Dakar, Sénégal, July, 26th, 2021. The ECOWAS Commission and the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, based in Addis Ababa, are holding a joint Awareness Training Workshop for Staff of the ECOWAS Commission on Promoting Accountability for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) in the ECOWAS Commission through the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions (GES-PI). The workshop will be held virtually on the 27th and 28th July 2021.

The workshop is being organised within the framework of the Regional Project on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) in Africa, a four-year project that is being implemented by the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, in collaboration with the Region-al Economic Communities (RECs), including ECOWAS, and regional Civil Society Organisations. The goal of the project is to promote women leadership, representation and participation in decision making and women’s economic empowerment as well as improve the capacity of the RECs and CSOs to monitor the ratification, domestication and implementation of legal instruments on gender. It also aims to build the capacity of RECs to use an evidence-based approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions (GES-PI) establishes minimum acceptable quality standards and provides a clear and detailed framework that can guide organizations in planning and implementing synergized actions for gender mainstreaming across organization-al domains and practice areas. The GES-PI addresses six critical areas including; (i) Management Framework for gender equality goals, (ii) Capacities to meet gender equality goals, (iii) Gender equality enabling workplace, (iv) Partnerships and engagement to meet gender equality goals, (v) Laws, Policies, Plans and Programmes to meet gender equality goals and (vi) Results/ Impact.

The Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions is rolled out through the implementation of a Certification Program that aims to enable public institutions to track and meet gender equality goals and ensure that they address inequality and tackle institutional discrimination in the world of work. The GES-PI Certification Program is an initiative that recognizes good performance and gender accountability in delivering transformational gender results through the establishment of standards within public sector institutions to promote an equitable work environment for men and women.

The Program builds the capacity of public institutions to mainstream gender equality and certifies institutions that actively promote equality. It also provides concrete tools for the public sector to reduce gender inequalities and disparities as well as contribute to the achievement of the commitments enshrined in the AU Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development

The main objective of the awareness training is to familiarize staff of the ECOWAS Commission with the rationale, goals, objectives and principles of the Gender Equality Seal and what it seeks to achieve. The training will also focus on the theory of change, standards and bench-marks, key components and key steps of the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institution foundations. Finally, the workshop will consider modalities for rolling out and implementing the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions in the ECOWAS Commission with the view to promoting accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) in the Commission.

The participants of the awareness training are drawn from the different Departments, Directorates and Specialised Agencies of the ECOWAS Commission.