Addis Ababa — Hundreds of representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from the African continent started Wednesday a two day forum to evaluate and take stock of progress in African women's lives since the Beijing Summit on women's Affairs which was held ten years ago.

The two-day Africa women's NGO Forum on Beijing +10 is being held with a week of activities and meetings associated with the Seventh African Regional Conference on Women being hosted by the ECA from 6 to 14 October 2004.

The forum will discuses among others how far promised reforms in critical areas of concern have been implemented by African governments and other stakeholders.

It will also examine the limits to progress and ways to overcome them in the future. According to the organizers the forum will particularly focus on human rights issues, such as the trafficking of women and children.

"Other key items on the agenda include the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and the family, peace and security issues, the need to mainstream gender concerns in policy-making and development and for NGOs to achieve better internal governance and coordination," the organizers added.

Several side events will also take place during the Forum, including an exhibition, a young women's forum and training sessions in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)

Meanwhile, some participants of the Forum said that the last ten years was not that much successful even to disseminate women's affairs at the grassroots level. "We are still far from discussing our problems among ourselves. A lot still remains to be done on our problems not only on equality," women participants said.