Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) the completion of a regional baseline study on Member States’ compliance with regional and global instruments on women’s rights and gender equality; (2) the placement of 14 gender specialists with the Regional Economic Communities, the United Nations Development Programme and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to support the rollout and implementation of the different aspects of the project. This includes women peace and security, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and AfCFTA implementation; (3) consultations in 26 countries across the Regional Economic Communities to gather women's experiences on economic empowerment to inform the drafting of the Women in Trade Protocol of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement; (4) provided training on how to conduct a Gender Equality Audit in the Private Sector for 35 participants from the Regional Economic Communities -18 women and 17 men, (5) the adoption of the Kinshasa Declaration for Economic Community of Central African States to provide a roadmap for improving the role of women in the Women Peace and Security agenda in the region; (6) the completion of training needs assessment to inform the development of an online entrepreneurship and financial literacy program and recommendations for each of the 4 Regional Economic Communities; and (7) developed a research paper that looks at three categories of care, childcare, elderly care and the care of people living with disabilities. Also created a proposed Care Economy Index that provides an analytical framework with key strategies and messages to build the capacity of women civil society organisations. This would enable them to further engage in this area, influence policies and hold policymakers accountable. The research also provides an advocacy engagement framework at the national and continental levels, 8) Launch of Africa Care Economy Index, 9) Launch of the online Entrepreneurship and financial Literacy Training Programme and online training of 1305 women entrepreneurs from the four African Regional Economic Communities (Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the Southern African Development Community), 10) Support to Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the Southern African Development Community and four Member States of Uganda, South Africa, DRC and Rwanda to rollout and implement the Gender Equality Seal. Support included introducing the Gender Equality Seal and conducting induction training to institutions’ leadership and establishing Gender Committees, 11) Launch of the 8th Edition of the Southern African Development Community Gender and Development Monitor on Women Leadership and Political Participation, 12) The publishing and launch of the regional report, “Engine of Trade in Africa: Amplifying the voices of women across Africa on how to make the AfCFTA Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade work for development," consolidating findings from 26 countries from the region, 13) 122 private companies implementing the Gender Equality Seal – Private Sector program; Rwanda (26), Uganda (90), and the Gambia (6). Of these, ten companies (both Small and Medium Enterprises and large) (9) from Rwanda and (1) from Uganda were certified with a gold seal, 14) the completion a regional evidence-based study to assess the status of ratification, domestication, enforcement and reporting on Human Rights Instruments in the Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the Southern African Development Community. Building on the findings from the assessment, three regional trainings for Economic Community of Central African States, Economic Community of West African States and network of regional Civil Society Organisations and Journalists were held, 15) The development of Economic Community of West African States Gender Observatory to monitor Member States compliance and commitment to ratify, domesticate and enforce Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Human Rights Instruments, 16) Ratification of the Maputo Protocol by South Sudan and Botswana, 17) Trained 349 African policy makers through the Gender and Economic Policy Management Initiative (GEPMI), 18) The adoption and launch of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development- Regional Gender Equality Strategy 2023-2030.
