09655 sadc roadmap ch3

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Gender Protocol meeting in Gaborone, Botswana in 2007. PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA33

Right place, right time?Understandingregional processes


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This chapter examines how the SouthernAfrican Gender Protocol Alliance manoeu-vred through the politics of an Inter-governmental organisation like SADC, thecreative tensions that emerged and thestrategies the Alliance used to move its

agenda through SADC processes.

Ever since the SADC Council of Ministersmandated the Secretariat in 1990 toexplore the best ways to integrate genderissues into SADCs programme of work1, thesub regional body has put in place anumber of initiatives and programmes toengage with gender and womensempowerment issues. Some of theseinitiatives are outlined below.

A door was opened for the movementtowards the SADC Protocol on Gender atthe Council of Ministers 1997 GenderStrategy workshop which resolved that:

SADC establish a policy framework for

mainstreaming gender in all its activities by

giving gender a specific recognition as an

Area of Cooperation under Article 21(3)of the SADC Treaty and Protocol and

concluding a protocol on Gender and

Development as provided for in Article 22

of the Treaty. 2

Further to the initiatives above, SADCsRegional Indicative Strategic Development

Plan (RISDP), which sets the policies,strategies and priorities for achieving thelong-term goals of SADC for deeperreg iona l i n tegrat ion and pover tyeradication,3 identifies gender as one ofthe crosscutting issues. The six priorities ofthe SADC Gender Programme as stipulatedby the RISDP include: Policy Developmentand Harmonisat ion; Gender Mains-treaming; Institutional Strengthening andCapacity Building; Womens EmpowermentProgrammes including: Womens HumanRights; Women and Girl Child Education;Violence against Women and Children;Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rightsincluding HIV and AIDS; Womens EconomicEmpowerment; Media and Information; andWomen in Politics and Decision Making;Communication, Information Sharing andNetworking; and Monitoring and Evaluation.4 Many of the issues included in theWomens Empowerment Programmesformed the basis for the Articles of the new

SADC Protocol on Gender.The Alliances knowledge of these initiatives,and of the Article providing for a Protocolon Gender in the SADC Treaty, provided themoral and political tools needed to pushthrough a half-open door. Eight years afterthe 1995 Beijing Platform for Action wasseen as more than enough time for SADCto begin to make good on its promise toput in place a binding regional instrumentto achieve gender equality and womens

human rights.

The regional climate was also pre-disposedto the Alliances engagement with some14 countries for a Protocol on Genderthrough a regional process, because ofanother sub regional institutions efforts tostrengthen the dimensions of genderequality and womens human rights in itswork.

The SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF),

established officially in 1996, spearheadsthe participation of Member States

SADC s early footsteps towardachieving gender equality

1990 Council of Ministers resolve to givepriority to issues of gender anddevelopment and Eminent Personscommissioned to conduct a situationalanalysis on women in the region

1995Post-Beijing Conference createsa task force to draft a regional Plan of

Action 1996 Council of Ministers in Maseru

approve that gender issues at theregional level be coordinated by theSecretariat, based in Gaborone,Botswana

1997(February)Council of Ministers inWindhoek adopt a programme for thecreation of a policy and institutionalframework for the integration of genderissues into SADC

1997(August) First meeting of SADCMinisters Responsible for Womens Affairs(and Gender) takes place

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The right climate


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Parliaments in regional integration of thecommunity and in contributing to aconducive envi ronment of peace,democratic governance, gender equityand the quest for human rights to prevail.5

SADC-PFs programme to engenderthe regions Parliaments is informed bythe then Declaration on Gender andDevelopment, and its Plan of Action whichwas adopted unanimously at the SADCParliamentary Forum Plenary Assembly in2001 has set in motion activities to createa critical mass of gender-sensitive maleand female legislators in the region.Foreword, Strategies for the SADCParliamentary Forum in the New Millennium Engendering SADC Parliaments, SADC-PF,2001.

