Planning and Research Unit
Background
The Planning and Research Unit (PRU) act as a co-ordination and support unit which provides technical back up to all the units and parastatal bodies operating under the Ministry in the designing of policies, programmes, and projects for the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, protection and development of children, safeguarding, family ties and enhancement of the well-being of the community and the population at large.
It is also responsible for the preparation of short, medium and long term plans of action and reports on issues relating to women, child development, family welfare and community development. It also acts as a liaison with government institutions and non-state actors on pertinent issues relating to this Ministry.
Responsibilities
• To prepare short, medium and long term plans of action and reports in areas of gender, child development, family welfare and community development and to advice on policies.
• To monitor and evaluate programmes, projects and schemes aimed at the development of gender, children and the community at large.
• To establish base line data on women, family and children in the fields of health, education, employment etc.
• To liaise with Government institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations for the elaboration, implementation and monitoring of schemes, programmes and projects in areas of women empowerment and gender equality child development, family welfare and community development.
• To initiate studies /research for the promotion of social/cultural development, and situation analysis on the children, family and women and to disseminate the findings accordingly
• To design social policy aiming at promoting the development and well-being of women, families and children.
Special Collaborative Programme for Support to Women and Children in Distress
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare has been entrusted with the Implementation of a “Special Collaborative Programme for Support to Women and Children in Distress”. Funds earmarked under the programme would support NGO’s and Non-State Actors to implement projects aimed at enhancing the livelihoods of women and children in distress and create opportunities for their integration in the mainstream of development.
Project Proposals 2010
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Non State Actors(NSAs) are invited to submit a maximum of 2 project proposals.
The Special Collaborative Programme for Support to Women and Children in Distress may encompass a wide range of issues and possible areas of intervention that could be explored by NGOs:
• gender-based violence
• harassment / sexual assault
• broken families
• Reintegration and Protection of Sex WorkersPrevention of HIV/AIDS and STDs
• Substance / Drugs Abuse / Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Women Victims of
Drug Abuse
• Abused Children
• Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Alcoholic Women
• Female Prisoners / Reintegration of Female Prisoners
• Illiteracy
• Feminisation of Poverty
• Single Women Heads of Households
• Physical and Psychological Disorders
• NCDs (Alzheimer, cancer, lupus
These areas highly contribute to the marginalisation of women/girls, which eventually prevent them to participate fully in the process of development.
International Instruments
Mauritius, through the Ministry has ratified several important international human rights instruments. It acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in July 1984 and ratified the Convention in 1985. The Optional Protocol to the CEDAW was ratified in October 2008.Mauritius is also a party to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that emerged out of the 4th world conference on Women held in 1995 and which affirms the commitment of states to adhere to the 12 critical areas of concern regarding women and gender.
Mauritius is also a signatory of regional instruments such as the SADC Gender and Development Declaration of 1997 as well as the Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children along with other African Heads of States. As such, Mauritius is under the obligation to take appropriate measures towards the empowerment of women.
Mauritius has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. The Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts was ratified on 12 February 2009 and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography was ratified on 14 June 2011. A Third Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure to the CRC was signed on 13 August 2012.
Note
As from 17 August 2020, the Licensing of PLace of Safety and Enforcement Section is now under the PLanning and Research Unit
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