BACKGROUND /INTRODUCTION
The fourth world Conference on women took place in Beijing, China in 1995, ten years after 3rd World Conference on women in Nairobi. The Beijing Conference marked a significant turning point in the struggle toward gender equality and women’s empowerment and successfully defined a global programme for women’s advancement and empowerment.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) reflect a new international commitment to the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere. It also asserts the mainstreaming of gender as a key strategy for promoting and achieving gender equality and sustainable development. The Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) highlighted the special role that men can play in promoting and achieving gender equality.

The United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) compiles reports on yearly basis and expects national governments who attend the CSW and are signatories to the Beijing Declaration to report on their countries’ performance and implementation of the twelve (12) critical areas of concern.

The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) which has the mandate to champion the cause of all women and children in the development process of Ghana, and ensure that their concerns are properly mainstreamed, has on behalf of Ghana been reporting annually on the country’s performance.

This year marks 15 years of implementation of the Platform for Action and preparations are under way to represent Ghana at the CSW in March. While preparing for the international conference to share with the international community our achievements, challenges and plan the way forward, it is imperative that Ghanaian women celebrate the occasion on the 8th March which is International Women’s Day.

The theme for this year’s session of the CSW is “Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) and the outcome of the 23rd Special Session of the UN General Assembly”.

In line with the theme, the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) is planning to organize a Side Event to exhibit and share Ghana’s efforts at empowering women and children in Ghana over the period of existence of the national Women’s Machinery, by discussing the topic “Beyond Commitment to Responsive Institutional Structures” At this important meeting the Ghanaian delegation will be sharing with other countries and learning from them what institutional mechanisms have been used to implement the Platform for Action, challenges and the best way forward to better achieve gender equality.

In view of the BPfA implementation review, the National (local) theme will remain the same as the international theme and will not be modified as has been done in the past years.
National activities will however be linked to the environment, with a massive clean-up campaign in all 10 regions of the country in collaboration with partners and the support of MDAs and the private sector. the public will also be educated on the importance of practicing good sanitation to the total development of Ghana, with particular reference to disaster risk reduction and emerging issues of climate change.

There will also be radio and other media discussions to inform the public on women’s empowerment and what Beijing Platform for Action is about.

On their return, the CSW team will continue with the dissemination of the outcome at the conference and the way forward.

OBJECTIVES

1.To mark 15 years of implementation of the BPfA.

2.Involve male counterparts to review implementation of the 12 critical Areas of the BPfA and re-strategise to bridge identified gaps.

3.Refresh the minds of the public on what “Beijing” was and is all about.

4.To present Ghana’s performance and challenges to stakeholders including Private Sector Partners (including corporate bodies), with the view to form effective partnerships with them, and collating their ideas about the way forward.

METHODOLOGY

A number of activities are being planned to make the celebration of Beijing + 15 more meaningful, to make Ghanaian women reflect on their past and current status; in order to have a clear vision for the years ahead. These include:

2) Hold a seminar at national level, to inform stakeholders about the outcome and the way forward on The Commission on Status of Women (CSW) / Beijing + 15 Conference;

4) Radio, TV Discussions and other Media Coverage
Media Activities such as radio and TV discussions, call-in programmes, to highlight all activities lined up.

5) Conduct Cleanup Exercise in collaboration with Zoomlion Company

Regional offices of the Ministry will collaborate with women groups, NGOs, other MDAs to educate the public, specially, market places and Lorry parks, on the need for good sanitation practices, and the role this plays in achieving the goals of BPfA, with male involvement.