Legis lators are key stakeholders toensuring that the international andregional commitments signed becomethe bases for national laws on genderequality and womens human rights. TheAlliances link with this entity through itsSecretariats executive, gave added muscleto the regional impetus to push for a Protocol.

Once knowledgeable of all the regionalbodies and SADC entry points that couldfacilitate the goal of upgrading the 1997Declaration on Gender and Developmentto a Protocol, the Alliance also had to buildthe knowledge of its institutional andindividual members. The early IEC (Infor-mation, Education and Communications)materials (produced by the Alliancescoordinating organisation, Gender Links)began to make us aware why a Protocol,said Alliance member Emma Kaliya of

Malawi. Once the Alliances members hadthe knowledge, they were able to use thisto give the SADC Gender Unit strength tomove the agenda.

Bringing together national organisationsworking on gender equality and womenshuman rights issues to work on a common

goal regionally is no easy feat. And,engaging a regional grouping of States tothink and act in unison to develop andcommit to a more binding regionalinstrument to uplift the legal, political,economic and social status of half of theregions citizens women also seemed,at the start of the process, a Herculean task.

But giant footprints are often built by small,steady steps. And in this campaign, one ofthe first steps was to forge a workingrelationship with the unit within the SADCsecretariat responsible for moving theregions gender equality and womensempowerment agenda.

From the very beginning of the movementtowards a Gender Protocol, women civilsociety groups and the SADC Gender Unit(GU) became instrumental allies to eachother.

This relationship between civil societyorganisations and the SADC Gender Unitbegan in 2005 when hands were joined ina collaborative effort to put gender equalityin the spotlight in the run up to and duringthe SADC Heads of State Summit inBotswana that year. The SADC GU had plansto put two key commendations before thesummit: (a) that the target of women indecision-making is increased from 30% to50% in line with the African Unions (AU)decision; and (b) to elevate the 1997 SADC

Declaration on Gender and Developmentto a protocol.

Consultations between several civil societygroups and the SADC GU in early 2005 ledto the idea of independent audits of variousaspects of the 1997 Declaration, which thencould be used to bolster the GUsrecommendations to the Heads of State.Thus began a relationship where genderactivists became the strategic allies whogave the SADC GU the independent

strength and knowledge it neededthroughout the Protocol process.

Roadmap to Equal i ty Lessons learned in the campaign for a SADC Protocol on Gender and Development35

Developing a relationshipwith the SADC Gender Unit

1. Into the Future Gender and SADC, A Report of the SADC Gender StrategyWorkshop (January 1997) and the Ministerial Workshop on Gender (February1997)

2. Into the Future Gender and SADC, A Report of the SADC Gender StrategyWorkshop (January 1997) and the Ministerial Workshop on Gender (February1997)

3. 2006 SADC Consultative Conference: Sub-theme on Cross-Cutting Issues,published by the SADC Secretariat, Botswana

4. http://www.sadc.int/gender

5. Strategies for the SADC Parliamentary Forum in the New Millennium Engendering SADC Parliaments, SADC-PF, 2001

6. Foreword, Strategies for the SADC Parliamentary Forum in the New Millennium Engendering SADC Parliaments, SADC-PF, 2001


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The SADC GU brought to the process thein s t i tu t iona l suppor t o f the SADCSecretariat; an understanding of the legaland administrative steps necessary inSADC for developing a protocol andgetting it onto the agenda of SADCsummits; the mandate to convene atregional level key players such as theministers responsible for gender andwomens affairs and the ministers of

just ice; as wel l as a di rect l ink to

inf luential national decis ion-makersthrough the SADC structures with innational governments structures. Whilethe Al l iance, on the other hand,brought the research, IEC, media,monitoring and evaluation technicalexpertise; a wealth of knowledge ongender equality and womens humanrights across a diverse range of areas;campaign, lobbying and advocacy skills;and a reach to the vo ices andperspectives of women across the region

who often are not seen and heard bygovernments.

