ABANTU @ 10

ABANTU’s peace building program seeks to contribute to well being, knowledge creation, discussion and policy making on the gendered nature of conflict and peace building. This is particularly relevant within the context of the West African sub-region where for decades, civil strife and full–scale civil war affected the livelihoods and socio-economic conditions of the citizens in a number of countries with spill-over effects on others.

ABANTU’s work in the thematic area of gender and peace building is premised on the fact that different individuals and groups of 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 women and men. Due to the embedded nature of inequalities in social relations, the experiences of conflict tend to undermine women’s status and well-being. It also deny them a chance to contribute their wealth of knowledge to processes of peace building, reconciliation and reconstruction.

Utilising provisions under the section “Women and Armed Conflict” in the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) as well as UN Resolutions 1325 and 1820, ABANTU is committed to working on gender and peace building by undertaking the following actions:

• Engaging with policy-makers in the sub-region to increase the participation of women in conflict resolution at all decision making levels.
• Strengthening the capacity of women in realising their rights including being given protection during conflict and in refugee situations
• Integrating a gender perspective in peace keeping, conflict, resolution and all other aspects of conflict and peace building.
• Deepening understanding of gender conflict and militarism and their gendered nature and impacts.
• Strengthening the capacity of ABANTU as an organisation to promote a gender perspective in conflict and peace building.