The Mid Term Review in Detail

Where are we now?

The policy and legal environment for gender equality and women’s empowerment is in place across the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth States adopted the current Plan of Action in 2005 recognising that gender equality is essential for sustainable development, democracy and peace. However, a range of gender inequalities still persist across the Commonwealth highlighting the need to accelerate progress in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The Mid Term Review (MTR) aims to assess the extent to which Commonwealth has achieved the aspiration of the Plan of Action through a participatory, collaborative and constituent centred process.

Who’s involved?

Commonwealth governments will have the opportunity to report on what they have been doing at country level to promote gender equality.

We’re asking National Women/Gender machineries to work with all the Ministries, key partners including CSOs to get inputs from stakeholders and key gender actors in each country.

We’re encouraging civil society organisations, through the Commonwealth Foundation, to initiate parallel and supportive processes to capture their perspectives and to promote good practices on civil society engagement with Commonwealth governments.

The Commonwealth Secretariat will also be the focus of an internal review to assess the extent that its programmes have contributed to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in member countries.

We’re technically leaving no stones unturned!

How will the MTR be carried out?

The basis for collecting the necessary qualitative and qualitative data will be a comprehensive survey developed within the context of the Plan of Action and drawing from the Beijing +15 questionnaires and CEDAW reporting mechanisms.

See the ‘MTR Country Survey Kit’ for more information.

The National Women’s Machineries (NWM) will lead the on the completion of the MTR survey and promote a whole of government and agency wide approach. Country level MTR Task Teams involving representatives from key ministries, civil society organisations, the private sector and international partners will be put in place to facilitate the process.

What do we hope to get out of this process?

A comprehensive report on the state of gender equality in the Commonwealth which will provide a benchmark for strengthening future work and engagement.

Download the MTR Conceptual Framework:

MTR Conceptual Framework