ABANTU @ 10

Peace Building

Gender and Peace building

INTRODUCTION
ABANTU for Development’s work in the thematic area of gender and peace building is premised on the fact that women and men relate to and experience conflict in a different way. Such different experiences and relationships are usually the result of historical and locational specificities which often operate in a very complex way to impact on the social relationships between men and women. Due to the embedded nature of inequalities in social relations, the experiences of conflict tend to undermine status as well as well-being. It also denies them a chance to contribute their wealth of knowledge to processes of peace-building, reconciliation and reconstruction.
AIM
ABANTU peace building programme seeks to contribute to well-being, knowledge creation, policy influencing and policy- making on the gendered nature of conflict and peace-building. This is particularly relevant within the contest of West Africa sub-region where for decades, civil strife and full-scale civil war have affected the livelihood and socio-economic conditions of the citizens in a number of countries with spill over effects on other countries.
OBJECTIVES
The specific objectives of ABANTU’s gender and peace- building thematic area of work are as follows:

• To utilize the provisions under the section “Women and Armed Conflict” in the Beijing Platform for Action(BPFA) to advocate on women’s rights and gender equality in the area of conflict and peace.
• To ensure compliance to UN Resolutions 1325 and 1820 by governments, policy makers and critical actors.
• Engaged with policy makers in the sub-region to increase the number of women in conflict resolution at all decision making levels.
• To strengthen the capacity of women in claiming their rights including the right to protection, during conflict and in refugee situations.
• To integrate a gender perspective in peace-keeping, conflict and peace-building.
• To deepen the understanding of gender, conflict and militarism and their gendered nature and impacts.
• Strengthen the capacity of ABANTU as an organization to promote a gender perspective in conflict and peace-building.

TARGET GROUPS
The target groups for ABANTU’s gender and peace-building thematic area are as follows:

• Displaced Women
• Women in post-conflict contexts
• Civil Society/ Community based organizations
• Policy makers
• Institutions and Organisations working on Conflict and Peace
• Ministries of Women’s Affairs
• Researchers
• Students

TYPES
The types of initiatives under ABANTU’s thematic area of gender and peace-building are:

• Supporting Women at the Buduburan Refugee Camp
• Using UN Resolution 1325 and 1820
• Strengthening existing peace-building networks and coalition-building efforts on gender issues in the sub-region
• Undertaking research on Gender, Conflict and Militarism in West Africa

CHALLENGES
The challenge under the thematic area of gender and peace-building include the following:

• Women’s contribution to peace-building efforts is more often than not located in local communities. As such their efforts often go unnoticed or ignored.
• Their efforts are also hampered by the persistence of discriminatory cultural and traditional practices and behaviours.

 

ACHIEVEMENTS
ABANTU has achieved the following under its gender and peace-building programme:

• ABANTU has strengthen and increased the ability of gender based organizations to lobby national governments to include gender issues in peace and security issues
• Worked with women refugees at the Buduburan Refugee Camp since 2003, strengthening capacities around UN Resolution 1325 and 1820.
• Critical research on conflict, peace and gender issues are on course.
• Continuous working relationship with women’s groups in Liberia

WAY FORWARD
ABANTU will continue to strengthen its organizational ability to address issues related to gender, conflict and peace. The importance of influencing policy makers to ensure that women’s peace initiatives are prioritise cannot be over-emphasized.

PROGRAMMES

• Supporting Women at the Budumburam Refugee Camp using UN Resolution (1325)
• Strengthening existing peace building networks on gender issues in the sub-region
• Research on Conflict + Militarism in West Africa