In Togo, despite the legislative and institutional gains of recent years, as well as reform-oriented political room for maneuver, notably within the framework of the National Policy for Gender Equity and Equality (PNEEG) and social change in general, women and girls continue to be legally and economically disadvantaged, socially unequal and politically under-represented. Women and girls often lack knowledge of their own rights and opportunities. In addition, intermediary groups (e.g. parents, teachers, local councils, civil society organizations (CSOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc.) are missing. Ministry Gender Focal Units (CFGs) often lack gender-specific awareness, knowledge, disaggregated data, as well as the agency, financial resources and an appropriate environment to exercise their mandate ef-fectively. CSOs and NGOs not only lack the resources, but also the network and advocacy know-how to be able to concretely apply equal rights and gender equity at a broader social and political level.
The technical cooperation module focuses on promoting gender-specific awareness among certain states (e.g. ministries, municipalities), parastatal (e.g. Houses of Justice) and non-state (e.g. traditional chieftaincy, religious authority, CSOs, NGOs) actors. Capacities need to be strengthened so that the causes of discrimination and unequal treatment are known, reflected upon and, on this basis, addressed in order to contribute to better conditions for equal oppor-tunities. To this end, gender focal cells and gender focal points, formal and traditional actors and representatives of civil society organizations are strengthened in the exercise of their roles in advancing gender institutionalization in public administration, in dispute resolution and legal advice, and in promoting political participation and advocacy.
The aim of the module is therefore to improve the institutional conditions for reducing inequality and discrimination against women in Togo.
The project has the following three outputs:
- Output 1 aims to better integrate equality and equity between women and men in cer-tain public administrations. If ministries, local authorities and other public institutions systematically apply the principles of gender equality and equity in their decision-making processes, programs and procedures, the conditions for reducing inequality and discrimination against women in public institutions in Togo will be improved.
- Output 2 is to strengthen the provision of gender-sensitive legal aid and dispute resolu-tion in selected communes. The impact hypothesis is that vulnerable people, especially women, are particularly weak in protecting and enforcing their rights, and therefore need legal aid and dispute resolution services to defend themselves against inequality and discrimination and to assert their rights. It is assumed that members of the tradi-tional chieftaincy, religious authorities and employees of the Houses of Justice do not object to the gender-sensitive approach to dispute resolution.
- Output 3 aims to ensure that selected women's rights organizations contribute to en-suring that the priorities and needs of women and girls are represented in public and in political decision-making and development processes. The impact hypothesis is that if the needs of women and girls are better integrated into the public debate and repre-sented in political and development decision-making processes, they will be considered in the development and implementation of policies, laws and programs, thus helping to reduce inequalities and discrimination against women.