EASSI's campaign for an East African Protocl on Gender Equality begun in 2008 as a campaign for an East African Declaration on Gender Equality, hence the acronym EADGE which remains to date.  It was changed to a campaign for an East African Protocol on Gender Equality in line with the East African Community internal system which recognizes protocols rather than declarations.  The campaign is specifically in East Africa and not in the other EASSI member states because of the existence of the East African Community that provides a golden platform and opportunity for such a campaign for the women and men of this region.  It is premised on the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA); Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the African Protocol) as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The EADGE has the overall goal to contribute towards gender equality and women’s development and empowerment in the EAC. Its specific purpose is to consolidate and strengthen all the international commitments to gender equality into one regional legal instrument, through research and analysis, lobbying and advocacy, and empowerment of women.

To realize the above goal and purpose EASSI defined the two objectives for the EADGE project as being:

• To push for the adoption and implementation of an East African Gender Equality Declaration; and
• To push for the establishment of a Centre for Gender and Community Development at the EAC.

The first objective was later modified to campaigning for a protocol, which is a more effective instrument than a declaration as a protocol is legally binding whereas a declaration is merely of hortatory value and aspirational. This will regionalize issues of gender equality.  EASSI and women’s rights organisations believe that the East African integration cannot succeed if over 50% of the population are excluded and if countries are implementing gender equality issues in a manner where some countries are way ahead and others far behind.

For example, some countries like Rwanda have reached and indeed surpassed the 50-50 African Union Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in political decision making, which is not the case in the other four countries.  Rwanda has also established a gender monitoring office which is still absent in the other countries.  Looking at United Nations Resolution 1325 on women’s participation in the peace processes, Uganda is a long way in implementing a National Action Plan (NAP) for UNSCR 1325, 1820 and the Goma Declaration combined while Kenya has began the process and Burundi is on the verge of adoption. 

The Gender Protocol campaign has gone through the following key processes:

•    Research and documentation of the situation of women and key gender concerns in the EAC;
•    Establishment of an EADGE alliance of national actors to work on the campaign;
•    Generation of interest and support for the EADGE campaign among key stakeholders including media;
•    Advocacy targeting policy makers at national and regional level to influence them to support the campaign.

Read more in the policy briefs in the Folder called EAC Protocol on Gender Equality under the Publications Menu