Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

Summary of e-discussion facilitated by ActionAid International, United Kingdom
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Recommendation 3: transform schools and other institutions to be more
gender-sensitive
The Millennium Development Target for 2005 will be missed. This signals
that we cannot continue implementing development programs using the same
strategies as we have in the past few decades. Substantial efforts must be undertaken
to challenge the status quo and overhaul the system, whether it be education,
health, or trade. Supporting dysfunctional systems is not effective; let’s
change what doesn’t work.
Recommendation 4: recognize the impact of HIV/AIDS, conflict, and
globalization on women’s empowerment—with strategies such as adult
education and nonformal education
A number of key priorities emerging from today’s global context have to be
considered. Situations such as the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS infection and
deaths, conflicts, and violence undermine development efforts, making it difficult
to conduct “business as usual.” In addition, greater emphasis needs to be
placed on the importance of a high quality education, the intergenerational link
between women’s education (literacy) and children’s educational and health
outcomes, and the need for alternative learning modalities for AIDS orphans,
street children, dropouts, indigenous people, and other marginalized groups.
Recommendation 5: Clarify how the Millennium Development Goals
support other UN-led policy initiatives and whether the Goals supersede
previously agreed upon targets and policies
Discussants commented that the UN Millennium Project and corresponding
development goals should be better linked to other UN-led initiatives, such as
Education For All and the Fast Track Initiative. How does this report work in
conjunction with Commission on the Status of Women and the recommendations
issued from Beijing and the reviewing progress conferences? How can the
task force ensure that efforts will not be duplicated?
Participants pointed out that the necessary frameworks, recommendations,
and strategies are already there in detail. Concepts, ideas, and definitions were
spelled out in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990. The 2000 Dakar Framework for
Action lays out concrete goals, strategies, and roles and responsibilities for governments,
donors, and civil society organizations. More strategies and roles can
be found in the guidelines for poverty reduction strategy papers, in the Fast
Track Initiative, and so on.
Conclusions
The task force’s desire to collect civil society feedback on the report is encouraging.
The goal of this consultation was to elicit perspectives from civil society
organizations on the content of the report. For their part, civil society organizations
engaged in a lively three-week debate over the report. What is not