Accra, Nov 13, GNA – ECOWAS is to hold a training session for selected women in Peace and Security Course to equip them to effectively provide leadership mentoring for women, peace and security actors in the sub-region.
A statement issued by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the training session was part of measures to promote women leadership in peace and security on the continent in partnership with ECOWAS.
The five-day workshop would be held in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, from 15 to 19 November 2021 with funding support from the Danish Government.
It noted that the target participants for the workshop were operational-level female and male staff of partner organizations within the ECOWAS sub-region, preferably working on women, peace and security, as well as those working on issues within the peace, security, gender and political affairs domains.
“Aside from providing them the requisite knowledge and skillsets to mentor women, peace and security actors in the region, the workshop will also provide the platform for participants to network among themselves and serve as catalysts for increasing female leadership in the peace and security sector,” the statement said.
“The adoption of the landmark United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) in the year 2000, came with an increased effort to integrate gender perspectives into peace and security discourse, policy and practice.”
It noted that 20 years after the passage of the Resolution, it was widely accepted that the incorporation of gender perspectives as governance and human rights principle in all sectors was essential and would enhance institutional and operational effectiveness by responding to the specific needs, concerns and aspirations of men and women.
It said, nonetheless, there was the urgent need to promote female leadership and influence at all levels in the peace and security architecture – moving beyond increasing female representation to achieving meaningful participation of women in peace and security processes.
The statement said the KAIPTC, in keeping with its commitment to promote the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Africa, in 2019 established the KAIPTC Women’s Support Scheme to increase training opportunities for women and provide targeted capacity-building programmes for women.
It said under the support scheme, the KAIPTC developed a training manual on leadership and mentoring for female leaders in the peace and security architecture.
It said through the Danish development and humanitarian strategy: “The World 2030,” the Government of Denmark had been committing financial and technical support to promote the peace, stability and development of the region and beyond.
It said under a two-year project dubbed: ‘Promoting peace and security in West Africa’ the Government of Denmark was also working with the KAIPTC in three thematic areas; Women, peace and security, Conflict prevention, and Responsibility to Protect.
The statement said the Centre was poised to continuously engage its development partners and experts to explore more avenues to boost the capacity of women to occupy frontline positions in the peace and security framework.
GNA