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Women’s capacity on conflict prevention, social cohesion and peace building to be enhanced through joint ministerial, IJR 3-day training event

Women’s capacity on conflict prevention, social cohesion and peace building to be enhanced through joint ministerial, IJR 3-day training event

The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, the International Women’s Peace Centre (NIWPC), and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) are currently training 30 women for their Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda at Furstenhof Hotel.

The three-day training which commenced on Monday will enhance the capacity of women in conflict prevention, social cohesion, and peacebuilding, increase women’s participation in peace and security and advocate on the Women’s Peace and Security Agenda.

The ministry in a statement said that the training targets 30 women participants drawn from a cross-section of civil society, the security sector, and women leaders.

“Participants are women who are engaged in forwarding the WPS agenda in promoting conflict prevention and peacebuilding,” they added.

“We recognise that women, in particular, are victims of conflict, but emphasizes the transformative potential of including them as actors in peace and security structure and processes, therefore the agenda seeks to increase women’s meaningful participation in peace processes such as conflict prevention, mediation, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding,” said the ministry.

The ministry highlighted that women in Southern Africa have been agents for change during the colonial and post-colonial periods, because in post-colonial Southern Africa women have, and continue to campaign for gender equality.

“Participation of women in decision making and the security sector does not automatically translate into security for the majority of women who continue to experience marginalisation and gender-based violence and insecurity,” they emphasised.

They further said Southern Africa is becoming increasingly volatile as the continued armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), violent extremism in Mozambique, social unrest and xenophobia in South Africa and election-related violence attest to.

“In this context, it is important that women are adequately equipped to be able to engage in conflict prevention and peacebuilding,” said the Ministry.

The Ministry informed that six countries in South Africa have already adopted the National Action Plans on Women Peace and Security, which call for greater women’s participation in peace and security structure and processes and for the requisite training to effect this.


 

About The Author

Mandisa Rasmeni

Mandisa Rasmeni has worked as reporter at the Economist for the past five years, first on the entertainment beat but now focussing more on community, social and health reporting. She is a born writer and she believes education is the greatest equalizer. She received her degree in Journalism at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in June 2021. . She is the epitome of perseverance, having started as the newspaper's receptionist in 2013.