9WAMM OVERVIEW
Esther Eghobamien
Commonwealth Secretariat
9WAMM Partner’s Forum,
Bridgetown, Barbados
9WAMM Theme
Gender Issues in Economic Crisis, Recovery and
Beyond: Women as Agents of Transformation
9WAMM will also have the following sub-themes:

Promoting Economic Recovery and the Attainment of
MDGs: Women as Agents of Transformation

Gender Responsive Investment: Women as Agents of
Transformation
9WAMM & MTR
9WAMM is of special significance, the midpoint
in the time covered by our Commonwealth
Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015.
The Mid Term Review (MTR), presented at this
meeting, will guide our priorities and directions
over the next five years.
Objectives
 To help Commonwealth countries develop strategies and tools,
and to use their public sector professionals more effectively, for
human development, 9WAMM will have three objectives as
follows:

To explore innovative alternatives to existing policy frameworks and
highlight the significant role of women as agents of change for economic
recovery, governance and sustainable development.

To review and assess progress in the implementation of the PoA and
identify innovative strategies to advance gender equality and women’s
empowerment in the Commonwealth.

To identify new and emerging issues that are critical to the achievement of
the aspirations of the PoA.
Outcomes
 Generally, 9WAMM outcomes will enhance knowledge of
Ministers and senior officials on the modalities for utilising
gender as a catalyst for economic recovery efforts.
 Specifically, the expected outputs and outcomes of 9WAMM are:


Enhanced skills and knowledge on new approaches, innovations
and strategies for promoting gender equality and women’s
empowerment.
Enhanced advocacy to support implementation of the PoA and
other relevant frameworks (e.g. MDGs, CEDAW, BPFA).
 Conference report and Communiqué providing a critical analysis to
feed into CHOGM, the MDGs Review Summit and other critical
decision-making processes.
Sessions
 Session I:
Opening Plenary
 Session II:
Promoting Economic Recovery and the Attainment of
MDGs: Women as Agents of Transformation
 Session III:
Gender Responsive Investment: Women as Agents of
Transformation
 Session IV:
Parallel Ministerial Roundtables

Gender Responsive Investment

Economic Crisis and Social Protection: Ensuring Gender-responsive and
Sustainable Outcomes

Peace, Security and Prosperity: Women’s Leadership Roles
 Session V:
Feedback and Outcomes of Ministerial Roundtables
 Session VI: Strengthening Partnerships for Synergy and
Accountability
 Session VII:
The Way Forward: Priorities to 2015
 Session VIII: Closing Plenary
Session I: Opening Plenary
The Opening Plenary will set out the background and
key issues that relate to promoting gender equality,
particularly in the context of crisis and recovery.
Session II: Promoting Economic Recovery
and the Attainment of MDGs: Women as
Agents of Transformation
This session examines how fiscal discipline can be
achieved without adverse development impacts. It
advances the need for a new macroeconomic
framework, based on social inclusivity and justice, to
underpin gender-equitable strategies for growth.
Session III: Gender Responsive Investment:
Women as Agents of Transformation
This session will present innovations in investment
finance that promise strategic opportunities to create
blended value that benefits commercial investors and
development stakeholders alike in Commonwealth
countries. These examples speak to an evolving capital
convergence in which mainstream capital markets and
investing are increasingly becoming drivers of new
solutions to poverty, social investment and international
development.
Session IV – Ministerial Roundtables
Gender Responsive Investment
This session will further explore innovations in
investment finance that can create social value that
benefits women. It will include two case studies: Acumen
Fund and Cyprus Women’s Cooperative Bank. It will
also provide practical experiences of specialist banking
services for women and how these contribute to female
empowerment and the closure of gender gaps. In
addition, examples will be provided of how such
investment can be scaled and replicated.
Session IV – Ministerial Roundtables
Economic Crisis and Social Protection: Ensuring
Gender-responsive and Sustainable Outcomes
This roundtable will examine social protection measures
in the formal and informal sectors to assess how
countries have responded to the effects of the crisis. It
will highlight strategies, good practices and models of
social protection for the most vulnerable.
Session IV – Ministerial Roundtables
Peace, Security and Prosperity:
Women’s Leadership Roles
This roundtable will explore issues such as: women’s
role in peace building and negotiations; women’s
representation in decision-making; and governance
issues affecting women’s empowerment and
participation.
Session V: Feedback and outcomes of
Ministerial Roundtables
Feedback will be provided on each of the three
roundtables to the plenary allowing for wider discussions.
Session VI: Strengthening Partnerships
for Synergy and Accountability
This session provides a forum for dialogue between
Ministers, development partners and civil society. It will
serve to promote mutual understanding and appreciation
of the constraints and opportunities faced in advancing
gender equality and the empowerment of women. This
session also provides an opportunity to explore
modalities for co-operation, information-sharing and
collective actions on gender between governments,
development partners and civil society.
Session VII: The Way Forward:
Priorities to 2015
This session will consider the findings of the Mid-Term
Review (MTR) of the implementation of the
Commonwealth Gender Plan of Action. Senior Officials
will report the consensus of their pre-9WAMM meeting
and the Plenary will agree and affirm the 2010-2015
priorities for the Commonwealth Gender PoA, in the
context of crisis and recovery.