The present Charter has been drawn up to provide the officials and citizens of local and regional governments in Africa with a roadmap to guide them in developing territorial policies promoting the mainstreaming of gender equality in all aspects of governance and local life. It is an initiative of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), through its Standing Committee on Gender Equality, the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (REFELA).

The document consists in six parts :

• a declaration of intent that sets forth the signatories’ commitments in detail ;
• a preamble that recalls the different reference instruments relating to gender equality at the African and international levels ;
• the general guidelines that present the concepts at work as well as the Charter’s underlying principles and values ;
• the key statements that identify the priority areas for action ; and
• the final provisions.

Declaration of intent, Commitments

We, representative of African local and regional governments that acceded to this Charter, pledge to :

• Notify the national governments of the subnational government’s accession to the Charter and its incorporation into the nomenclature of texts governing the local/regional government’s functionning ;
• Facilitate the effective implementation of this Charter by systematically integrating the gender perspective into any territorial development plans, our bodies of governance and management procedures at the local and regional levels, while also ensuring that personnel capacities are strengthened for greater effectiveness ;
• Make gender mainstreaming visible in all communications (written or oral) pertaining to the local/regional government’s state of affairs, activities or prospects that are aimed at the national government, our local and regional governments’ bodies of governance, citizens, development partners and all other stakeholders ;
• Set up a joint committee respectful of parity within our local and regional governments made up of the different stakeholders, tasked with monitoring and evaluating the Charter’s implementation on our territories, as well as being responsible for actively participating in the assessment of its application at the continental level ;
• Be an advocate for accession to the Charter by lobbying on its behalf in our circles, national associations or networks made up of local and regional governments, including among our partners when taking part in decentralized cooperation programs or projects.