Youth and Peace Education (YPE)

WOMEN IN PEACEBUILDING PROGRAM (WIPNET)

ENSURING WOMEN’S ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT IN POLICY RELATED TO PEACE AND SECURITY

WIPNET was established four years ago to mobilize women, build their capacity and encourage collaboration among them to build lasting peace and promote human security in West Africa. WIPNET’s challenge remains the integration of women’s concerns and their participation in policy formulation and implementation in peace and security issues in the sub-region.

To ensure the mainstreaming of gender in peacebuilding, in 2005 the WIPNET program began the process of forging partnerships with policy makers and technocrats using its wide grassroots network to advocate for the mainstreaming of women’s issues in policy formulation in peace and security.

Objectives:

• Develop policy recommendations for mainstreaming women’s issues in peace and security
• Strengthen the nexus between policy makers, technocrats and women’s groups
• Sustain women’s participation in  formal peacebuilding in West Africa
• Strengthen capacity of rural/grassroots women in peacebuilding at community and national levels.
• Build strategic partnerships with women’s networks in other regions

HIGHLIGHTS

Development of Policy Recommendations for Mainstreaming Women’s Issues in Peace and Security:
In November 2004, WIPNET held a consultation with women’s groups and the ECOWAS Gender Unit to develop a policy framework for mainstreaming women’s issues in peace and security in West Africa. A framework was developed and presented before representatives of WIPNET, other women’s groups and ECOWAS for consideration. 

Strengthening the Capacity of WIPNET Program Officers:
In January 2005, WIPNET organized a two-day refresher course for its Program Officers. This was         particularly necessary to prepare them for the Rural Women’s Peace Initiative, a newly initiated project. The officers were taken through the entire content of the training  methodology and at the end of the course they developed a clear framework on how the Rural Women’s Peace    Initiative should be conducted in their respective contexts.

Localizing Training Methodology and UN Security Council Resolution 1325:
WIPNET translated its specialized training manual and the United  Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and        Security, into seven local/indigenous West African languages in order to achieve its strategic  objective in strengthening rural/grassroots women’s capacity to  engage in formal peacebuilding.  This initiative has contributed to making the peacebuilding skills and knowledge more accessible to rural women groups and ensures ownership and sustainability.

Rural Women’s Peace Initiative (RWPI):
WIPNET’s bottom-up approach of working and dealing with issues of peace and conflict revealed that there exists a gap between women’s involvement in         peacebuilding at the urban and  rural levels.  The gap is more        significant at the rural/grassroots level where illiteracy and lack of awareness are prevalent. Thus, in 2005 WIPNET launched its Rural Women’s Peace Initiative which aimed at building the capacity of rural/grassroots women’s groups, associations and guilds to play   active roles in preserving peace in communities. A key outcome of the RWPI is the creation of Rural Women Peace Committees that are engaging traditional peacebuilding structures and institutions. The  pilot phase of this project was    implemented in four countries: Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire with support from the Global Fund for Women (GFW) and the Women Peacemakers Program of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (WPP-IFOR).

WIPNET at CSW 49 and Beijing +10:
In March 2005 WIPNET, for the first time participated in the session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. The 49th Session of the CSW which coincided with the 10th anniversary of the  Beijing Conference on Women and         Development enabled WIPNET’s participation in the review of the critical areas of concern in the   Beijing Platform for Action. CSW was a good platform for WIPNET to share information and best practices, network and strategize with other women’s groups on    future actions and initiatives that will place women’s issues at the centre of peace and security.  WIPNET’s participation was supported by Oxfam-America, African Women’s Development Fund and WPP-IFOR.

Women’s Peace Check Point and Vigil:
WIPNET celebrated International Women’s Day at three levels: at the international level with other women at CSW 49th Session and   Beijing +10; at the regional level with the launch of the Peace Vigil to express solidarity with the women of Togo following the    eruption of violence after the death of President Eyadema; and at the national level, with the traditional WIPNET Peace Checkpoint activity. This activity was supported by Oxfam-America and David Crockett.

Consultative Meetings and Capacity Building in Nigeria:
In the latter part of 2004, WIPNET entered into a strategic partnership with NoVib, to Strengthen the Capacity of Women’s Groups in  Nigeria to Participate in Peace   Advocacy and Conflict Prevention. In 2005, WIPNET translated this partnership into concrete action through capacity building and meeting by strengthening existing women in peacebuilding    networks in the North-East and Niger-Delta; and expanding the network to three geo-political zones  South-West, North-Central and South-East. The membership of WIPNET in Nigeria increased by 60. Under the NoVib/WIPNET partnership, a consultative meeting was also organized to develop a   framework and criteria for implementing the Voices of Women community radio program in Nigeria. The VOW community radio program will commence airing in Nigeria in 2006.

