Barometer. TEA Honourable Minister of Gender, Patricia Kaliati 2014 barometer Framework, Case studies of aligning national policies, action plans, linkages with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and monitoring tools 11h00-11h30 Presentation of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development Henry Sapuwa SADC Gender Protocol 11h30-12h00 SADC Gender Mainstreaming toolkit Magdaline Madibela 12h00-12h30 Conceptual framework and linkages with the Protocol on Gender and Development, barometer: Research, action planning, GRB and capacity CLM Process guide 14

15 building 12h30-13h00 Overview of best practices from CLM Power point Namibia, Zambia, Seychelles, DRC, Mozambique. 13H00 14H00 LUNCH All Capacity building linked to action planning Key gender concepts Participants 14h00 15h00 Sex, gender, gender stereotypes. GL/Henry Sapuwa Manual, SADC Gender Mainstreaming toolkit Key international instruments 15h00-15h30 CEDAW,, MDG 3, SDG 5, Malawi Henry Sapuwa Manual Gender Equality Act, Malawi National Gender Policy 15h30 15h45 TEA BREAK 15h45 16h00 Exercise: Targets, Indicators, Baselines CLM /SD Post 2015 matrix Key gender planning concepts 16h00 16h15 Practical and Strategic Gender Needs Participants Manual Gender mainstreaming 16h15 16h30 Exercise: Case study (Women in Manual decision making) 16h30 17h00 Gender disaggregated data Exercises from Malawi Barometer All 2013 Malawi barometer Home work: SADC Gender Manual Tuesday 7 October Budgeting and planning Gender Responsive Budgeting 08h30 10h00 Presentation on Gender Responsive GL Budgeting TEA BREAK 10h00 10h30 Gender Budgeting Exercises: Group work Group work National budgets and budget statements Report back on group exercise 13h00 14h00 Lunch Gender Planning 14h00 14h30 Practical and strategic gender needs GL 14h30 16h00 Gender mainstreaming Group work National budgets and budget statements 16h00-16h30 TEA BREAK 16h30 17h00 Report back on group exercise Wednesday 8 October Action planning and costing: Policy alignment, logframe and budgeting 08h30 10h30 Interrogating budgets based on the post Group work Detailed budgets 2015 matrix 10h30 10h45 Tea 10h45 13h00 Action planning Lobbying for resources, mock Facilitators, Groups Process planning framework, logframe 15

16 hearings 13h00 14h00 LUNCH 14h00 16h00 Action planning Lobbying for resources, mock Facilitators, Groups Process planning framework hearings 16h00 17h00 Report back and tea Thursday 9 October Making the case for resources 08h30-10h30 Mock budget presentations All Log frame 10h30-11h00 TEA 11h00-13h00 Mock budget presentations All 13h00 14h00 Lunch Report back sessions, way forward and awarding of certificates 14h00 15h00 Presentation of draft action plan GL/ Henry Sapuwa 15h00 15h30 Presentation of final process plan GL/ Henry Sapuwa 15h30 16h00 Tea 16h00 16h30 Way forward GL, SADC GU 16h30 17h30 Presentation of certificates Ministry of Gender, SADC GU 17h30 Closure 16