Seychelles National Gender Policy and Action Plan under review  |06 June 2023

Workshop delegates in a souvenir photograph

Various stakeholders met recently to reviewing the National Gender Policy and drafting the Action Plan in a workshop at the National Museum conference room.

The aim is for all stakeholders to have a comprehensive and updated National Gender Policy and Plan of Action that is accessible and applicable to all bodies and agencies nationwide.

This workshop, explained Jane Larue, director general for Research and Policy Planning at the Family department, is “mainly to ensure that each organisation can embrace this cross-cutting policy and ensure its implementation”.

“The first National Gender Policy was approved in 2016 by the Gender secretariat within the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports. But since then, we had the pandemic and we also had some changes. Now it is an opportune time to review our policy and our plan of action for them to work simultaneously. The implementation of the policy is already half way and it is high time to review it and its plan of action so that when we send it to cabinet, it is a new policy!”

Why is it important to review the National Gender Policy and the Action Plan?

Gender equality encompasses the empowerment of women and men to reclaim their equal rights as citizens, as well as changing social norms and attitudes of men and women by engaging them in the struggle for gender equality and equity. Since the first gender policy, social factors that impact the lives of women, men, boys, and girls have continued to evolve to become more complex and ever-challenging, such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, crimes, poverty, gender-based violence but not limited to those. Other gender issues include economic empowerment, access to employment, housing, food security, health, etc.

Principal secretary in the Family department, Clive Roucou, noted that since the Covid pandemic the multi-sectoral committee had not met to ensure sustained implementation of the policy and work on the plan of action had proved to be very challenging with the stakeholders working from home and the lack of data.

“It is with this in mind that my department, when assessing the situation, took the decision to review the policy to work side by side with a new national gender plan of action.  Both policy and plan of action will be reviewed taking note that gender agendas have changed worldwide since the Covid pandemic with a lot of emphasis on gender-based violence sensitisation, poverty reduction and women economic empowerment to name a few. This review also comes at an opportune time when the national census data is being launched, which will provide up to date data and analysis of the current population situation in Seychelles.”

PS Roucou also shared that it is important that policy makers and key stakeholders continue to adopt a gender mainstreaming approach while developing your policies at sector levels to ensure that different needs of women and men are addressed to ensure that Seychelles continues to sustain progress made on gender equality.

The Gender secretariat of the Research and Policy Planning Division, Family department organised the workshops as part of the process to review the National Gender Policy and Plan of Action. The workshop gathered 50 participants from different partner organisations, non-governmental organisations, national state agencies, and legal entities among others to debate on current gender issues which guide the second gender policy development. 

It was guided by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Locally gender equality forms part of the broader commitment of the government to adhere to human rights and social justice as set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The outcome is to obtain current gender issues and recommendations for the development of the second National Gender Policy and Plan of Action.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Joena Meme