In close cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Social Development in the Sudan, ESCWA organized a virtual workshop on the Toolkit for Designing and Implementing Equality-oriented Policies in the Arab region”, on 7-8 April 2021.
The workshop is one of a series of capacity building activities that ESCWA is organizing in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Development in Sudan, on issues of social justice, equality, participatory social protection policies, participation in democratic governance and youth participation.
The workshop contributed to meeting a number of objectives related to the toolkit including:
- Increasing and deepening the knowledge of policymakers, government officials and civil society representatives involved in formulating national policies and programmes in designing and implementing public policies directed towards multidimensional equality;
- Continuing to improve and develop participants' competencies on integrating equality issues and principles into social, economic and environmental public policies by using relevant national policies and strategies as case studies;
- Providing regional and national examples on the application of rights, equity and other considerations in policy formulation, implementation, evaluation and budgeting;
- Contributing to strengthening and building consensus on issues of equality between officials and other social actors involved in formulating national development plans, policies and programmes;
- Exchanging experiences, knowledge and information on the challenges of facing inequality, on how to increase and activate awareness and in-depth knowledge of the dimensions of social and economic inequality, and on the methods, methodologies and mechanisms that should be adopted in developing projects aimed at achieving equality;
- Reviewing some international initiatives, experiences and good practices in the field of reducing inequality, the challenges they face, and the lessons learned from them, and considering their replication and adaptation at the national level;
- Encouraging networking on equality issues and encouraging participants to establish and maintain dialogue among government officials involved in designing and administering equality reduction policies.
The workshop was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Social Development and its various departments responsible for formulating public policies directly related to the reduction of social and economic inequality and their implementation at the national and local levels, in addition to representatives of other national and local ministries and departments and representatives of non-governmental organizations and civil society concerned with equality issues. National experts specializing in social development issues in the Sudan and experts from ESCWA also participated in the workshop. The workshop culminated in numerous suggestions and recommendations from participants on utilizing and adopting the toolkit at the national level and mainstreaming equality into national policies and plans.
Amman, Jordan
