the second section then offers six operating guidelines or benchmarks for developing an agenda for action at the individual country level and for measuring the pace of change and eventual success four broad strategic pathways are highlighted in figure and briefly summarized below women s and girls lives are improved when countries formulate and then fully implement a combination of laws and regulations policies and programmes that provide equal opportunities for all regardless of sex and promote gender going beyond legal equality to substantive gender equality there is a clear need for african governments to move beyond smallscale initiatives and silo approaches to gender equality and invest considerably in building national and local capacities to ensure that womens empowerment is addressed in a much more systematic manner