What: The objective of this meeting is to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the production of gender-related statistics in the African continent and also its impact on gender policies and the role of statistics.

When: 27 April 2021 | Start time: 2pm EAT

Where: A virtual event. To participate register here-

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ib3KqYbvRU-dASpG_4OboQ

Who: Convened by the African Union, the meeting will be attended by National Statistics Offices, Regional Economic communities, Member States Gender Observatories and Ministries, national, regional and international gender experts, World bank SWEDD representatives, UN Women, other UN Agencies, partner organizations, Civil Society, private sector and other stakeholders.

Background

The activities on the development and harmonization of statistics have been greatly affected by the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. This directly affects the implementation of the African Charter on Statistics and the revised strategy the harmonization of statistics in Africa (SHaSA 2). The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down many statistical activities at national, regional and continental levels. Many statistical surveys and population and housing censuses have been postponed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis has a negative impact on the production of statistics, in particular short-term indicators such as quarterly national accounts, consumer price indices, labour market indicators.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, evidence have shown that several types of violence against women and girls have intensified. Although COVID-19 pandemic is claiming the lives of many, the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women and girls’ socio-economic welfare is threatening to reverse the hard-won gains in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment. There have been reports of abuse in Africa such as intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic and sexual abuse of women and girls which are exacerbated particularly under lockdowns. However, gender data remains a key challenge towards the roll out of comprehensive and systematic Gender Based Violence (GBV) and COVID-19 response and recovery efforts in countries.

The objective of this webinar is to create a continental platform to discuss the negative impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on statistical production in Africa and share lesson learned and good practices and propose solutions to counter the negative impact and discuss the opportunities to modernize the African Statistical System to be more efficient during the crises and beyond.

For further information please contact:
Doreen Apollos, Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission | E-mail: ApollosD@africa-union,org | www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
Mrs. Esther Azaa Tankou| Head of Information Division | African Union Commission | Tel: +251 (0) 911361185 | E-mail: yamboue@africa-union.org
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission, E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Website: www.au.africa I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube