Members of the COMESA Secretariat Gender Technical Working Group (GTWG) participated in a workshop from 14 to 16 October 2025 to enhance their capacities for mainstreaming gender in their work. The three-day workshop held in Lusaka had 26 staff in attendance. The activity sought to reinforce the role of gender mainstreaming in advancing COMESA’s objectives.

Participants were trained on the importance of gender and social inclusion for sustainable development, with a specific call to ensure a human development focus as they implement strategies to address barriers faced by marginalized and excluded groups.

Workshop participants were also equipped with skills to effectively communicate gender data through a session that provided them with the tools and approaches for reporting this data to different stakeholders.

Key among the themes of the training were sessions on gender-responsive budgeting and auditing, as well as an exposition to results-based planning and data systems to strengthen the technical working group’s ability to undertake data collection, analysis, tracking and monitoring of gender-responsive indicators.

The workshop concluded with the presentation of the COMESA Regional Workplace Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Policy.

In his brief remarks to close the workshop, Head of Statistics Unit, Mr Wilson Kamali thanked participants for their active participation, contributions and commitment. He described the training as enriching and challenged staff to apply the knowledge and skills acquired to engender their work.