Head of Gender Division in the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs (MoDVA) Agatha Amathila said the ministry has moved a step further with the development of the gender action plan and its inclusivity in the policy.
This according to Amathila, was enabled by the just-ended defence and veterans’ affairs gender policy validation workshop which took place in Swakopmund to give guidelines that will help the adoption of strategies aimed at empowering women and eliminating all tendencies that view them with contempt.
The senior staff officer, during the closing ceremony of the five-day workshop here Friday, said key actors of the implementation plan will ensure that the activities and outputs will be funded through a Gender Responsive Budget.
“We deliberated on the Draft MoDVA Gender Policy and aligned it to international, continental, regional, sub-regional and national instruments which the Namibian Government have signed and ratified.
The workshop further aligned the draft policy to the National Gender Policy which is also currently under review,” she noted.
Additionally, the policy is in response to the implementation of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, in conformity with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and will be presented to the relevant committees before it reaches the final approval and ready for implementation, she said.
Amathila highlighted that the workshop formulated objectives to ensure that the goal of the policy is achieved and realised, by increasing the opportunities for participation of women at all decision-making levels and strengthening meaningful participation of women in peace processes and conflict resolutions, among others.
It also resolved to implement the policy, once finalised, by allocating various roles and responsibilities to various key players, namely; Departments, NDF Services, Formations and Units to ensure that it remains a guiding tool that ascertains gender mainstreaming as well as an equal representation of men and women towards the attainment of gender equality, she concluded.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency