20 years of advocacy and communication services to promote women's rights in Africa/ 20 ans de services en plaidoirie et en communication pour promouvoir les droits de la femme en Afrique.

• Author: Kagoiya, Rachel
• Position: African Women's Development and Communication Network

17TH April 2008 is a significant date for FEMNET. We will be marking 20 years of continued efforts to advance women's empowerment, gender equality and women's human rights through advocacy, communication and training. Broadly, the birth of FEMNET in 1988 was an institutional response to the need for women to strengthen themselves through the experience based on their initiatives to address issues affecting them as well as to undertake joint initiatives to advance African woman's status. It was during the Africa Regional Preparatory Conference in Arusha, October 1984, where an African Women's Task Force was set up to monitor the implementation of the UN Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies and ensure African women's participation in the 3rd UN Conference for Women, the NGO Forum '85 and to create a mechanism for African women to work together beyond the women's Decade. In the context of this mandate, the African Women Task Force, at its meeting of April 1988, decided to form an African Women Network, the African Women's Development and Communication Network, abbreviated as FEMNET.

Over the years, FEMNET has evolved as a pan-African membership organisation that seeks to strengthen the rote and the contribution of African NGOs focusing on African women's development, equality and other human rights. Continental sharing of experiences and Lessons Learnt by women in their efforts for an equal world is necessary to move forward women's agenda. During the 20 years of existence, FEMNET has done a Lot to promote women's rights and the following are some key achievements:

* Every year, FEMNET has continued to participate and engage in the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women held in New York. Most importantly, FEMNET organizes and facilitates the African Women's Caucus (AWC), a forum in which African women meet and debate on critical issues of concern and then collectively release statements that include the perspectives of African women for inclusion in the final agreed conclusions of the CSW;

* On a regional Level, FEMNET has been working consistently with the African Union (AU) and its specialized mechanisms to advocate for gender-responsive policies and their implementation, particularly focusing on the evolution, adoption and ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, on the Rights of Women in Africa. FEMNET is a member founder and sits on the Steering Committee of the Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR) Coalition, the only regional movement to get the Protocol...