Summary of the report

Abstract

The report of Western Africa Subregional Development Centre stated that the greater part of 1999, 2000 and up to November 2001, concentrated on promoting capacity building activities for some subregional groupings, member states and IGOs. The goal of the Centre is to enhance gender mainstreaming in the subregional social and economic development and integration by providing an enabling environment for the majority of the populace to share and contribute in the development processes. The Centre made some attempts in the sub-region to improve the status of gender and women's issues in development, but it continues to face enormous obstacles. The factors working against the success include Misunderstanding and misinterpretation of gender mainstreaming concept by the social and economic planners; The presence of conflicts and wars in the subregion, which exacerbate poverty and burdens of the member countries and cause them to neglect the needs of women, youth and the disabled, both in the family and in community; Insufficient developmental prerequisites for the operationalization of gender mainstreaming; Disparities in the school enrollment of boys and girls; The marginalization of women and youth in the development, management programs and projects; Exemption of women and youth in the decision making and political arena; Inadequate formulation and implementation of national gender policies; Limited gender-mainstreaming policies to ensure equality in the use of national human capacity.