EU Plan of Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development

The ‘EU Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Development, 2010-2015’ aims to speed up the progress of the EU and its 27 Member States on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on equality and maternal health which are lagging behind. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential to the attainment of international development goals, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The overarching objective is to accelerate the achievement of the MDGs, especially MDG 3 and MDG 5, as well as to attain the goals set out by CEDAW, the Beijing Platform of Action, and the Cairo Programme of Action. At the same time, this Plan of Action aims to reinforce EU coordination regarding gender equality policies in development cooperation with partner countries in the interest of having more of an impact on the ground