In 1997, UNDP and the Government of Botswana signed a Programme Support
Document (June 1997 - December 2000) addressing the cross-cutting issue of
gender that plays into every sphere of human life and interaction. UNDP's
support has been targeted at strengthening the institutional arrangements and
mechanisms related to the coordination and implementation of the National Gender
Programme Framework. This has included capacity building within the Women's
Affairs Department (WAD), strengthening networking in civil society
organizations, and assisting with the creation of an appropriate policy
environment for mainstreaming gender equality.
The programme has since been extended to December 2002. Building on the gaps
of Phase 1, the extension focuses on the following priority areas:
Shifting focus from the "Women in Development" to "Gender
and Development" approach
Institutional strengthening of WAD to enable it to focus on a
coordination, monitoring and policy analysis
Institutional strengthening of NGOs and other partners to mainstream and
implement gender and development programmes
Expediting the mainstreaming of gender issues across all sectors and
programmes starting with piloting processes and systems in the Ministry of
Finance and Development Planning, Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs,
Ministry of Local Governance and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Wildlife
and Tourism..
Expanding the advocacy work beyond sensitization to implementation, and
Expediting the implementation of policy analysis work.
The specific areas of support for the extension programme will be:
Institutional Capacity Building for gender mainstreaming at the National
Level
Institutional Capacity Building for gender mainstreaming in civil society
organisations
The economic empowerment of women
The capacity of women in decision making and power sharing, and
Human rights and violence against women and children.
As means to these ends, the Gender Programme works closely in collaboration
with the following national and regional partners:
Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics (BCWP)
Botswana National Council on Women (BNCW)
Gender Programme and Policy Committee, University of Botswana
