UN calls for promotion of gender equality for acceleration of Sustainable Development Goals implementation

By Elijah Phompho

The United Nations Country Coordinator in Malawi, Maria Jose Torres global statistics have indicated that countries with the highest indicators in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets are those that have made strides in achieving gender equality.

Torres said this during a two-day strategic engagement meeting which the UN organized for Parliamentary Women Coucus where she called for increased efforts in the promotion of gender equality as a means of achieving the global set targets of SDGs.

The strategic engagement meeting was aimed at reducing knowledge gap between female parliamentarians and their male counterparts in issues of budget, legislative and policy formulation.

The engagement meeting, which concluded over the weekend in Blantyre, challenged the female parliamentarians to lead the gender equality agenda.

“As Malawi is looking into ways of accelerating the millennium set targets, with globe data showing highest indicators of achieving SDGs in counties with greater strides in achieving gendor equality, it makes sanse for Malawi to invest in equal access for women and girls in education, job opportunity and political participation,” Torres said.

On her part, second deputy Speaker of Parliament, Aisha Adams concured with Torres that women and children are the ones who suffer poverty most, hence no country is developed unless it empowers its women economically.

Adams, therefore, lobbied for more funding from UN agencies for the Parliamentary Women Caucus to fulfill its line up of activitiesin the current National Assembly for the  promotion of women participation in decision making.

The UN and the Parliamentary Women Coucus formalised its cordination at an engagement meeting in October 2019 where it was agreed that going forward the collaboration shall be with the UN and not just the UN women as has been in the past.