General
Source: The Southern Times
Windhoek - During the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly, held February 10-11, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Namibia was recognised for outstanding efforts in promoting women’s rights and gender equality as well as fighting against corruption at the national level.
Namibia received awards in four categories namely best performer at the level of ratification and reporting of the relevant international and continental instrument on fighting corruption, promoting gender equality and protecting women’s rights at the national level.
Namibia was also awarded the best African country regarding progress made in mainstreaming gender equality into the fight against corruption, as well as in the best performer in the category of participation of civil society and the private sector in the fight against corruption.
Apart from that, Namibia was also honoured for efforts made towards the implementation of anti-corruption policies in terms of government effectiveness, control of corruption and ease of doing business.
The Gender Scorecard Award was initiated in 2015, at the request of the then AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma whereby she requested the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the World Bank to provide support in getting quantitative data and analysis that the continent can use to track progress on gender issues as well as indicate where there is a need for improvement.