The African Platform for Action, adopted by the Economic Commission for Africa at the Fifth Regional Conference on Women, held in Dakar from 16 to 23 November 1994.The African Platform for Action is the result of the African Regional Preparatory Conference for the 1995 World Conference on Women. The Platform aims to accelerate the social, economic and political empowerment of women at all levels and at all stages, providing a framework for action for the formulation of policies and implementation of concrete and sustainable programs for the advancement of women. Eleven critical areas of concerns were identified at the national and regional levels:
(a) Women's poverty, insufficient food security and lack of economic empowerment; (b) Inadequate access to education, training, science and technology; (c) Women's vital role in culture, the family and socialization; (d) Improvement of women's health, reproductive health including family planning and population-related programmes; (e) Women's relationship and linkages to environment and natural resource management;(f) Involvement of women in the peace process;(g) The political empowerment of women; (h) Women's legal and human rights; (i) Mainstreaming of gender-disaggregated data; (j) Women, communication, information and arts; k) The girl-child.
