A regional framework that will serve as a guide on mainstreaming gender into the regional peace and security systems and processes has been developed in Southern Africa.
The Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) told the ongoing meeting of senior officials responsible for Gender and Women Affairs in the region that the strategy will be launched at the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled for August 17-18 in Windhoek, Namibia.
The SADC Regional Strategy on Women, Peace and Security (2018-2022) aims to address challenges experienced by women and children by ensuring that they fully participate in peace and security activities, programs and projects in the region.
The strategy was first presented to senior officials at their meeting in Ezulwini, the Kingdom of Eswatini in 2017 and was further presented to the Ministerial Council of the organization for approval. The development of the strategy involved various stakeholders including gender and security experts from all the SADC member-states.
The strategy and its accompanying action plan are to be implemented from 2018-2022 and member-states have been urged to develop national action plans and mobilize resources to implement proposed activities at the national level.
The United Nations had earlier commended governments in Southern Africa for making significant progress towards promoting gender equality and equity in the region.
The world body, however, stressed the need to maintain the momentum and push forward the regional agenda on Women and Gender matters, particularly on issues concerning peace and security.
