Global Compact International Yearbook 2013
61
The problem is the resources. We are not getting enough funds
from national budgets or from the donor community. African
heads of state launched the campaign in Africa in January
2010.
We are now doing advocacy with the different heads of
state to ensure that their ministries of planning and finance
allocate funds for implementing the national action plans.
We have safer cities programs that we will be rolling out
in several countries in cooperation with UNICEF. Research
shows that rape of young girls is normally of school children
in the early morning when they are going to school, and in
the evening when they are going back home, often through
thick bushes and other unsafe pathways. But when we talk
to governments about this, they hardly have the resources to
provide sanitation and water to communities. They do not
see it as a priority.
And the judicial and security systems?
We are working with the police, military, and other entities in
the security sector to make sure they understand the gender
dimensions of policing and security, also gender-based violence.
We had a conference to talk about how we can support the
SADC gender unit to mainstream gender in the SADC Organ
on Politics, Defence, and Security. We talked about ensuring
that the officers who go on peacekeeping missions have some
gender training.
We are also looking at the informal justice sector. In southern
Africa, research clearly shows that when women experience
abuse or violence in the home, they do not go to the police
as a first port of call. They go either to their families or to
traditional leadership.
There has been real progress in narrowing the gap between boys and
girls entering primary school. But do the girls stay in school?
That is a fundamental point. Looking at many countries, we
find that there is parity in terms of entry. In some countries,
girls are even surpassing boys in entering basic education.
But as you move further into the school years and you get
into grades seven and eight, there are fewer girls continuing
CSR in Africa
Agenda