Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance

What does the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development aim to do?

• To provide for the empowerment of women, to eliminate gender discrimination, to achieve gender equality and equity through the development and implementation of appropriate legislation, policies, programmes and projects.
• To harmonise the various commitments and declarations to which SADC countries are signatory in one binding policy document, and to bridge any gaps.
• To address emerging gender issues and concerns.
• To set measurable targets, time-frames and indicators for achieving gender equality and equity.
• To strengthen, monitor and evaluate member states’ progress towards meeting the set targets.
• To deepen regional integration and strengthen community building

What is the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance?

The Alliance was established in 2005 after the SADC Summit made the decision to work towards the adoption of a Protocol on Gender and Development. The SADC Gender and Development Protocol contains 28 targets for achieving gender equality and the improvement of women’s lives in various areas in southern Africa by 2015.

The Alliance is made up of 42 gender and women’s non-governmental organisations from across the southern African region. These organisations came together to coordinate the regional efforts of civil society in ensuring the adoption of the SADC Gender and Development Protocol in August 2008. Alliance members are now focusing on ensuring the ratification and implementation of the Protocol and driving change towards gender justice in southern Africa.

The Alliance's Thematic Clusters

The Alliance's activities are arranged around thematic 'clusters', in which organisations work to popularise the Protocol, and to ensure the implementation and achievement of various focus areas and targets.

Thematic clusters focus on:

• Constitutional and Legal Rights
• Economic Justice 
• Gender-Based Violence
• Gender and Media
• Governance
• Health, SRH and HIV
• Peace Building

The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development Comes Into Force As South Africa Ratifies

Information shared by gender activists at the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance Annual meeting held from 10^th to 11^th August 2011 in Johannesburg indicates that South Africa has ratified the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development this month. “Southern Africa has signed, ratified and brought the SADC Protocol into force in record time, and the region should be proud of this achievement,” said Colleen Lowe Morna, Chief Executive Officer of Gender Links during the meeting deliberations. (read more...)

SADC Gender Protocol Alliance Produces Gender Protocol Barometer 2011

The third Southern Africa Gender Protocol Barometer moves into high gear with the introduction of the SADC Gender and Development Index (SGDI) that complements the Citizen Score Card (CSC) that has been running for three years. With empirical data on 23 indicators in six sectors, the SGDI puts SADC countries at 64% of where they need to be by 2015: the target date for meeting the 28 targets of the Protocol. Seychelles, South Africa and Lesotho lead the way with Mozambique, Angola, Malawi and DRC in the bottom four. Citizens rate their governments at a mere 55% (one percent up from last year). (read more...)

SAfAIDS Concept Tool on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, HIV and AIDS
December 2010 

The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development needs one more country to ratify it before it can come into force