A s s t ra te g i c a l l i e s , th e A l l i an c e ,representing civi l society, and theS A D C G e n d e r U n i t , re p re se n t i n ggovernments, formed a relationshipbased on mutua l cooperat ion , aclear understanding of what eachpartner could bring to the process,and on a healthy balancing act ofknowing the distinctive roles of eachal ly whi le the SADC Gender Uni tworks to strengthen the efforts by

Member States to achieve genderequal ity, the Al l iance on the otherhand, works to keep the SADC GenderUnit as part of the regional bureau-cracy, as well as the Member States,accountable to the equal ity, equityand human r ights ent i t lements ofthe reg ions female c i t i zens . Thesuccess of this relationship sought tochal lenge the way of engagementbe tw e e n c i v i l so c i e ty an d s ta teactors and to even reconf igure in

terms of c iv i l society engagementspecifically.

Head of the SADC Gender Unit Magdeline Mathiba-Madibela (left) and Botswana gender activist Elsie Alexander.PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA


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While state and civil society relations areinherently conf l ictual , the Al l iancerecognised that it had to balance itswatchdog role against being able to workfrom within. The Alliance and the SADC GUunderstood clearly that they had the same

goal the upgrading of the 1997Declaration to a Protocol. Keeping theireyes together on this prize was far moreimportant than letting tensions becomepower brawls.

This symbiosis found its most concreteexpression in the formation by the SADCGU of a task force comprising seniorofficials of the Troika (the past, present andfuture chair countries of SADC) and twocivil society representatives in 2006. TheSADC GU approached the Alliance tonominate two members to sit of the TaskTeam. The Alliance chose Colleen LoweMorna, Executive Director of GL, then alsochair of GEMSA, and Lois Chingandu,Executive Director of SAFAIDS.

Participation on the task team gavethe Alliance early on some key insightsinto how SADC works, and helped thecoalition to engage with governmentrepresentatives in the drafting of theProtocol. The teams terms of referencewere as follows:

Finalise the road map for upgrading theSADC Declaration into a Protocol.

Plan strategically and advise SADCSecretariat, Member States and Civil

Society on the implementation of theRoad map. Provide support in the resource

mobilization efforts to fast track activitiesat member states and civil societylevels.

Engage in advocacy and lobbyingactivities with SADC Executive Secretary,Chair of SADC Council of Ministers/Summit-(Both current & incoming),senior officials and other strategicstakeholders.

Provide technical input in the draftingof the template / and draft protocol.

Engage in technical backstopping of allthe activities undertaken.

Provide leadership in soliciting fora consensus and buy in with themembers states and other stake-holders, senior officials and Ministers of

Gender. Spearhead the meeting of Senior

Officials and Ministers on the DraftProtocol.

Report to the rest of the member statesand other stakeholders on the progresson a regular basis.

Successful lobbying on any issue dependson knowing who, what , when , whereand how. Through its engagement withthe SADC Gender Unit and SADC-PF,the All iance was able to understandand navigate the process of gettinga Protocol before the Heads of States tosign.

At its first meeting in Gaborone, Botswanain March 2006, this team drafted thelegal drafting notes for the Protocol

based on the 2005 audit, which hadyielded an overview summary papercalled Rationale for the Elevation of aDeclaration to a Protocol. This meetingalso mapped out the process for theadoption of the Protocol (see Figureone). In the end, there were two moresteps to the process. After the heads ofstate sent the draft back for furtherwork fol lowing the Lusaka summit inAugust 2007, the SADC GU conveneda consultative meeting in Livingstone,

Zambia, in December 2009 and ameeting of SADC Gender Ministers inNamibia in April 2008.

What the chart shows however is thecomplexity of SADC processes andthe need to understand them to beable to make a difference. Al l toooften NGOs arrive at inter govern-mental summits and expect to be ableto influence outcomes without realisingthat the leg work takes place much

earlier, and that those with the real powerare the senior officials.


