APRM hosts roundtable on gender best practices July 31

African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Africa’s voluntary self-assessment mechanism on good governance, is set to host a virtual roundtable on gender best practices on July 31 to enable the sharing of gender best practices in APRM Participating States from a governance perspective.

The webinar, which will serve as a building block for the training of APRM Participating States on mainstreaming gender in governance processes, will also sensitize APRM stakeholders on institutionalizing gender principles at the different levels and stages of the APRM structures, processes, tools and instruments, particularly in the APRM National Plan of Action (NPoAs).

In addition, the APRM Continental Secretariat says the roundtable will promote best practices on gender and governance in Africa, particularly amongst APRM Participating States; provide practical examples of gender best practices in Participating States; and encourage the development and implementation of gender best practices as an output of APRM Country Review Reports (CRRs), among others.

The gender roundtable was inspired by the outcomes of APRM’s 2016-2020 Strategic Plan which exposed the mechanism’s weaknesses and gaps in the areas of participation of CSOs, youth and women. Likewise, a gender audit report by the Mechanism in 2021 confirmed the need for mainstreaming gender in APRM’s structures, processes and instruments.

One of the strategies identified for mainstreaming gender in APRM’s work is promoting gender equality within the context of the Mechanism’s expanded mandate of monitoring the implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and UN’s Agenda 2030, particularly Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063  i.e an Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth as well as Goal 5 of Agenda 2030 i.e achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

To disseminate knowledge on gender best practices in the area of governance, the APRM developed a Manual of Gender Equality Best Practices offering suggestions on how African countries can adopt gender best practices. The APRM Secretariat hopes the gender roundtable will lead to enhanced gender-responsive APRM structures and tools necessary to improve governance processes on the continent as well as the adoption of gender best practices in governance processes at country-level.