WPP ‐ Burundi Women’s Training Program

The Africa Desk of Women Peacemakers program held its second Training of Trainers in Gender and Non‐violence in Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi from 21st April to 2nd May 2008. Sixteen (16) women peace activists were drawn from 4 countries in Central Africa namely; Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo and Rwanda.

The training aimed at increasing the number of African women with skills and knowledge in gender‐sensitive active non‐violence; and lead to the creation of a regional network of women peacemakers with strong institutional capacities to participate in peace building in the central Africa region which has been plagued with conflicts over the years.

Gender and the environment stood out as a very critical issue during the training and the women spent time to explore various non‐violent ways of dealing with environmental conflicts and gender biases related to the environment as it was identified that most of the conflicts in Africa stem from access to resources.

Participants were also taken through facilitative training skills to enable them transmit their newly acquired knowledge and skills to their communities. In addition, they were taken through leadership and fundraising skills meant to strengthen their organizational capacities for sustainability of the program.

The training resulted in the formation of six WPP networks in the various countries with a strong commitment to promote Active nonviolence as a way of life.