SADC Taskforceon the Gender Protocol

Understanding the system


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Figure one: Roadmap presented at the First Task Team Meetingin March 2006

DraftFramework

ConsultantUsing DraftInstructionsApril/May

2006

ZeroDraft 1

Gender &Legal ExpertsRoundtable &

Task ForceMay 2006

ZeroDraft 2

National Level Consultations,

Thematic/Issue BasedConsultations &

Parliamentary ConsultationsJune, July, August 2006

Zero

Draft 3

Regional SeminarOfficials from Ministriesof Gender & Justice

October 2006

ZeroDraft 4

RegionalConsultation: Ministersof Gender & Senior

OfficialsMarch 2007

Zero

Draft 5

RegionalConsultation:

Ministers of Justice& Senior Officials

May 2007

FirstDraft

Integrated Councilof Ministers

May/June 2007

SecondDraft

Council ofMinisters

August 2007

HEADS OF STATESSUMMITAUGUST 2007

Adopted & SignedPROTOCOL


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These lessons grew out of early assumptionsby the Alliances members, many of whomwere engaging in regional gender activismwith SADC for the first time. One of theseassumptions, according to Lois Chingandtuof SAfAIDS, was that civil society could

control or at least determine the pace ofthe process, and the style of drafting keydocuments.

There were clear differences in the workstyle between governments and civilsociety. At each meeting as civil society weexpected that this should be a quick job we review the Protocol and then it shouldmove on to the Heads of States. Meanwhilefrom the government side, this was only thebeginning of the process, said Chingandtu.So we had a meeting to review what wewere calling the first draft. Then we werecalled back again to another meeting tomeet with the Parliamentary drafters fromthe different countries.

They were not concerned about thecontent; they were focusing on thelanguage as these were drafting specialists,Chingandtu recalled. We went back andforth about language, because as civil

society we wanted things direct and theywould say that this kind of language willnot pass with the Heads of States. You arebeing too prescriptive...and governmentsdont want to be prescr ibed to.

The Alliances members also soon realisedthe fallacy of assuming that ministersresponsible for gender and womensaffairs are the key target group foradvocacy and lobbying. The Alliancehad to quickly learn how to talk to the

unconverted - the men who held the powerto move the Protocol forward.

The changes made to the document (theeight draft of the Protocol) by the Councilof Ministers in 2007 also pointed tothe challenges of articulating gender issuesin a way that is accepted by all, saidPatience Zirima of the Southern AfricanResearch and Documentation Centre(SARDC). What I understood eventuallywas that Council of Ministers, who meet just

before the Summit of Heads of State andGovernment to review such documents,

can and did change some sections of thedraft Protocol, despite it having won theapproval of Ministers of Gender and Justice.Council of Ministers made massive cuts inthe document, in this case I believebecause other key stakeholders in different

ministries were not tuned in to the wholeprocess.

So in the different governments, gendermay be delegated to Ministries of Genderor other machineries, but anyone involvedin the process believes they have a stakein all issues to do with gender more thanwith any other issues. At the Senior Officials meeting, we (the Alliance) agreed thatone way to get past such problems is toensure that all parties, including membersof the Council of Ministers, need to makean input into the process and that anymisunderstandings are removed beforepresentation to Summit, Zirima said.

Zirima adds that the Alliance also had toc o n f r o n t i t s a s s u m p t i o n t h a t acomprehensive, detailed document on allgender equality and womens human rightsissues would sway government officials.More homework was needed on the

contents of other regional Protocols. It wasalso here (2007 Council of Ministers meetingin Lusaka, Zambia) that the clich on genderbeing a cross-cutting issue rang most true.Council of Ministers cross-referenced theProtocol to other existing protocols anddocuments on Education, Health, HIV andAIDS, Culture and Peace processes, toaddress these overlaps, thus putting in theforefront the need for us to understand howprocesses in the region are interlinked,Zirima said.

Besides learning by the old-fashion way oftrial and error, the Alliance collectedinformation on how SADC works through itsparticipation in informal and formalmeetings with the SADC Gender Unit andother SADC structures. The Alliance alsokept a steady stream of information flowingbetween its coordinating structure and theSADC Gender Unit using new media andvisits to the SADC Secretariat anytimemembers of the Alliances coordinating

structure travelled to Botswana on workassignments.


