Mission Report, South Africa, 12 - 30 May 2001

Abstract

In 1998, the ECA provided technical support to the South African government in the process of developing and drafting a National Gender Policy. The final Draft Gender Policy i.e. "South Africa's National Framework for Empowerment and Gender Equality" adopted by Cabinet in December 2000. The Office of the Status of Women (OSW) in the Presidency now has the task to integrate the policy in all government processes and priorities at all levels. The most important outcome of the mission was that a gender training programme has designed and successfully implemented. All together, 19 OSW provincial coordinators and their supervisors were trained in basic concepts and tools of gender mainstreaming. As the initial training ha$ shown, the role of ECA/ACW will be very crucial in this programme especially in providing guidance and leadership in gender training and providing international experiences and case studies that the participants expressed an urgent need for. (See attached evaluation report).