REPUBLIC OF KENYA

THE PRESIDENCY
MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING

SPEECH BY ANNE WAIGURU, OGW, CABINET SECRETARY,

MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING DURING THE GROUP
OF FOUR(4) COUNTRIES MEETING IN NAIROBI, KENYA
12TH, AUGUST 2015

Your Excellency, Amb. of China in Kenya,

First Secretary, Danish Embassy,
Representative of Mexico,
Development Partners,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Nairobi, Kenya,
for this meeting to mark the inauguration of this great initiative of Four
countries which share a common purpose of promoting Gender Equality
and Empowerment of Women. I am convinced and strongly believe that
together we have embarked on a journey whose results will reverberate
beyond our different regions and reach across continents.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
As the Four countries, with a unique place in history in the womens
movement, we have come a long way. It has been 40 years since the 1 st
World Conference that was held in Mexico City in 1975, 35 years since the
2nd meeting in Copenhagen Denmark in 1980, 30 years since the 3rd World
Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985 and 20 years since the 4th World
Conference on Women in Beijing , China in 1995.
It is therefore without a doubt that we are setting out an expansive vision
in spearheading the realization of a set of landmark commitments for
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achieving Gender Equality as articulated in the Outcomes of Global

Commitments.
Despite the bench marks set through the years in all the global meetings,
there is still a multitude of setbacks experienced by women and girls which
require comprehensive laws and policies, as well as transformation of
institutions, both formal and informal; to promote gender equality for the
full realization of the rights of women and girls.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
As the Beijing Declaration turns 20 and building on the Outcomes of the
previous World Women Conferences, it is evident that there has been
progress across the Globe but this has been uneven for women and girls
who

continue

to

experience

multiple

and

intersecting

forms

of

discrimination.
In recent years, progress in gender equality has been curtailed by
circumstances in global political and economic spheres that have been
particularly hard to mitigate or combat. Persistent conflicts, global financial
and economic crises, volatile food supply, energy price fluctuations and
climate change, have intensified inequalities and vulnerabilities, and; have
had specific and almost universally negative impact on women and girls.
Gains towards gender equality, continue to be threatened by rising
extremism and specifically directed backlash against girls and womens
3

rights in many contexts. Deep-seated discriminatory norms, stereotypes

and violence, remain pervasive, evidenced in gender-based discrimination
that continues to be deeply entrenched at an individual level, in institutions
and societies.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
There are challenges faced particularly by poor women and girls living in
rural areas and in poor urban settlements on several indicators including in
education, maternal mortality and access to essential services such as
water and sanitation.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Despite the persisting challenges however, many countries have made
important advances in realizing womens rights by implementing laws,
policies and programmes.
Many of the transformative advances have been driven by womens
movements, working in collaboration with other gender equality advocates,
and with local and national governments, parliaments and political parties.
These advances have served to catalyze several important paradigm shifts
in policy responses, such as the recognition and action on violence against
women in private and public settings as a public concern and the
recognition of unpaid care work as a public good.
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Countries have increasingly removed discrimination in laws and adopted

laws to promote gender equality and address violence against women and
girls.
In some regions, womens participation in the labour force has increased.
Harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation(FGM) and early
childhood and forced marriage, have declined in some contexts. There
have been important gains in womens representation in leadership,
governance and parliamentary positions in different countries. Significant
normative advances have been made in the Global Agenda on Women,
Peace and Security.
On this day, we must celebrate the strides we have made towards building
an equal and inclusive society. To paraphrase the words of Nelson Mandela
it is important to take a moment to rest, to steal a view of the glorious
vista that surrounds us and to look back on the distance we have come.
However, a lot more still needs to be done.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
As the 4 countries which have hosted World Conferences on Women, we
have a unique opportunity to work together to promote the Gender Agenda
in our respective regions. We have the chance of using this platform to
forge a strong partnership based on the discussions we held at this year's
5

59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) conference

which took place in New York, in the month of March.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
This partnership of the Four countries can be a strategic forum which can
be used to engage towards a specific goal based on our shared history,
and the strategic positions of our countries in our respective regions.
This will ensure that the key priority areas on gender equality and the
empowerment of women which have been identified in various platforms
are safeguarded in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, thus ensuring that
our achievements in the last 40 years, are not lost.
Therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen;
The intended outcomes of this meeting will be to develop consensus
around a mutually agreed identity for our partnership, the modalities of our
engagement and finally, the articulation of a Communiqu. There will also
be some preparation for the Pledging Conference which will be co-hosted
by China and UN Women, scheduled for September, 2015, at the Margins
of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, where our heads
of state will be chairing various sessions.

Immediately following this meeting today, Kenya will have the privilege and
opportunity of hosting another auspicious occasion, that is, convening the
Nairobi+30 Conference, that will be marking 30 years since the 3rd World
Conference on Women that was held here in Nairobi. I take this
opportunity to invite you all to this meeting so that together, we can
celebrate our successes, as we chart the Way Forward.
In conclusion, Ladies and Gentlemen;
I wish to call upon all of us to the noble task ahead, that of providing
leadership in consolidating the gains already made and mobilizing support
for the implementation of global commitments on Gender Equality and
Womens Empowerment.
So today we are called to provide leadership. We are called to follow up on
the footsteps of the remarkable women who have gone before us. Women
who through sheer tenacity and sacrifice were able to secure themselves a
seat at the table and an opportunity to be heard. Though we have come a
long way and accomplished a whole lot, there is still more to be done.
There is still more to be done to increase the number of women in
positions of decision making. There is still more to be done to improve
access of opportunities for our women. More needs to be done to shake up
the status quo and transform our homes and communities; our schools and

places of work; our political organizations and social organizations; into

places where women are free to pursue and validate their dreams.
For our journey is far from done and every single womans effort counts.
As someone said just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is
dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching
effects, I encourage you all to be men and women whose work will have
far reaching effects in empowering women here and abroad.

Thank You.