The rights of women are occupying an increasingly important place in the global - and African - political discourse. African governments have committed themselves to a growing number of instruments for protecting and promoting the rights of women, yet implementation continues to lag. In May 2005 the Institute for Global Dialogue held a ground-breaking workshop at which analysts and activists from numerous African countries surveyed gender instruments applicable to Africa, identified factors influencing their implementation, and evolved proposals for strengthening them. The proceedings were encapsulated in a volume entitled Gender instruments in Africa: Critical perspectives, future strategies (IGD 2005). It provided a valuable guide to this emerging dimension in African politics, and was well received throughout the continent. Following the success of the first project, the IGD held a second workshop in August 2007 aimed at deepening and regionalising the debate on gender instruments and their implementation. The amplified and expanded contributions appear in this volume. It deals with the current status of women in Africa; situates the gender debate in the broader context of regional integration; and analyses the gender implications of HIV and AIDS; the gender implications of climate change and food insecurity; the feminisation of labour in SADC; and the role of women in peacekeeping processes. It is hoped that this volume will help policy-makers and others to improve gender instruments in Africa and southern Africa in particular, and strengthen their implementation.

From 2006 to 2008, the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) and the Africa Institute for South Africa (AISA) participated in the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy, aimed at evolving new solutions to global problems. Their contribution took the form of exploring the nexus between poverty and development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). More specifically, they have evolved a proposed new policy framework for achieving sustainable development in the region, among others by achieving the first Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people in the region living in poverty by 2015. In doing so, they have sought to add an empowered African voice to the debates on poverty in SADC and Africa; provide an Afro-centric analysis of issues related to poverty and development; and provide Africa-generated policy options for addressing poverty on the continent, and specifically in SADC. The study finds that current regional initiatives to address poverty will not result in the MDGs being met by 2015. It calls for a change of paradigm in order to achieve people-centred development that will strengthen the political influence of the poor, with the state playing a central role in shaping social and economic policy, and pursuing an active developmental agenda. This volume is an important record of current thinking by African analysts about development on their own continent. It is hoped that it will enhance the understanding of poverty and development of policy-makers in the region, and help them to address the region's massive developmental challenges.