On 24th July 2022, the African Women Leaders Forum (AWLF), in collaboration with the International Centre for Peace, Human Rights and Development (IPHRD) successfully launched the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) Gender Barometer. The launch took place at the Annual Young Women’s Political Leadership Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme, “Centering ACDEG in African Young Women’s Agency and Leadership”.
The ACDEG Gender Barometer seeks to measure levels of implementation of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), the premier continental instrument on issues pertaining to governance. The barometer will seek to track ratification, domestication and implementation of ACDEG’s gender provisions. The barometer will additionally be used as an accountability and advocacy tool to push for greater engagement of women in governance.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Gender Barometer launch, Glanis Changachirere, the AWLF Regional Coordinator indicated that the need to assess the extent to which African Union member states have ratified, domesticated and implemented ACDEG as part of broader efforts to enhance democratic participation of young women, necessitated the development of the Gender Barometer. “In facilitating the development of the Gender Barometer, we took into account the existence of other instruments as well as other women’s rights organisations aiming to advance women’s civic and political rights. We also considered the need for continued assessment, advocacy and holding member states accountable while engaging with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the African Union organs on the ACDEG. The barometer builds on existing accountability tools while focussing on the ratification, domestication and implementation of ACDEG and its gender provisions by the African Union Member States.”
Delivering a keynote address at the official launch of the Gender Barometer, Esther Nyawira Kanyua, from the National Gender and Equality Commission, Kenya spoke on the importance of gender equality in governance processes. “The recognition of gender equality as a pillar in terms of achieving the 2030 Agenda brought about a shift in perspective by heads of state and governments in promoting gender equality. In Kenya, these international norms have played a key role in achieving equity and equality. I commend the AWLF and IPHRD for their peace building efforts and ensuring meaningful engagement with young women and men in policy making processes.”
A representative from the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), Faiza Mohammed congratulated the AWLF for facilitating the development of the Gender Barometer. “Congratulations to the AWLF team for developing the tool. It is a very important tool which is easy to follow and apply as it provides the necessary data for advocacy and holding states accountable. As SOAWR, with a membership of over 70 civil society organisations, our members will find this Gender Barometer useful.” She further called for the African Union and its agencies to ensure that all the articles of ACDEG are looked at from a gender perspective to assess how member states are integrating gender in electoral processes and representation at all levels.
Representing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Sara Tawfik Hamouda shared insights on the role of the APRM as a mechanism for promoting good governance on the continent and how the Gender Barometer could be integrated in the APRM governance reviews. “The overall advocacy and publicity of this Barometer can be done within the APRM platform and processes which include the annual Voluntary National Review (VNR), a vital method through which countries assess and present national progress made in implementing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.
The sentiments were echoed by Jawad Abuhard from UN Women East Africa office who stressed the need to utilise the Gender Barometer as an advocacy tool. “It works well as a tool to collect data among other available tools, in particular data on Sustainable Development Goal 5 which speaks to achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, together with its attendant sub-targets. With this barometer, we should be able to assess the implementation and domestication of the ACDEG, for instance, we have to assess whether there is a conducive environment for women’s participation, gender responsive election observation and monitoring guidelines, addressing Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWIP), building capacities of young women in politics and advancing policy formulation and reform among other enabling factors for increasing women’s participation.”
Ambassador Salah Hammad, from the African Governance Architecture (AGA) shared that the task of ensuring universal ratification, domestication and implementation of the ACDEG is bigger than the AU and hence the need for civil society organisations to complement by raising awareness and advocacy on the ACDEG. “While some member states sign the ACDEG, ratification is slow due to lack of awareness and follow up at the national level and hence the need for civil society organisations to raise awareness and carry out advocacy targeted at policy makers to ensure ratification, domestication, implementation and reporting by facilitating the generation and submission of shadow reports.” He further shared that member states are obliged to submit a report on the implementation of the ACDEG two years after submitting ratification instruments. Unfortunately, from a list of 36 ratifications, only two reports were submitted from Togo and Rwanda whilst a third one is expected from Zambia.”
He went on to invite the AWLF to the next AGA meeting and to develop a working partnership. “I wish to thank you for bringing us into this wonderful initiative. The African Union leadership, His Excellency the Chairperson and His Excellency the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security are quite informed about this initiative. I wish to extend to you an invitation to come and present the Gender Barometer at the next AGA platform so that all members may be informed. We hope to engage with you in a partnership that will ensure that the voices of women are heard and that all our members are more informed than they were”.
Hon. Emma Theophelous, Deputy Minister, Information, Communication and Technology for Namibia called for young women and women to challenge the status quo and create space for themselves to participate. She expressed her gratitude to AWLF for the energy and effort invested in developing the Gender Barometer. “If there is no seat at the table, bring your own chair. As a law maker, l am committed to ensure that young women and youth in particular are safer and protected from online violence. I would like to congratulate AWLF on the launch of the Gender Barometer which will feed into ensuring that young people are included and represented in public decision-making spaces.”