The NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO GCN), founded in 1998, is dedicated to coordinating the efforts of organizations focused on gender equality and women’s rights in Malawi. Our diverse membership includes NGOs and CSOs committed to advancing gender-related issues, making us a leading voice on gender matters nationwide.
The NGO Gender Coordination Network(NGOGCN) was formed to enhance strategic coordination among NGOs working in the promoting of gender equality women’s empowerment in Malawi. Currently, the network has 63 member organisations. These organisations are clustered according to five thematic working groups namely:
1) Agriculture and Economic Empowerment of women(AEEW);
2) Gender Based Violence(GBV);
3) Gender Related Laws(GRL);
4) Child Rights(CR) and;
5) Women in politics and Decision Making(WPDM)
Established in 1998, NGOGCN was formed as part of implementing the Beijing platform of Action on gender equality, adopted by the UN at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. In its formative stages, the Network was supported by UNDP and worked under the Ministry of Gender and Development. Over the years, it has been supported by various donors and development partners including UN agencies, Action aid Malawi, Oxfam Malawi, Urgent Action Fund, Gender Links CIDA_GESP, among others. Further to this, from 2005 the Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE) has supported the Network in its institutional operations and high impact programmes, enabling NGOGCN to institutionally operate effectively. This was followed by three phases of institutional and programmes support covering a period of 12 Years. The programmes were in all thematic areas of NGOGCN and this enabled it to immensely contribute to the changes relating to gender equality and women empowerment in Malawi.
Since its establishment, NGOGCN as a Network has grown both in influence and membership, with the membership growing from 32 to 63 in the last 25 Years. The value addition that NGOGCN has brought to the gender efforts in Malawi has been a critical stimulus for this growing membership. It is imperative at this stage to ensure that this growing membership builds a strategic voice that will harness and influence change for further gains in as far as gender equality and women empowerment are concerned. Notably, the development paradigm has shifted from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)2.
Background and Instruments
Contextual Background
As a member of the United Nations (UN), the Malawi Government has officially expressed its commitments to gender equality goals in recognizing that gender equality is important to democratization, economic efficiency and human development. Malawi also subscribes to various instruments that promote human rights and gender equality at both continental and regional levels to ensure that sustainable development is enjoyed by all without discrimination. These instruments provides a platform from which interventions springs to turn their provisions into reality.
Global Instruments
In line with its global commitments, Malawi is a signatory to several international instruments that promote gender equality and human rights for all. These instruments include the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) that advocates for equal rights for men and women 3 and special protection to motherhood and childhood tsatus4; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which promote equal rights of women and ensures the enjoyment of their rights irrespective of their sex5; the convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which establishes the universality of the principle of equality between women and men and provides for measures that ensures the equality of rights of all women throughout the world; the Vienna Declaration and Programmes of Action (1993), the Beijing Declaration (!995) and the other instruments that emanated from its subsequent reviews such as Beijing +5, +10, +15 and+20, which reiterates and reinforces the key agreements outlined in the CEDAW in a bid to end inequalities that women continue to experience. Malawi is also a party to convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) whose main thrust is promotion of children’s rights
Furthermore, in September 2015 the UN adopted the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a new agenda for development globally. Specifically, Goal number 5 of the SDGS is about achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls. This denotes that at the global level, gender is a critical agenda for achieving sustainable development. It embodies the spirit of leaving no-one behind by ensuring that women and girls are part of the development agenda. It is therefore imperative for NGOGCN contribute towards the achievement of this goal by focusing on several of its indicators such as the elimination of harmful practices, ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls, ensuring women’s full and effective participation in, and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making including the political, economic and public spheres of life6 among others.
Continental Instruments
In addition to the global instruments, Malawi is also a party to a number of continental instructions which include the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981) which prohibits the discrimination of people on the basis of sex and provides for equal pay equal work and elimination of discrimination against women: and the protocol to the Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003) which provides for diverse rights of women, such as providing for affirmative action on the equality of women, elimination of harmful practices, protection women in armed conflicts, reproductive health rights, inheritance rights, rights to family planning, rights of widows, a rights to a positive cultural context as well as providing for special protection to elderly women.
Notably also, the African Union adopted the Agenda 2063 which espouse African’s aspirations and Gender equality forms part of such aspirations. Under aspirations6, Africa is envisaged as a continent where.
- African women will be fully empowered in all spheres, equal social, political and economic rights, including the rights to own and inherit property, sign contracts, register and manage business.
- Rural women will have access to productive assets: land, credit inputs and financial services.
- All forms of gender _ based violence and discrimination (social, economic, political) against women and girls will be eliminated and the latter will fully enjoy all their human rights.
- All harmful social practices (especially female genital mutilation and child marriages) will be ended and barriers to equality health and education for women and girls eliminated. The Africa of 2063 will have full gender parity, with women occupying at least 50% of elected public offices at all levels and half of managerial positions in the public and the private sectors.
- The economic and political glass ceiling that restricted women’s progress will have been shattered. African children shall be empowered through the full implementation of African Charter on the Rights of the Child”7
Regional Instruments
Malawi is also a signatory to number of Regional instruments such as the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development (2008). The protocol provides for the advancement of gender equality through the promotion of women’s participation in decision making positions in politics and public life, combating Gender based violence and harmful practices as well as promoting girl child education, among others.
National Legal and Policy Framework
Supporting the aforementioned instruments is a robust national policy framework which is premised on the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi: under sections20 and 24, which is provide for gender equality and special rights of women, respectively.8 In addition, following the Beijing Conference Malawi formulated its National Plan of Action in 1997, followed by its first ever National Gender Policy in 2000, covering the period 2000 to 2005. Among other things, the gender policy addressed the following priority areas; education and training, reproductive health, and food nutrition security, natural resources and environmental management, governance and human rights as well as poverty eradication and economic empowerment. A second National Gender Policy was produced in 2012 and adopted in 2015.9 Among other things, it addresses issues like women’s participation in decision making, gender and agriculture, climate change and environmental management In between the two gender policies, Government formulated and implemented the National Gender Programme (2004_2009), the National Strategy on Combating Gender Based Violence (2002_2006)and the National Response to combating Based Violence Strategy (2008_2013).Currently the new GBV National Plan of Action (2016_2021) is being implemented.
Malawi also has legislation that promotes gender equality and human rights for all. In 2013 the Gender Equality Act (GEA) was enacted and it aims at promoting gender equality, women empowerment and ensuring equal opportunities for men and women in all functions of society: prohibiting and providing redress for sex discrimination, harmful practices and sexual harassment: and providing for public awareness on promotion of gender equality, among others. Other pieces of legislation worth mentioning include the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (2006), the Child Care, Justice and Protection Act (2010) (which consolidates the laws relating to children by making provision for child care, protection and justice, as well as matters for social development ) : the Deceased Estate (wills, inheritance and Protection Act) of 2011 which protects the right to property left behind by a deceased spouse in a domestic set up; and the marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act(2015) which among other things addresses issues pertaining to the rights of women in a domestic set up.
The Ministry of Gender, Disability and Social Welfare leads the National Gender Machinery and works with various institutions such as the NGOGCN, Parliamentary Women Caucus, Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) and other government ministries and departments in implementing these policies, strategies and pieces of legislation.