Stakeholders’ Consulations Continue on Second Day of IBSA Women’s Forum 2013

     The Stakeholder’s Consultations of the IBSA Women’s Forum entered its second and final day with parallel sessions on ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting’ and ‘Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality: Post 2015 Development Agenda’. Panelists discussed the processes that could further strengthen the ongoing efforts of gender budgeting at all levels of governance. The participants engaged in intensive dialogues centering on the challenges of developing convergence action plans and mechanisms for translating gender commitments into budgetary allocations amongst the partner countries. 

     The panel discussions for the Forum concluded with the session on the role of women in the Post 2015 Development Agenda which addressed structural inequalities which persist for women and explored the many ways to make available the necessary resources to create sustainable and effective action on gender equality and empowerment. Participants from member countries stressed the need for greater engagement of women as equal partners in the global developmental processes, where they are regularly consulted on what they see as priorities for the development of their communities. 

     It was felt by the stakeholders that there is a need to work towards framing key set of indicators for violence free, equity based sustainable development towards women’s empowerment for which women related issues needs to be embedded formally and prominently in a greater spirit of co-operation amongst participating countries.