Gender Equality for Development
Women’s rights and gender equality are priority areas for Norwegian foreign and development policy, and a topic that other countries frequently raise in dialogue with Norwegian authorities. Norwegian experiences with gender equality work are sought after as Norway has relatively good results to show in this area.
The Gender Equality for Development Programme began in 2017. The programme is a central element in the implementation of the Norwegian government’s Action Plan for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, which focuses on five thematic priority areas.
Institutional cooperation
The objective of the programme – also referred to as GEfD – is to reduce poverty by strengthening the capacity of developing countries to prepare and implement legislation and policy that yield results for women’s rights and gender equality.
For instance, Norway has experienced that women’s economic participation has made a significant contribution to Norway’s economic growth since the 1970s, while economic independence has helped to enhance the position of women in the home and in society.
The programme aims at providing technical cooperation on gender equality between Norway and countries that request capacity development and institutional development. The programme will help to transfer experiences and expertise between institutions at government level.
In September 2019, Norway signed an agreement with Ethiopia and in February 2020, an agreement was signed with Nepal. During the programme period 2019-2021, the programmes will focus on knowledge management, gender statistics and more specifically developing knowledge management capacities and structures.
The aim of knowledge management is to ensure that both the development and the implementation of policies is based on knowledge from sound research, statistics and other empirical knowledge. It is a concept that lies at the foundation of sound policy development and implementation, and thus also this programme.
The Norwegian Ministry of Culture, the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs and Statistics Norway cooperate with the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs and the Central Statistics Agency in Ethiopia and with the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens and Central Bureau of Statistics in Nepal.
Organisation
Norad is the secretariat for the programme. The steering group consists of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture.
The Ministry of Culture and the Norwegian Agency for Children, Youth and Family Affairs play a central role in the planning and implementation of the programme from the Norwegian side.
It may also be relevant to involve other Norwegian actors with responsibility for aspects of gender equality work in Norway in the programme, contingent upon requests from the partner countries.
High-Level Forum Making Gender Equality Work
The High-Level Forum Making Gender Equality Work is part of the Gender Equality for Development Programme and focuses on Norwegian experiences with women’s participation in the labour market.
The intended target group is high-level government officials from countries that are interested in learning more about gender equality in Norway. Participation is by invitation from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The first Forum was held in Oslo 26.-28. November 2019 with participants from the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico. The next Forum was organized as a webinar 02.02.2022 with participants from government, social partners and private sector in Ghana, Tanzania and Sudan. It provides valuable insights into how these countries work towards strengthening gender equality and women’s participation in the labour force. You can watch the webinar here, and read the summary below.