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The SADC Gender Unit was the strategicfacilitator in the process towards the GenderProtocol. But it was the Ministers responsiblefor Gender and Womens Affairs whobecame not only key stakeholders inthe Protocol process at the nationallevel and regionally as the Committeeof Ministers responsible for gender inthe SADC region, but also championsfor the Protocols adoption as the processprogressed. These ministers became

the pr imary lobbyi s ts among the i rcolleagues in the Ministries of Justice,Foreign Affairs, the SADC Council ofMinisters, and national Cabinets chaired byHeads of States.

Another group of champions evolved fromthe government representatives on theSADC Taskforce on the Gender Protocol.The three representatives of governmentsitting in that task force had already boughtinto the Protocol...they did not want it to

fail, said Chingandtu of SAfAIDS. They alsosaw it as their own process and product.

This is something important for the futurefor success. When the document went backto the country level, they were involved inpushing their own colleagues at the countrylevel to say you must support thatdocument because I have seen it, as I siton the task force. I was involved in draftingthat document. It was not a civil societydocument.

The Ministers responsible for Gender and

Womens Affairs and other allies withingovernment showed just how importantinsider champions can be to such a processafter the 2007 Council of Ministers in Lusaka,Zambia watered-down the Protocol tabledbefore them into a toothless document bydeleting some articles and changing thelanguage in others to make statescompliance almost optional. The Ministersresponsible for Gender and Womens Affairsquickly re-grouped and engaged with civilsociety to salvage their last agreed version

of the document, before the 2007 summit,putting the process back on track.

4O

Sheila Tlou, then minister of health in Botswana, and Magdeline Mathiba-Madibela at the Botswana Protocolmeeting. PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA


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Because of the close consultations thathad occurred leading up to the 2007summit between governments andwomens human rights and gender equalitygroups in the Alliance, even governmentswere concerned with the changes made

to the Protocol by the Council of Ministersin Lusaka, because by th is point,governments, through the nationalmachineries, had come to own thedocument, said Emma Kaliya from Malawi.So it was not difficult to get the sectoralministers on board to question what hadhappened and to pick up the processagain.

Through its understanding of the strategicpower of the sectoral ministers in thisprocess and their influence with thesecondary stakeholders (Ministers of Justice,officials in Foreign Affairs, etc.), the Alliancewas able to tactically focus its lobbyingefforts.

For example, at the regional level, the SADCGender Unit was lobbied to keep theProtocol on the agenda of the SADCministerial and Heads of States meetings,

and to ensure that the Protocol wentthrough all of the sub regional organisationslegal processes.

Nationally, the Alliances members workedf lat out wi th the nat ional gender

machineries to hold national consultationsamong civil society groups and othergovernmental departments and ministriesworking on issues of health, education,economics and finance, HIV and AIDS,gender-based violence, women in politicsand decision making, vulnerable groups,agriculture, food security, housing, amongothers.

Information flows between the nationalconsultations and regional initiatives wereconsistent giving the Alliance a strong voiceand intelligence that enabled it to be pro-active and to strategise as a coherent,lobbying force.

We had constant meetings at the regionaland national levels which continuously gavethe Alliance information to feed into theprocess, and this helped us to move withspeed, Kaliya recalled.


Emma Kaliya speaks out. PHOTO: TREVOR DAVIES


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Re-negotiating roles and mandatesbetween governments and civil societyorganisations involved in the Alliance wasa delicate balancing act throughout thefive years of activism for a SADC Protocolon Gender and Development.

Because of the structural, financial andhuman capacity limitations of many of thenational machineries on gender in SADCcountries, and even in the SADC Gender

Unit, the Alliance often found itself notonly with the hands and feet to do the

lobbying and legwork needed bothregionally and nationally, but also with theresearch and knowledge capacity to bringstrong arguments, insights, data, and thevoices and perspectives of women on avariety of issues, to the process. The Alliancealso was able to highlight trends and identifynew areas and issues that may have fallenoff the radar of SADCs regional genderframework and programme, such as thesexual exploitation of women and girls in the

region through trafficking which has takena stronger root in the region since 1997.

