Parliament gives a voice to rural women and men on SDGs
The 4th rural women parliament with men as partners was opened this week by Margaret Mensah-Williams, MP and chairperson of the National Council.
This year`s theme gave a voice to rural women and men on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in accordance with the 6th Parliament theme of “Parliament Rededicates Namibia Towards the Attainment of SDGs”.
“The deliberations made by the youth during the inaugural session was very enlightening and must I am genuinely proud of how the youth conducted themselves during their session and likewise I am proud of the recommendations that they made on how,” Mensah-Williams said.
Namibia can implement the SDGs goals that concerns the youth, Mensah-Williams said. The report from the procession will be tabled in the National Council and after adoption, it will be channeled to the line ministries for implementation.
National Council`s Women Caucus and Standing Committee on Gender, Youth and ICT is interested in the solutions to be proposed on how rural women can be incorporated in decision making bodies to ensure gender equality at all levels.
“Despite the challenges that we are yet to overcome as a nation especially those dealing with health, poverty and gender inequality, we are proud as a country for many ground-breaking achievements we have collectively made in terms of gender relations,” she said.
Meanwhile Mensah-Williams said government has specifically made strides in the implementation of a Gender Responsive Budget to most ministries and in 2015, conducted a Gender Analysis of the 2015/2016 Budget and the 2015/16-2017/18 Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
The analysis and audit findings indicated some form of implementation of Gender Responsive Budget in at least 9 out of ten ministries in varied ways, which is a significant improvement from the initial three pilot ministries of agriculture, health and education.
Furthermore she said that there are three key factors to move towards a Gender Responsive Budget, namely technical capacity, strengthening of systems and accountability from individual Parliamentarians.