Working with Gender/Women’s  Ministries:
An integral component of WIPNET’s agenda is to influence policy formulation and implementation in peace and security. This year,   WIPNET began to strengthen cooperation between policy-makers, technocrats and women’s groups. This collaboration began with a  consultative meeting and training for Gender Ministries from the Senegambia (Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Bissau) and countries of the Mano River Union (Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry).  The consultations took place from 2630 September and   710 November respectively. Though these engagements revealed and confirmed that Gender/Women’s ministries’ broad mandate does not have a specific focus on peace and security, they are     mandated to promote gender  equality and women’s empowerment through their    founding statutes and through    international instruments such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action UN SCR 1325 and the Millennium Development Goals. WIPNET has entered into partnership with the Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town, South Africa, to strengthen the area of policy influencing.

Promoting Women’s Political   Participation: The WIPNET-Liberia Experience:
On request, WIPNET-Liberia entered into a partnership with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the United Nations     Development Program (UNDP) to carry out civic and voter education in preparation for the Liberia   presidential and general elections which took place in October 2005. This experience was different for WIPNET-Liberia from the role they played during the peace and DDRR processes.  The challenge they faced was to remain impartial,  neutral and non-partisan, despite the fact that some of their members had political interests. It was agreed that women with political aspirations should abstain from the exercise and also take a temporary leave of absence from the activities of the Network.

During the exercise, WIPNET discovered there was severe voter apathy (especially among women and youth). They came up with a strategy to get more women to register - they baby-sat, sold goods, washed and carried out other chores for women whilst the women went to register. At the end of four days, 7,455 women were  registered  a 60 per cent    increase in the number of women who had registered  earlier.

Voices of Women Community Radio Program
Throughout 2005, the Voices of Women Community Radio Program continued airing from strategic locations in The   Gambia, Liberia and Senegal. In Liberia, the program has been extended to three locations and in Nigeria the program will commence airing in 2006. The Voices of Women Community Radio Program has become a    channel for ‘globalizing local issues’ and ‘localizing global issues’ on women, peace and security.

4th Annual Women in Peacebuilding Regional  Conference:
WIPNET organized its 4th Annual Conference in Cotonou, Benin on   1-3 November, 2005. This event coincided with the global  celebration of the fifth year of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.  Consequently, WIPNET dedicated this conference to the review of the implementation of UNSC Res. 1325 in West Africa. The theme for the conference was “Revisiting the United Nations Security Council Resolution in West Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for the Future”.

Mainstreaming Women’s Issues in Security Sector Reform:
In partnership with the West Africa Network for Security and Democratic Governance (WANSED) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung,     WIPNET has designed a specialized methodology for mainstreaming gender and in particular women’s issues in security sector reform. As a follow up activity, WIPNET is expected to train experts and women’s groups on ‘Gender and Security Sector Reform’.

Strategic Partnerships:
All the activities implemented in 2005 by WIPNET were made possible by the support of its strategic   partners: Oxfam America, Oxfam Great Britain, WPP-IFOR, N(o)Vib, Mamacash, Global Fund for Women, Urgent Action Fund,    African Women Development Fund, David Crockett, American Jewish World Service (AJWS).

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Outputs:

• A region-specific policy framework for mainstreaming women’s issues in peace and security.
• Expansion of activities to new locations not currently covered.
• Increased collaboration between ECOWAS Gender Unit and WIPNET.
• A clearly defined framework for engaging policy makers and technocrats.
• An additional 160 trained women peacebuilders across West Africa.
• A specialized manual on Gender and Security Sector Reform.
• 4 translations of United Nations Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security.
• The Community Women in Peacebuilding Manual translated into 6 languages

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Key Challenges:

• Positioning WIPNET to impact policy formulation and implementation on peace and security.
• Funds to sustain the Women in Peacebuilding Program (WIPNET) in countries that have not experienced active (violent) conflicts.
• Difficulty in supervising radio programs in countries without a full-time program officer

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Key Lessons Learned:

• The Women in Peacebuilding Program at the national levels are at different stages of growth. At the Regional level the program should focus on strengthening the weaker    networks in the coming year.
• It is erroneous to assume that policymakers and technocrats in the region have the requisite skills and knowledge to engage in issues relating to women, peace and security. WIPNET will continue to engage these groups in its work.
• There is need to showcase the efforts and initiatives of women in this field in order to demystify the existing notion that women are largely inactive and are only victims.

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Follow-up Activities for 2006:

• Implementation of Phase II of the N(o)Vib/WIPNET project in Nigeria.
• Implementation of Phase III of the Oxfam-America/WIPNET project in the Senegambia region.
• Conduct research on Women’s Peace Activism: case study of the West Africa Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET).
• Publish  the 3rd edition of the WIPNET journal, Her story.
• Begin the broadcast of a VOW community radio program in Nigeria and continue airing in the Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Liberia.
• Increase targeted action to  engage policy makers and  technocrats.
• Interpret the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security from a West African perspective and increase action to advance its implementation.

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WIPNET QUICK LINKS

Objectives

Highlights

Strategic Partnerships

Outputs

Key Challenges

Key Lessons Learnt

Follow-up Activities for 2006