The establishment of institutional mechanisms to design, promote, monitor, advocate and mobilise support for policies to advance the status of women is one of the critical areas in the Platform For Action (PFA) to which governments committed themselves at the conferences in Beijing and Dakar respectively in 1995 and 1994.

National government gender machineries have been established in all of the SADC countries, however where there is stronger partnership with the non-government sector such as in Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa, the environment for promotion of gender equality is enhanced.

In Angola, the Secretariat for Women's Affairs was elevated to the status of a Ministry for Women Affairs in 1996. Although the ministry does not have a National Gender Policy yet, the women of Angola, says Filomena Delgado, the deputy Minister for the Women's Ministry, "feel that government has taken a bold and major step toward strengthening the institutional mechanism at the national level by creating a Ministry for Women's Affairs".

The Ministry has a documentation unit, which has started working closely with the director of research within the ministry and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country to come up with the way forward toward a National Gender Policy.

In Botswana, the Women's Affairs Division was in 1996 elevated to a Department under the leadership of a Director rather than a Co-ordinator as was previously the case. In collaboration with UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) the government has developed a National Gender Programme (NGP) and a five-year action plan indicating activities, outputs, indicators, time-frames, and a budget for carrying out the programme.

The plan provides a framework within which government, NGOs and the private sector can address gender concerns in a co-ordinated manner. The framework was launched by President Mogae in November 1998.

In Lesotho, the government has adopted a national policy on gender and development that was drafted by the law reform commission. A gender office, fully staffed with gender experts is expected to be established to help to implement the national gender policy following its adoption.

In Malawi, the Ministry of Women, Youth and Community Services - the government gender machinery - has been collaborating with the NGOs and some donor agencies in the country to co-ordinate the development of a gender policy.

In Mozambique, the Ministry for the Co-ordination of Social Welfare has been conducting seminars aimed at disseminating the Beijing Platform for Action (PFA) and defining strategies to help with implementation of government's post-Beijing Plan of Action.

Capacity-building courses on gender-related issues have, and continue to be conducted for government and other public workers to facilitate the mainstreaming of gender into programmes and sectoral policies.

In Swaziland, government allocated the gender portfolio responsibility to the Ministry of Home Affairs in March 1996. A gender unit was consequently established on 1 April 1997 with its own budget. The unit initially started with two professionals. To assist the office in its work, gender contact persons were identified in various government ministries and departments.

A co-ordinating machinery that was established in that country before the Beijing Conference was mandated to continue its function of monitoring the progress toward the advancement of women. A post-Beijing committee comprising 42 organisations from the government and NGO sector was also established to help chart the way forward after Beijing. The formalisation of these bodies remains a challenge for both government and NGOs.

To emphasise government's commitment to implement goals outlined in the gender policy, President Sam Nujoma in his foreword to the document recommends that the gender policy be used as a practical guide to address strategic needs for both women and men. "I therefore call on every Namibian citizen to make this policy a living document by working vigorously and tirelessly towards equality between women and men," President Nujoma stated.

In the case of South Africa, the institutional mechanism has been established at both national and provincial levels to advance gender equality within the structures at government, parliamentary, independent bodies, women's organisations and civil society levels. The office on the status of women, gender units and provincial structures have been set up within government. The Commissions on Gender Equality and Human Rights are some of the organs set up by civil society.

In Zambia, the department of women was in 1996 elevated to a Gender in Development Division based in Cabinet Office. By June 1996, Zambia had prepared and published a comprehensive Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women (SPAW) in the country for the years 1996 to 2000. The strategy document was a result of a series of workshops, seminars and meetings held to translate the Global PFA to Zambian realities.

The SPAW was developed as an action plan to guide government, policy makers and NGOs in implementing the Beijing and national PFA. The document has since remained a draft, pending cabinet approval.

In Zimbabwe, gender focal persons have been placed in the planning and monitoring sections of all Government Ministries and Departments.

The focal persons have been active in their departments and have set up gender committees within Ministries. These structures have come up with line ministry plans of action that will be consolidated into a national plan of action.

All gender focal persons have been trained in gender sensitisation, analysis as well as planning.

The gender focal persons contributed to the creation of a programme for mechanisms to monitor the status of women. In 1997, the Zimbabwean government appointed a Minister responsible for Gender issues in the president's office whose duties are:

• monitoring the implementation of the gender policy;
• co-ordinating all gender-related activities throughout government and the private sector including local, regional and international organisations and NGOs;
• providing a national focal point for all gender-related issues;
• monitoring the implementation of the Beijing PFA; and
• undertaking research studies on gender related issues.

• Introduction to the SADC Gender Monitor
• Global, Regional and National Commitments
• SADC Countries' National Priority Areas of Concern