CGE Presentation 12 August 2009

1. CGE Presentation 12 August 2009

2. Our mandate SECTION 187 of the Constitution of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 • Must promote for gender equality and the protection, development and attainment of gender equality.

3. How should we execute this mandate? • Monitor • Investigate • Research • Educate • Lobby • Advise and report issues concerning gender equality

4. Thematic areas • Gender and Poverty • Gender based violence • Gender, democracy and Good Governance • Gender, Culture, Religion and Traditional Practices • Gender, HIV and AIDS • National Gender Machinery

5. What are the strategic goals for 2008-2013 GENDER AND POVERTY • In partnership with various stakeholders, monitors the standards of living and quality of life of South African women, including female-headed households. In order to promote job creation, economic opportunities and to balance dependence on social grants, the CGE uses access to land, water, sanitation, transport infrastructure as key points. The CGE monitors, researches and educates around government strategies and programmes, particularly at local levels, specifically aimed at poverty eradication. The CGE makes annual submissions with recommendations to parliament and key departments in this regard

6. Cont. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE • Co-operating with strategic partners, work towards the creation of a violence free society by significantly reducing gender-based violence

7. Cont. DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE • In partnership with civil society and through improved frameworks and systems for monitoring, evaluation and reporting, the CGE becomes the national authority on compliance with the gender equality legislative and policy framework, gender mainstreaming and good practice

8. Cont. GENDER, CULTURE, RELIGION AND TRADITIONAL PRACTICES • The CGE evaluates the role which South African cultures, religion and traditions play in contributing towards gender inequality, work towards rectifying these inequalities and puts in place mechanisms for ongoing monitoring of gender transformation

9. Cont. GENDER AND HIV AND AIDS Noting that the South African government is a signatory to the 2001 UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and has pledged to create multi-sectoral strategies to reduce women’s and girl’s vulnerabilities to the pandemic, the CGE is to monitor and make recommendations on the gendered responsive nature of the existing HIV/AIDS legislation and programmes in terms of prevention, care treatment and support

10. Cont. NATIONAL GENDER MACHINERY(NGM) • The NGM consists of an integrated framework and set institutional structures established to monitor, promote and mainstream gender equality in policies, programmes of governments (at all levels) and the National Assembly • The main thrust of the CGE’s is manifold: 1. It has to work as part of the NGM 2. It must monitor the implementation, development and efficacy of the NGM at all levels 3. CGE must use its mandate to remove blockages to effective establishment and implementation of the NGM 4. CGE must draw attention to the links between the national legal instruments and policies and the international conventions to which South Africa is party to

11. What are the strategic objectives ? Theme: Gender and Poverty Objectives: 1.The CGE in collaboration with strategic partners continues to develop a clear conceptual framework for its gender equality and poverty focus-defining possible entries and monitoring points of government poverty reduction policies, strategies, and programmes to assess the gendered impact of poverty on the quality of life of women including female-headed households, bearing in mind the effects of various programmes on global climate change and biodiversity. The CGE will also develop gender sensitive tools of assessment 2.Using the outcome of objective 1, encourage the development and implementation of pilot gender equality and poverty programmes at improving access to key focal points in two provinces, monitoring the achievements of such pilots, and encouraging replication of successful aspects in other provinces 3. The CGE takes advantage of opportunities to collaborate with National Treasury and Stats SA on their longitudinal research processes, with review to ensuring that such studies take into account the impact of poverty on the quality of life of women, including female-headed households. The outcomes of theses studies are used as a basis for developing appropriate strategic responses to poverty linked to gender equality

12. cont Theme: Gender-based violence Objectives: • Ensure that the national legislative and policy frameworks comply with all international gender-based violence instruments/protocols to which the South African government is a signatory • Monitor enforcement of legislation seeking to address gender-based violence and improvement of effectiveness of service delivery

13. Cont. Theme: Democracy and Good Governance Objectives: • Ensure that all national and provincial legislation has been assessed from a gender equality perspective, that implementation of legislation for promoting and protecting gender equality is tracked and monitored, and that women have made qualitative inputs in such processes • The CGE devises a strategy and puts in place (internal) to increasingly monitor and track compliance with gender equality legislative and policy framework by national provincial and local government • Actively engage the judiciary and legal sector to promote gender equality and improve the status of women in the judicial system • Drawing on EE information from the Dept. of Labour, the CGE uses its full powers to review the policies and practices in business in the private sector, tertiary institutions and statutory bodies in order to ensure compliance with gender equality legislative and policy framework • Effective engagement with the media and advertising agencies with a view to enabling these institutions to become more gender sensitive and increase women’s representations with business and institutions • The CGE and its strategic and civil society partners hold political parties representations accountable to their manifest promises and challenge political parties to adopt a policy of 50/50 representation of women in politics, including leadership positions, to ensure greater representation and effective participation of women.

