ROFAF

18 December 2014

ROFAF[i] (Réseau des Organisations Féminines d'Afrique Francophone) and the member organizations of GSPA2015[ii] (Groupe de Suivi et de Plaidoyer sur l’Après 2015 - Post 2015 Monitoring and Advocacy Group) congratulate the UN Secretary-General (SG) for his action-oriented Synthesis Report on the Post 2015 development Agenda. We fully appreciate his decision to ground his report in the Open Working Group Outcome Document on Sustainable Development Goals. We strongly support his various recommendations to Member States for their intergovernmental negotiation process on the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda final parameters. Also, in relation to ‘’Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting’’ of the new Agenda, we greatly appreciate his recommendation to include civil society actors’ inputs in gauging the progress in its implementation.

In general, the SG’s report gives good guidance on means of implementation. However, it fails to make specific reference as of HOW to ensure that the world’s population will benefit from the implemented agenda. In our opinion, it is very important to clearly state HOW the post 2015 Agenda will positively change the conditions of the most vulnerable social groups including women of all ages and children who hardly see the direct impacts of policies in their daily life.

Specifically, ROFAF and GSPA2015 recognize and appreciate:

• the strong principles for sustainable development expressed by the UN Secretary-General in his Synthesis Report on the Post 2015 Agenda
• how he sets the stage in the report by recalling the important momentum around the post 2015 processes and highlighted the historic importance and impact that any decision which will be made in the finalized post 2015 Agenda will have on the future of the world for the next 15 years.
• the mention he made about positive results registered in the areas of girl’s access to education, maternal health and women political participation over the last two decades (§17)
• his recommendation to develop mechanisms to review the implementation of SDGs including improvements of availability of and access to gender disaggregated information (§46)
• that he outlined in his report the global call for an end to all forms of gender inequality, gender-based discrimination, and violence against women, children and young boys and girls (§51)
• his recommendation to maintain the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as in the Open Working Group Outcome Document.  And we recommend that special attention be paid while framing the targets and indicators so as we do not register any regress or weak language in the finalized post 2015 Agenda (§63)
• his recommendation to establish strong consumer protection agencies. and we would like to stress the need for them to be fully independent structures to effectively and efficiently play their role (§107)
• his various directives on means of implementation and his specific mention of some considerations that the new policies should incorporate which include social, environmental, labour, human rights and gender equality. Our main concern, though, lies in the lack of indication on which mechanisms need to be put in place and the tools that need to be used / developed to ensure that this will be done.
• how he highlighted civil society organizations independent role and the need to build their capacity to efficiently do their work (§129, 145)

However, ROFAF and GSPA2015 regret that the Secretary General failed to:

• outline the gender gaps left by the MDGs that also need to be filled by the new Agenda (§50)
• lay emphasis on vulnerable and minorities groups living in politically unstable countries (§51)
• lay so little emphasis on good governance in the report, which in our view is key to achieving any good results of the intentions expressed in the report.
• make reference to impunity in his report
• outline gender disparities,  disparities within and among countries, mitigated progress, new challenges and disproportionate impact of these on women, children and other minority groups (§8, 9, 10)

ROFAF and GSPA2015 believe that we need proper and well framed agenda and specific indicators to address current development challenges and provoke positive change (§13). We are fully convinced that for a genuine, positive and lasting “transformation�, we also need change in our attitude towards one another’s rights including those of women and young girls (§159).

This is why ROFAF and GSPA2015 recommend:

• that Gender Equality be included among the integrated six essential elements of the new Program as proposed in the synthesis report (§159)
• that special attention be paid while framing the targets and indicators in the finalized post 2015 Agenda so as we do not register any regress or weak language (§63)
• to include policies to help women entrepreneurs in informal sector formalize their businesses and facilitate their access to bank financing (§106)
• that support be provided for to specifically address the gender dimensions of the urgent needs of LDC’s and post conflict countries referred to in  Paragraph 130 (§130)

ROFAF and GSPA2015 recognize the effort made by the SG in his Report to synthetize the wide variety of available information related to the Post 2015 Agenda and make recommendations to Member States during the intergovernmental process. However, we regret its weakness and lack of focus. We are surprised by its lack of ambition because most of the recommendations are nothing new. The report lacks clarity on how the desired transformation mentioned by the SG will be provoked (§159). Moreover, we astounded by how he slipped on marginalized groups while referring to People, thus creating room for ignorance of their specific needs including gender considerations during the next fifteen years.

 

DOWNLOAD ROFAF and GSPA2015’s Response to UN Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report on the Post 2015 Agenda: The Road to Dignity by 2030

TELECHARGER la Réponse du ROFAF et du GSPA2015au Rapport de Synthèse du Secrétaire Général des Nations Unies sur le Programme de Développement pour l’Après 2015: La route vers la dignité en 2030

[i] ROFAF^[i] (Réseau des Organisations Féminines d'Afrique Francophone) is a regional membership network of more than 100 francophone women organizations based in Togo, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Senegal, Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Chad and Benin.

 

[ii] GSPA2015 (Groupe de Suivi et de Plaidoyer sur l’Après 2015 - Post 2015 Monitoring and Advocacy Group) was set up by ROFAF after its Information Days on "Gender issues in the Post 2015 Development Agenda" held in Togo, Mali, and Democratic Republic of Congo. GSPA2015 is composed of over 40 member organizations