Senior policymakers and civil society actors from nearly 40 African nations have convened in Gaborone, Botswana for the Africa Gender Statistics Forum (AGSF) 2024. They are advocating for increased investment and collaboration to enhance the generation and use of gender data, aiming to improve the well-being of women and girls across the continent.
This year's forum focuses on assessing Africa's progress and perspectives on gender, as outlined in the Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the 3rd Africa Program on Gender Statistics. The theme for 2024, "Pooling Together for Gender Statistics: Financing the Numbers that Make Women and Girls Count," aligns with the International Women's Day initiative, echoing the call to "Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress."
William Muhwava, Chief of the Demographic and Social Statistics Section, speaking on behalf of Oliver Chinganya, Director of the African Centre for Statistics at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), highlighted a significant financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), amounting to $1.3 trillion USD annually. He noted that Africa requires an additional $800 million USD yearly to advance towards achieving the SDGs. At the current rate, gender equality is projected to be attained by 2094.
Despite an increase in development assistance for gender equality since 2015, funding allocated for gender data and statistics has dropped by nearly half compared to 2019 averages. The AGSF serves as a pivotal annual gathering for producers and users of gender statistics in Africa, providing a crucial platform to enhance data availability and utilization. This supports evidence-based policymaking, including gender-responsive budgeting, to improve the well-being of African women and girls.
Effective development in Africa necessitates comprehensive gender data and statistics that reflect the diverse realities of women, men, boys, and girls. The sixth AGSF is co-hosted by Statistics Botswana, the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), PARIS21, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and UN Women, under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), as reported by ENA.