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Managing creative tensions

Engaging Regional Processes: What the Alliance Members Say

The (December 2007) meeting made me realise some of the mistakes we made mostlyout of ignorance of the process and a failure to understand the reluctance by societiesto accept change that is necessary with womens empowerment, change of attitudeand change of behaviour. In the articles I had written around the Protocol, I paid little

attention to issues of process that are important if women are to engage effectivelywith SADC and took for granted that issues raised in the document are acceptable toall. As the region moves towards ratification and implementation, these lessons shouldnot been lost. Womens organisations and key stakeholders now realise the need tounderstand SADC processes in order to be more effective. There is need for exampleto understand issues to do with ratification, domestication and then implementationof the Protocol.Patience Zirima, Southern African Research and Documentation Centre

It was important that the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance developed aposition paper r ight from the beginning on their basic demands in respect to the issues.This became an important reference point as the negotiations progressed and the

SADC Protocol on Gender and Development evolved through nine drafts to be signedin August 2008. This was a negotiated process with negotiations happening at nationallevel in the consultations and at regional level through the senior officials responsiblefor gender and womens affairs, the ministers of justice, the council of ministers throughto the heads of state.Emilia Muchawa, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association

The road to the adoption and signing of the Protocol was not an easy one; a numberof hurdles were encountered and some were easy to surmount while others took alonger time. It was also important that the Alliance as the coordinating body developstrategies that were powerful and engaging to the policy makers to draw their attentionand for them to take cognisance of the issues that were presented.

It was known that most governments in the region paid lip service to womens issueswhile the practices were different: there was a gap between policy and practice, butthe Alliance decided to devote its energy to urge governments and member statesto walk the talk and were able to continue its engagements with the policy makers.This process also assisted the two parties to move away from talking at one anotherto talking to one another. This approach in most cases has proved difficult for civilsociety which raises issues with the policy makers in a confrontational way!Abby Mgugu, Director Womens Land and Water Rights Southern Afr ica


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While this expertise was a source of strengthfor the Alliance, it also was a weakness inthat one of the greatest lessons of successfullobbying is to know when to push and followfrom behind. The holder of knowledge andtechnical expertise seldom wants to fade

into the shadows. But the constant reminderthat it is governments who sign Protocolsand who drive the Protocol process in asub regional structure like SADC helped theAlliance to constantly review its role, andto devise strategies to put its energy, passion,and ownership of the Protocol in the rightplace.

While there were times at the beginning ofthe process when the Alliance ran aheadwith its armoury of information, skills, researchcapacity and mandate to advocate onbehalf of its constituency of women, itquickly learned to slow down, take a back-seat and transfer its speed by putting itsknowledge and skills into governmentshands. This posture led some governmentsto include Alliance members as part ofgovernment delegations to key meetings,which provided the Alliance with first-hand,insider information on the Protocol processand red flags along the way.

We also had to learn the negotiating artof using the process of consensus on eachand every point. If we reached consensuson a point, language or issue raised in theArticles that have come to form theProtocol, we moved, Kaliya said. After the

2007 summit in Lusaka where Council ofMinisters changed the document, whenwe started the negotiations to get backon track, we strategised as an Alliancethrough consultations on what we couldcompromise on, what was non-negotiableand what we could l ive without. Wecompromised on some issues, but wegained a lot on others. The inclusion of28 targets in the adopted Protocolwith key targets in the areas of decision-making, education, HIV and AIDS,media, information and communications,gender-based violence, among others,was a huge gain for activists who now hadthe basis to measure governmentsperformance more uniformly and forstrengthening evidence-based advocacyfor governments de l ivery on andaccountability to gender equality andwomens human rights.

