STRATEGIES! TALK Does Africa Need a

Описание: The first country in the world to give a feminist orientation to its foreign policy was Sweden in 2014. Several other countries followed: Canada (2017), France (2019), Mexico (2020), Spain (2021), Luxembourg (2021), Chile (2022) and Germany (2022). This trend is gaining interest as an alternative approach to promoting gender equality and women empowerment in the development sector. Feminist / Foreign Development Policy challenges existing power structures, different forms and interactions of oppression experienced by women and marginalized groups.

In January 2023, The BMZ Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development released its new Africa Strategy, of which one of the 6 key focus areas is "Feminist Development Policy and Gender Equality". The aim of the BMZ's feminist development policy is to eliminate structural inequalities, unequal treatment and discrimination in the long term. This also includes racist structures and power relations.

Since the early 2000s, both the African Union and several African countries have created gender policies or strategies to signal their commitment to improving the conditions of women and girls so that they participate fully in economic activities, political affairs and social endeavors. The latest such strategy from the African Union was launched in February 2019 to ensure the inclusion of women in Africa's development agenda. This is the strategy for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE).

• Are feminist development policies the solution Africa needs to advance gender equality?
• What will be the implications of these new approaches for cooperation between Africa and other countries?
• What do African countries and institutions need to do differently to radically challenge existing economic, political, and institutional structures?
• How do we go about making FDPs truly effective for Africa?