Think globally, focus continentally, organise sub-regionally, act nationally. That's the message of the highly networked Southern Africa delegation at the Sixth Africa Regional Conference on Women.

"If we work this way, we will deliver results," says Dr Athalia Molokomme, Head of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Gender Unit.

When the Africa Programme of Action (POA) was drawn up in Dakar five years ago, she recalls, "There were no sub-regional structures capable of taking the agenda forward." Bodies like the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), Economic Commission on Africa (ECA) and African Development Bank (ADB) were charged with making things happen.

The time has come, Molokomme argues, for UN agencies to devolve responsibility: "As we redraft the POA we need to be concrete about the monitoring responsibilities of sub regional organisations."

SADC's 14 heads of state blazed the gender trail by adopting a Declaration on Gender and Development in Malawi in 1997 and endorsing a package of structures for mainstreaming gender in the organisation. These include:

• a Standing Committee of Ministers responsible for Gender Affairs in the region;
• a Regional Advisory Committee, which consists of one government and one NGO representative from each SADC Member State, whose task is to advise the Standing Committee of Ministers, and other Sectoral Committees of Ministers on gender issues;
• Gender Focal Points in all SADC sectors to ensure that gender is taken into account in all sectoral initiatives, and is placed on the agenda of all ministerial meetings;
• a Gender Unit in the SADC Secretariat consisting of at least two officers.

This is a tangible example of how sub regional caucusing is bearing fruit. On average, there are 18 percent women in parliament in SADC countries- compared to ten percent on the continent overall. Three SADC countries- South Africa, Mozambique and Seychelles, with close to thirty percent women in their parliaments- are among the top ten countries in the world on this score card. Following recent elections, South Africa has 24 percent women in cabinet; and Botswana fifty percent women permanent secretaries.

Other initiatives of the gender unit include a gender audit of SADC's Programme of Action; a gender analysis of the SADC Trade Protocol; plans for a "SADC Women in Business Trade and Investment Forum" in Namibia in May 2000; and the sharing of best practices on gender budgeting.

Uniform reporting and accountability frameworks have been adopted to ensure the proper monitoring of member states' implementation of their commitments under the Gender Declaration and Addendum. A conference to receive reports of progress by member states in the implementation of the Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and children will be held in Lesotho next year.

At the Sixth Africa Regional Conference on Women underway in Addis Ababa, SADC delegates are fanning out through the different workshops to gain new insights and share their experiences. They hold a caucus meeting at the end of each day. According to Molokomme, having gender structures "at the heart of SADC has brought a new complexion, a new awareness of gender to the entire region. We monitor our governments up close and make them feel watched. They simply can't escape the pressure."