Senegal: Reviewing implementation of UN Women and Millennium Development Goals

“We are moving beyond simply asking for gender equality, that was then! We are now calling for technical and specialized skills to use effective tools in bringing the political will into reality across all sectors in terms of gender” - HE Mrs Awa Ndiaye, Minister of State for Gender and Relations with African and Foreign Women Associations. Dakar, Senegal, on Nov 30, 2010.

HE Ms Awa Ndiaye, Minister of Gender at the closing of the luncheon meeting interviewed by the National TV (RTS)
 

November 30, 2010 - Dakar, Senegal - As part of the high level political dialogue in Senegal, the gender thematic group, which is comprised of the UN system and bilateral cooperation agencies, and is coordinated by the United Nations Fund for the Development of Women (UNIFEM / UN WOMEN), held a luncheon event this Tuesday, Nov. 30, at a hotel location within the capital city.This event was chaired by HE Ms. Awa Ndiaye, Minister of State, for Gender and  relations with African and foreign women associations, who also served as moderator for the discussions and exchange session-

The luncheon had set several key objectives including those to revisit and engage discussions on the international and national context, to review the process of implementation of UN Women, and  to discuss the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration. Presentations were made by Ms Josephine Odera, Regional Director for West Africa (UNIFEM/UN Women), Mrs Adjaratou Fatou Ndiaye, Program Specialist at the Regional Bureau (UNIFEM/ UN Women) and Ms. Khady Ndao Diagne, Deputy National Director of the Budget (Ministry of Finances), so to enlighten and engage one another on the exchanges and discussions session which followed. 

There were some noted interventions and pledges by several key participants, included that of Ms. Bianca Pomeranzi (Coordinator of the Italian Development  Cooperation/Senegal), Mr Boubou Dramane Camara (Country Director at the United Nations Development Program, UNDP), Ms Rose Gakura (Country Director of the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA), Ms Marema Touré Thiam, Chief, Social & Human Sciences Division at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Regional Bureau for the Education in Africa (UNESCO-BREDA), or that of Ms Oumou Touré (Gender advisor at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, OHCHR). 

Most interventions agreed upon a common point, to the fact that there is an increased level of importance and attention which is attributed to the gender sector and policy making within most African states and governments and across the world, followed by the international cooperation and donors support. 

The closing intervention of HE Madam the Minister of Gender stressed on the point that, with the perspectives of the new entity UN Women coming into full transition in 2011, this is a key moment at a national, regional and international level where all efforts must be put together so that the proposed agenda be followed by an equal level of resources and budget allocation into the gender sector: She then emphasized on “the need to invest in proven technical and specialized expertise for sectoral gender policy making, and programmatic evaluation”, all within an harmonized approach. 

Contacts: Press and Media 

Mariam Tendou Kamara, Regional Communication Officer

West Africa Regional Office 

United Nations Development Fund for Women 

UNIFEM West Africa ( now part of UN Women) 

Dakar, Senegal

Tel.: (221) 33 869 99 70