General
Source: DailyTrust
Recently, Women and Stakeholders rose from the United Nation's 59th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Conference held in New York with the call for the inclusion of political and economic development demands of women in the successor framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Participants at the global event, which was well attended by women in Nigeria's political scene, deliberated on the theme: "The Role of Women Parliamentarians in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: Lessons from the Millennium Development Goals."
Various speakers eloquently and succinctly elaborated on the imperative of mainstreaming a gender perspective into the MDGs Successor Agenda through the role of women parliamentarians.
Delegates and speakers from Nigeria who attended the event were Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prof. Joy Ogwu, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina and Senior Special Assistant to the President on the MDGs, Dr. Precious Gbeneol.
A new post MDGs agenda is expected to come into force in September at the General Assembly of the UN (UNGAS) and is expected to address the unfinished business of the MDGs, which came into operation almost fifteen years ago.
The delegates opined that the implementation of the current MDGs framework was limited by the regrettable fact of not accommodating the views and inputs of parliamentarians, who ought to pass legislations and approve budgetary spending for policies at the point of framing the agenda.
A statement from the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Nigerian President on MDGs, Dr Precious Gbeneol, quoted her as justifying the demand for mainstreaming women in the post-2015 agenda thus: "It is thus crucial to unlock the potential latent in women and girls, as this is an indispensable condition necessary to achieve gender equality and inclusive development."
She explained that the theme of the event was apt and demonstrated a comprehension of the need to stay the course as the global community adopts a new development paradigm which leaves no one behind.
Gbeneol added that "drawing from lessons learnt from the implementation of the MDGs in Nigeria, there is evidence that demonstrates that investing in women matters for poverty eradication."
Currently, Nigeria is a signatory to many international conventions targeted at improving gender equality and in accordance with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Addis Ababa Declaration on the Elimination and Prevention of all forms of Violence against Women and Girls as well as the Millennium Declaration.
On measures put in place to improve the lot of women economically, the MDGs boss maintains that the "Conditional Cash Transfer Schemes reach thousands of core poor, women-headed households as an incentive that stimulates demand for the uptake of educational services for the girl child and health services for women and children."
The grants targeted at women provide interventions such as water and health facilities, classroom blocks and training for different cadres of health workers, amongst others.
In addition, the Nigerian Women Trust Fund launched by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs in 2011 with funding from her office provides resources for women interested in leadership to contest for elective positions. The Fund also provides a mentorship scheme for girls while interfacing with the Nigerian Electoral Commission as well as political parties in order to create space and an enabling environment for women to participate in politics.
This is an excerpt of the delegates' demands: "To address the disproportionate representation of women in parliaments across the world, we call for the widespread adoption of the gender quota system and other special measures by Member Nations in order to create the needed space for women. This will enhance opportunities for women by improving electoral performance, strengthening participation in political parties with improved representation in parliament."
The forum declared its support for including a distinct gender Goal in the MDGs successor agenda, insisting that cross-cutting gender-based metrics be embedded across all the Goals, Targets and Indicators in the successor framework in order to mainstream gender perspectives into all facets of development planning and execution in the Post-MDGs era.
There seems to be a global consensus that the Post-2015 Development Agenda presents an enormous opportunity to finish the business of the MDGs and entrench inclusive development, especially in developing countries like Nigeria.