14. cont Theme: Gender, Culture, Religion and Traditional practices Objectives: • Develop innovative campaigns in conjunction with civil society partners and where appropriate, government, to raise awareness among women and traditional leaders about the mandate of the CGE, women’s rights and gender equality. Where applicable, adopt a targeted approach in terms of rural and/or informal settlements with CGE taking up legal test to further raise awareness • To engage the religious sector, civil society organisations, traditional leaders and traditional healers to develop a strategy to change gender perceptions, increase women’s representation and become more gender sensitive implementing their respective mandates • The CGE, following the creation of a conducive environment as envisaged in objectives 1 and 2 to develop instruments and monitoring mechanisms for reviewing among other gender policies and practices, women’s participation and representation and changes in institutional and changes in institutional culture, attitudes and perceptions in faith-based traditional and cultural institutions

15. Cont. Theme: Gender and HIV/AIDS Objectives: • CGE assesses in policy and implementation terms the extent to which the Broad Framework for HIV/AIDS and STI Strategic plan for South Africa 2007-2011 reduces women’s and girl child’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS • The CGE develops a strategy for ensuring that work undertaken by theme committees and programmes at both national and provincial levels have been reviewed from an HIV/AIDS gendered perspective

16. Cont. Theme :National Gender Machinery (NGM) Objectives: 1.To improve the efficacy and impact of the national gender machinery and deliver gender equality 2. The CGE monitors establishments, implementation and efficacy of the NGM at all levels 3. To actively assess compliance with international protocols, conventions and treaties

17. What is expected from Research, Legal, PEI? • To deliver on the mandate as outlined in the Constitution and the CGE Act • To deliver on the strategic focus in the stratplan by ensuring the programmatic activities are aligned to the goals and objectives of the stratplan • To produce quality, analytical reports on a monthly and quarterly basis • To provide plenary with comprehensive analytical reports on programmatic work that speak to the strategic goals and objectives • Efficiency and accountability • Impact assessment on delivery of workplans and operational plans(POA’s)

18. Case Study: Theme: Gender democracy and Good Governance Objective: The CGE and its strategic and civil society partners hold political parties representations accountable to their manifesto promises and challenge political parties to adopt a policy of 50/50 representation of women in politics, including leadership positions, to ensure greater representation and effective participation of women. Implementation of the objective: Project : Elections project

19. Cont. • Project objectives: • Obtaining by year-end 2008 political parties manifesto documents, as well as information related to their internal employment equity policies and practice. • Analysing this information by the end of January 2009 • Convening a national public meeting in February 2009, and a series of selected provincial meetings, bringing senior representatives from political parties to respond to CGE analysis of party commitments to gender equality, and participating in a public debate. • Establishing strategic partnerships to jointly convene the public meetings, such as SANEF and the OSW • An information dissemination campaign, with possible presentations on findings to the IEC, Parliament and the EEC, and targeted media interventions. • Project duration: January- Aug 2009

20. Cont. Activities: • Engagement with political parties • Formation of Gender and Elections Consortium • Gender audit of party manifestos and lists • Media monitoring and interventions • Provincial monitoring of campaigning • Public dialogue • Elections day monitoring • Investigation of complaints • Meeting with IEC on elections monitoring and handing over elections monitoring report

21. CEDAW Project underway Purpose: • To produce a CGE report on the status of the implementation of Cedaw in South Africa • To engage parliament on the CGE findings and recommendations The project is still in a preparatory phase, CGE staff have been trained, the details on how the collection and verification of data and ultimately producing a report will be in the draft project plan that will be available by next week. The CGE plans to release a draft report by end November 2009.

22. Funding

23. MTEF BUDGET ALLOCATIONS:Year on Year Growth The annual average growth in the budget of the CGE is 5,4 per cent compared with 11,2% in the Public Protector and 8,9 % in the SAHRC (The Constitutional Institutions under the Justice Vote)

24. MTEF BUDGET ALLOCATIONS:CGE - Total

25. MTEF BUDGET ALLOCATIONS:National Office

26. MTEF BUDGET ALLOCATIONS:Regions