ENHANCING
THE REALISATION OF RIGHTS
The Facilitating Project
Phase I
(1993-1996) and Phase II (1997-2001)
IWRAW Asia
Pacific started the Facilitating Project - also called "Facilitating
the Fulfilment of State Obligations to Women's Equality"
- in South East Asia in 1997 and South Asia in 1998. Carried out
by local groups in 12 countries of
this region, this project's premise was that governments are the
key parties responsible for the realisation of equality and human
rights for women. It has as a long-term objective: the development
of a model for data gathering and monitoring the status of women
within the standards set by the CEDAW Convention to facilitate
the implementation of this treaty. Its medium- and short-term
objectives, on the other hand, include:
- Collecting
necessary baseline data for measuring incremental change related
to rights of women as provided for in the CEDAW Convention;
- Assessing
problem areas in the fulfilment of national level commitments
to the CEDAW Convention, increasing activism where State action
is lacking;
- Tracking
and demonstrating best practices and positive national-level activities
which have led to successful impact on government legislative
reform;
- Sharing experiences,
expertise, processes, and results with women's groups at the regional
level to strengthen their capacity to increase the impact on national
legislative obligations; and
- Systematically
monitoring the incremental changes in government commitments country
by country, for use in a wide range of regional and international
for a such as the review by the CEDAW Committee.
By facilitating
a process to monitor State compliance at the national level, the
Facilitating Project enables civil society to keep governments
accountable to the standards to which they have committed themselves
internationally.
The Facilitating
Project involves the following components:
-
The
setting-up of core groups in each country to act as monitors
and focal points at the national level;
-
These
also take responsibility for the research and writing of a preliminary
baseline report that identifies the status of women and contributory
causes of discrimination as related to a particular priority
issue, as well as detect gaps in the fulfillment of State obligation
in relation to this;
-
The
formation of issue networks by the core groups, done in conjunction
with other women's groups and civil society, to create a strong
base from which to launch advocacy with the government;
-
Holding
of country consultations and meetings to bring about a collaborative
government and NGO partnerships. For this, the national machinery
for women is approached as an ally and insider advocate who
can bring on board all other relevant government departments
and ministries to work toward the effective implementation of
the CEDAW Convention at the domestic level; and
-
Using
the baseline report for large-scale advocacy, which is followed
by ongoing monitoring and further advocacy.
Phase III
(2002-2005)
Under Phase
III of our programme, IWRAW Asia Pacific envisions the Facilitating
Project shifting to more regional-level activities. National-level
projects will still take place, but core groups in each country,
rather than us, will be responsible for these. Instead we will:
-
Publish,
disseminate and use the findings of the Facilitating Project
research as a basis for advocacy measures;
-
Conduct
regional meetings on common advocacy themes that will utilise
the findings of the research (e.g. rights of women in marriage
or personal laws, economic opportunities of women, violence
against women, and women's political participation) that have
previously been identified by the Facilitating Project's partners.
This
page was last updated on July 25, 2003
IWRAW
Asia Pacific is an independent, non-profit, NGO in Special consultative
status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
©IWRAW Asia Pacific
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