National Machineries for Women in Development: experiences, lessons and strategies
This report includes salient point s and recommendations from the BRIDGE 1996 report on National Machineries for Women (NWMs), updated with more recent thinking, policy and practice. Also included are summaries of some best practice examples. The original report reviews the experience of national machineries for women in developing countrie s , drawing on case study material from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries (including Belize, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Namibia, Papua New Guinea , Tonga, Uganda and Zambia) as well as comparative ma terial from Chile and the Philippine s where national machineries are well-established.
This report begins with background information on NWMs, followed by an overview of constraints to their effectiveness. Section four explores the implications for NWMs of the changing macro-political and in stitutional environment, emphasising the current interest in 'good government,' specifically, programmes of decentralisation and civil service reform as well
as broader issue s of participation and democratisation . Strategies adopted to further the implementat ion of gender-aware policy are presented in section five, and further case studie smake up the final part of this report.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, aims in its development cooperation programme to strengthen NWMs in respect to good governance and wome n's Human Rights on the one hand and on the other to enhance the capa city of NWMs to get more involved in overall national policy development, particularly the development of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP's) and Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs). A central concern is how to link NWMs more
strongly with Gender Focal Points in ministries and departments.
Information for this report was gained from a general review of library and internet based resources. Key texts published by de velopment agencies and academics were referred to (see bibliography) as well as a range of in ternet sites ( mentioned in the text). Organisation s and individual experts in the field were also contacted. Many of whom provided invaluable
information.
This report includes salient point s and recommendations from the BRIDGE 1996 report on National Machineries for Women (NWMs), updated with more recent thinking, policy and practice. Also included are summaries of some best practice examples. The original report reviews the experience of national machineries for women in developing countrie s , drawing on case study material from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries (including Belize, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Namibia, Papua New Guinea , Tonga, Uganda and Zambia) as well as comparative ma terial from Chile and the Philippine s where national machineries are well-established.
This report begins with background information on NWMs, followed by an overview of constraints to their effectiveness. Section four explores the implications for NWMs of the changing macro-political and in stitutional environment, emphasising the current interest in 'good government,' specifically, programmes of decentralisation and civil service reform as well
as broader issue s of participation and democratisation . Strategies adopted to further the implementat ion of gender-aware policy are presented in section five, and further case studie smake up the final part of this report.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, aims in its development cooperation programme to strengthen NWMs in respect to good governance and wome n's Human Rights on the one hand and on the other to enhance the capa city of NWMs to get more involved in overall national policy development, particularly the development of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP's) and Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs). A central concern is how to link NWMs more
strongly with Gender Focal Points in ministries and departments.
Information for this report was gained from a general review of library and internet based resources. Key texts published by de velopment agencies and academics were referred to (see bibliography) as well as a range of in ternet sites ( mentioned in the text). Organisation s and individual experts in the field were also contacted. Many of whom provided invaluable
information.