26 May 1987

14th Plenary Meeting

Monitoring and review and appraisal of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women

The Economic and Social Council,

Reaffirming the importance attached by the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace to monitoring and review and appraisal as outlined in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 40/108 of 13 December 1985, in which the Assembly recommended, inter alia, the further development of the integrated reporting system for monitoring and review and appraisal of progress in the advancement of women, and noting Assembly resolution 41/111 of 4 December 1986,

Stressing the importance of the submission of regular and relevant reports to the Commission on the Status of Women by all Member States and organizations of the United Nations system, including the regional commissions and the specialized agencies, to provide statistical information and analysis on the situation of women at the national, regional and international levels,

Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on the reporting system for periodic review and appraisal of progress in the advancement of women, which identifies past and present problems and suggests remedial measures,

Recognizing that effective monitoring and review and appraisal should be conducted at the sectoral, national, regional and international levels to achieve optimal results,

Mindful of the need to avoid duplication of reporting obligations, especially given the burden that coexisting reporting systems place on Member States, especially those with limited resources, and the financial stringencies facing the United Nations system,

1. Requests the Secretary-General, in further developing and implementing the reporting system for monitoring and review and appraisal of progress in the advancement of women, to take into account the following guidelines:

(a) Questionnaires and data-gathering instruments should be as simple, clearly focused and practical as possible, and, to the extent possible, existing reporting systems should be relied on;

(b) A clear and relevant set of statistical and other measurable indicators, such as the level of participation of women in decision-making, in the paid labour force and in the informal sector, comparative earnings of women and men, literacy, training and education and life expectancy, should be identified to facilitate the collection, comparison and analysis of data and the identification of shortfalls in information requirements;

(c) United Nations focal points should be strengthened and regular inter-agency meetings should be held to promote co-ordination among organizations of the United Nations system in review and appraisal;

(d) Reporting at the global level should address the priority themes identified by the Commission on the Status of Women in its future programme of work, and the reports should be made available to the Commission for its consideration of those themes;

(e) The reports submitted by States to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women are of direct relevance to the Commission's task of monitoring and appraising the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women;

2. Affirms the appropriateness of a two-year cycle of system-wide monitoring of progress made in implementing the Forward-looking Strategies and a five-year cycle of longer-term review and appraisal to continue the cycle established by the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace;

3. Invites Member States to co-operate fully with the Commission on the Status of Women in its monitoring and review and appraisal activities and, in particular, to take into account the needs of the United Nations in this regard when developing national machinery and reporting systems;

4. Invites the Secretary-General, the executive secretaries of the regional commissions, and the executive heads of the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to develop and implement, as an integral part of their programmes, a simple, concise and direct form of reporting to the Commission on the impact of their programmes and activities on women and the effectiveness of those programmes and activities in bringing the interests and needs of women into the mainstream of their organizations, and to ensure that such reports are submitted in a timely manner to permit them to be taken into account in the United Nations programming and budgeting process;

5. Authorizes the Commission on the Status of Women, in consultation with the Statistical Commission, the Board of Trustees of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and other appropriate bodies, to establish formal arrangements for the collection and distribution of the information required for the Commission on the Status of Women to carry out its monitoring and review and appraisal functions;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to report, through the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-second session, to the Economic and Social Council at its first regular session of 1988 on the implementation of the present resolution, with particular regard to paragraph 1.