Equity first

Finalist - Drivers of Change Civil Society Award: Gender Links

In the eight years since it was founded Johannesburg-based NGO Gender Links has promoted gender equality in media, governance and the justice system.

It was the pivotal role Gender Links played in ensuring the Southern African Development Community’s heads of state signed the Protocol on Gender and Development that made the Drivers of Change judges single the organisation out for praise.

In the run-up to the signing in August 2008 Gender Links brought together 40 NGOs in 15 countries to develop the protocol.

‘Partners were mobilised across the region with a clear agenda and strategy that can be emulated by other civil society organisations in the region,” the judges noted.

The protocol enshrines gender equality in the constitutions of all Southern African countries, ensuring that gender equity is not contradicted by any other laws or practices.

It focuses largely on women’s economic empowerment, helping to overcome poverty by making provision for women’s equal access to credit, land and property.

It also encourages recognition of unpaid work by women, such as caring for people living with HIV/Aids.