The Secretariat
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The Secretariat
Overview
The Secretariat is tasked with maintaining contacts and linkages with women's and gender-focused organisations throughout the Commonwealth.
It is currently hosted by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, in Barbados, West Indies, having relocated from the Eastern African Sub Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) Secretariat in Kampala . The CWN was in Uganda for the three years and as per CWN procedures moved to the host region of the 9WAMM. The National Focal Point for the CWN in Uganda was the National Association of Women Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU). For the 9WAMM the National Focal point is the Network of Organisations for Women
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Barbados.
Background
The Secretariat was initially established in Trinidad and Tobago with the task of maintaining contacts and linkages with women's and gender focussed organisations throughout the Commonwealth and assist organisations where possible in their preparations for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women and their input into the commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender equality.
At the meeting of the CWN in the wings of the 7th Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting (7WAMM) in 2004 in Fiji Islands on 30 May - 2 June, members agreed that the Secretariat of the CWN would move every three years to the country hosting the subsequent WAMM.
Since that meeting, it has been agreed that regional focal points in each of the regions needed to be increased. (See contacts page) Their role is to be 'theme drivers' of the areas in the CPoA. The focal points would also form the steering committee for the CSO meeting for each WAMM. The CWN undertakes the monitoring of the commonwealth processes through thematic 'focal' points based on the four themes of the CPoA and hosted by a CSO in each of the regions of the Commonwealth (Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Pacific and developed countries -Europe) as well as capacity building within the regions.
