ECLAC highlights in the framework of the German Week on Latin America and the Caribbean that international policies that are called feminist must be transformative

Feminist foreign policy and feminist international development cooperation policies represent valuable opportunities to achieve gender equality and advance the rights and empowerment of women in all their diversity and promote a transformative recovery in the face of the cascading crises facing them. the world.

The Director of ECLAC’s Gender Affairs Division, Ana Güezmes, and the Minister of BMZ, Svenja Schulze, discussed Germany’s feminist development cooperation policy and its relevance for the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The conversation between both authorities took place at the event “Designing a feminist development cooperation policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Expert dialogue with Minister Svenja Schulze”. The event was organized by the BMZ in the framework of the “German Week for Latin America and the Caribbean”.

During her speech, Ana Güezmes stressed that international cooperation policies or foreign policies that are called feminist must be transformative, recognizing that gender is not neutral in foreign actions and international cooperation. “Thanks to the impetus of the global and local women’s movement, as well as the political will of more and more governments and the international community, in recent decades norms, institutions and policies dedicated to gender equality and rights have been consolidated. women’s rights from a feminist perspective”, she commented. “This is the necessary development cooperation in the 21st century. Applying the gender and feminist perspective is essential for a just transition, the response to climate change, the international financial architecture, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Agenda in its social, economic and environmental dimensions” or the reforms to the systems of social protection.

Ana Güezmes mentioned the history of cooperation between the BMZ and ECLAC that dates back to 1980 and in 2003 intensified with biannual cooperation programs. He highlighted the most recent cooperation project with the Division for Gender Affairs, which began at the end of 2022, when the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) asked ECLAC to contribute to a study on the “Success criteria for a cooperation policy for the specific feminist development for Latin America and the Caribbean”. Within this framework, it has been found that a growing number of countries (12[1]), have chosen to institutionalize feminism as a priority in their agendas and efforts in the field of foreign relations and international cooperation. “Having embraced the concept of ‘feminist,’ these governments committed to promoting women’s human rights and empowerment in all its diversity and in its three dimensions: economic, decision-making, and physical,” she added.

However, “we observe that there is still no consensus about what it means to adopt a foreign policy or international cooperation for feminist development, what resources and measures are needed to implement them, and what monitoring instruments and results have produced,” said Ana Güezmes. . In these circumstances, “it is key to show its value to transform the lives of women and girls in the region and include men in the change towards substantive equality. Our objective is to provide a guide for those countries that wish to implement foreign and development cooperation policies consistent with feminist principles in accordance with the Regional Gender Agenda”.

In the same vein, the Director of ECLAC’s Division for Gender Affairs stressed that these policies must translate into substantive and measurable changes in favor of the full social, political and economic participation of women in all their diversity, as well as exercise of their right to a life free of violence, and the State’s commitment to gender equality. “Feminist policy initiatives should not focus only on the sphere of values ​​and principles, but should advance in the determination of sufficient budgets, specific measures consistent with the framework of women’s human rights and regional and international agreements. international, with clear impact indicators as well as effective evaluation and accountability mechanisms”, he pointed out.

This approach, as mentioned by Ana Güezmes, is contemplated in the Regional Gender Agenda, a progressive, innovative and feminist roadmap with clear guidelines to advance in the incorporation of the gender perspective in public policies and in cooperation projects. This Agenda, built from the agreements signed by the Governments in the framework of the Regional Conferences on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, has commitments to promote North-South and South-South cooperation and to triangulate the financial sphere, technology and capacities to advance towards gender equality. The most recent is the Buenos Aires Commitmentapproved by the governments of the region within the framework of the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean posed by the care society.

For her part, Minister Svenja Schulze highlighted in her interventions the importance of focusing on the “3 Rs”: rights (right), resources (resource) and representation (representation), as a framework to guarantee gender equality and empowerment of women in society. In addition, she emphasized the need to anchor a feminist perspective in the Ministry’s portfolio, recognizing the critical role of women and girls, as well as marginalized groups, in decision-making processes. Likewise, the Minister stressed the importance of strengthening feminist cooperation policies in international alliances, such as collaboration with ECLAC. Finally, she underlined the importance of the Ministry being a good example in terms of institutional structure, promoting gender equality and ensuring an inclusive and egalitarian organizational culture.

rmation:

See the full dialogue here: https://youtu.be/Ai4uKiZ2O7g.

see the website of the German Week on Latin America and the Caribbean of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

[1] In chronological order Sweden, Canada, France, Luxembourg, Mexico, Spain, Libya, the Netherlands, Germany, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.