Dr Abieyuwa Ohonba, a Senior Lecturer from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) School of Economics, was invited and participated in the expert group meeting by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) group meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 19-21 June 2023. The meeting brought together policy specialists and academics to review its upcoming African Women’s Report on costing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development along with its 17 goals, including SDG 5, which is considered fundamental to the overall progress on the agenda.

In their interventions, the experts recommended that countries should adopt a multisectoral and integrated approach to identifying data discrepancies and mainstreaming SDG 5 across relevant departments to address existing gaps.

They emphasised the need for a common methodology for identifying investment needs for SDG 5, thereby emphasising the importance of coordination and collaboration among stakeholders across Africa. Furthermore, the experts advised ECA to develop training programmes to support Member States in collecting sex-disaggregated data and strengthening partnerships with stakeholders as part of broader efforts to accelerate progress toward gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa.

The African Women’s Report is scheduled to be published later this year.