Overall, the greater good of the Protocol


Building consesus at the 2007 Lusaka Heads of State Summit. PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA


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was paramount to al l players, andtherefore agreements and compromiseswere used to create conditions whichenabled peaceful re lat ions to bee s t a b l i s h e d b e t w e e n d i f f e r e n tstakeholders.

But the creative tension between theAlliance and governments was not the onlyone to be managed. The Alliance soon metresistance from unexpected quarters theregional civil society sector.

There was little, if almost no recognition ofthe gender agenda in the SADC regionalNGO community, and the Alliance foundlittle space in the parallel meetingsorganised by the SADC Council on NGOsat SADC Summits. So, the Alliance had tofund raise and organise its own meetingsduring the summits which providedopportunities to lobby officials, gatherintelligence, engage the media and planits way forward.

Rather than dividing time between tryingto convince governments to adopt theProtocol on Gender and persuadingregional civil society groups working on

human rights, political rights and otherissues to swing their support to theAlliance, womens human rights and genderequality NGOs, with the support of faith-based and HIV and AIDS and reproductiverights groups, forged the campaign on theirown.

We were organised and we pushed anissue in unity. Even those who were not withus admitted that we were highly organised,while at the same time accusing us of high-

jacking the SADC space, Kaliya recalled.We had an agenda and we needed tofulfil it.

The Alliances three-year campaign forthe SADC Protocol on Gender providedfert i le ground for many lessons onlobbying and advocacy at the regionallevel. The campaign also highlighted

the power dynamics between govern-ments and civil society, and brought to

the fore the patriarchal attitudes thatreside in decision-makers at all levels one of the unseen, but fundamentaldeterrents to international and regionalinstruments moving f rom paper toimplementation and change.

The following is a summary of some of thesteps the Alliance took to engage theregional processes of SADC: Gained a good grasp of the political

context and worked this to its advantageat every possible opportunity.

Obtained knowledge of the SADCentities, frameworks, policies andprogrammes on gender equal i tyand womens human r ights thatopened the door for the push towardsa Protocol on Gender.

Used th is knowledge to engagethe SADC Gender Uni t and theSADC-PF in discussions and to formstrategic regional alliances.

Strategically engaged the sectoralMinisters responsible for Genderand Womens Affairs as the keystakeholders.

Gained representation on a regionalTaskforce of Experts on the SADC

Protocol Used several strategies outlined inthe SADC Framework for AdvancingGender Equal ity in the region toadvance the lobbying efforts for aProtocol on Gender

Lobbied at the national and regionallevels, with a strong focus on thenational

Linked the national-regional-nationalchain of lobbying and consultationsthrough steady information flows to

the Alliance members using the newmedia and teleconferencing Provided technical expertise and

knowledge to governments onwomens human rights and genderequality issues

Stayed on message and focused ona womens rights and gender equalityagenda even in the face of a hostilecivil society environment at national andregional levels

The Alliance held parallel meetings

whi le the Heads of States weremeeting to strategise around further

How the Alliance engaged inregional processes


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lobbying and advocacy mechanisms. An impromptu march outside the

Sandton Convention Centre whereHeads of States met for the Summitin August 2008. The idea of the marchwas borne out of the fear that the

Protocol might yet again not besigned at the Heads of States Summitmeeting; in the same way that itwas not signed in Zambia. Several thingswere planned in addition to the marchsuch as press releases and interviewswith key mainstream media. The marchis an example of how the Allianceclaimed its space at the decision-making table.

Alliance members learned agreat deal about how inter-g o ve rn me n ta l p ro c e s se sw o rk an d h o w be s t toi n f l u e n c e t h e s e . T h e y

learned that on some days they wouldbe welcome and other days theywould not. They learned never to make

any assumptions or to trust any oneof the myriad processes that have tobe fo l lowed before deci s ions aretaken by regional bodies. But they alsolearned about their own power andstrength, drawn from ski l ls, expertiseand sheer persistence. The lessons canbe summarised under the two sub-heads, SADC processes and civil societymuscle as follows:

SADC governments determine thepace of all SADC processes. Onlygovernments had the mandateto decide when and how the processwould move, and they had the a u t h o r i t y t o d e t e r m i n e t h econtent and language of the finalProtocol.

A relationship with the SADC GU didnot guarantee civil societys entry intoall of the SADC processes on the

Protocol. The Alliance had to put thiscondition on the table for the SADC

GU to negotiate with governmentsfor civi l society to be present inregional consultative processes on theProtocol.

Relationships had to be bui l t atthe national level with not only the

ministr ies responsible for genderand womens affairs, but also with

ju s t ice min i s t r ie s and w i th theministr ies that housed the SADCdesks within countries al l wereimportant to the Protocol movingforward.

SADCs commitment to genderequality and womens rights is onlyas strong as the commitment andbuy-in from the national governmentsgrouped in the regional entity. Astrong national activ i sm on theadoption of the Protocol therefore,was more critical to the campaignthan support f rom the reg ionalSecretar iat , s i nce the lack ofsuppo r t f ro m se ve ra l n at i o n a lg o ve rn me n t s c o u l d d e ra i l th eregional agenda.

Without an of f ic ia l accred i tedstatus with SADC, the Alliance could

Lessons learned

SADC processes

MISA gender expert, Jennifer Mufune, at an Alliancemeeting. PHOTO: TREVOR DAVIES


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not be present in the official meetingsof the annual SADC summits andhad to rely on others to be its eyes,ears and voices among the seniorofficials and Heads of State.

It is important to have knowledge of

all other regional Protocols and astrategy to address whether or notgender equality and womens rightshave been effectively integrated intothe language, commitments andactions of these documents.

Civil society organisations working onwomens human rights and genderequality issues can leverage theirengagement with SADC as an institutionand with SADC governments by usingtheir research, communications andlobbying expertise.

The technical expertise of civil societycan motivate and strengthen nationalmachineries to act.

The political understanding of howgovernments work and knowledgeon regional frameworks, structures,

p o l i c i e s a n d p r o g r a m m e s o ngender equality and womens humanrights can be strategically used tolobby regional entities and nationalg o ve rn me n t s f o r c h an g e an dtransformation.

Knowing when to push and when totake a back-seat helps to achieveownership of an issue and process bythe key stakeholders who are the driversof sub regional processes.

Evidenced based advocacy achieves

maximum impact in a campaign aimedat governments. It is important to build consensus on

what to compromise on, who tospeak to and when, and on how tomake hard choices on ru les ofengagement with the state and subregional bodies.

A consistent message and a criticalmass is critical; states cannot ignorecivil society when it has a strong andfocused presence.

Are there champions inthe sub regional institutions/organisations or in high-levelpolitical positions at national

level that can be valuableand strategic al l ies inpushing your agenda?

Are there key policy instruments andf rameworks in the sub reg ionalinstitutions/organisations that committhe region to advancing gender equalityand womens human rights?

Has th e po l i c y f rame w o rk f o radvancing gender equal i ty andwomens human rights been translatedinto a programme of action withspeci f ic act iv i t ies , targets andmeasurable outcomes?

Do the gender equality and womenshuman rights policies and programmesprovide the space and opportunities forengagement between civil society andgovernments?

What sub reg iona l i n s t i tu t ions/organisations are pivotal to advancingthe gender equality and womenshuman rights agenda?

Are there structures within the subregional institutions/organisations taskedwith coordination, implementation andmonitoring and evaluation of theregional programme of action toadvance gender equality and womenshuman rights?

Do the structures have the capacity andresources to effectively carry out itsmandate?

Is it strategically placed within the subregional institution/organisation to move

the gender equality and womenshuman rights agenda? Is there a precedent of the structure

relying on civil society for technicalexpertise?

Who are the key, primary and secondarystakeholders in moving the genderequality and womens human rightsagenda through regional processes?

How are these stakeholders constitutedat the sub regional level? What are theirroles at the national level?

Civil society muscle

Checklist

09655 sadc roadmap ch3

Documents