Advancing the WPS Agenda Beyond 2020’: What does it take?

Note: The following points are taken from the outcomes of the discussions held during UNOAU - AUC Virtual High -Level Dialogue: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda Beyond 2020 held on 30th November 2020 & 1st December 2020. 

a). Enhancing women’s meaningful participation in political and peace processes in Africa requires addressing the cultural factors that prevent women from taking part in the negotiation and engaging in the political space; sensitizing governments on women’s rights and WPS issues to enable ratification, domestication & implementation of key gender-responsive instruments; empowering women not only those who are at the regional and national levels but also those women at the grassroots level by supporting & recognizing women’s efforts at the local level as critical pillars of nation-building.

b). Special attention needs to be given to support greater participation of women in governance in countries that are emerging from conflict and that are in transition including through building capacities of women who aspire to take part in political processes; to empower girls by ensuring they have access to education and equal opportunities; to sensitize & encourage men & young boys to be champions of the WPS agenda; to localize national action plans including by allocation of sufficient resources at the local levels;

c). Support given to women actors and grass-root women-led initiatives who are involved in the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda at the local and national levels through financing & capacity building.  More needs to be done to provide opportunities to women to share their views & experience with their local languages and harness the tools women at the local level use in peacebuilding to inform official and formal processes. Due attention needs to be given to ensure that women’s participation in peace and nation-building is not just to satisfy quotas and ensure that their views are heard as well as incorporated. Attention should be given to building women’s capacity on mediation, conflict resolution, and advocacy; to follow up on clear numerical targets for women’s participation as mediators or peacekeepers.

d). Attainment of the WPS agenda in Africa cannot be effective without the full engagement of men and boys together with their mothers, sisters, and daughters. Efforts should be made to work with men and boys to dismantle the centuries-old attitudes that have created a glass ceiling for women’s participation and fight VAW and GBV.

e). Protection of women and girls against all forms of violence during conflict, post-conflict as well as in humanitarian settings should remain one of the priorities that need to be taken seriously.  To strengthen women’s protection from VAW and prevent VAW in conflict, post-conflict, and humanitarian settings, emphasis should be given to localize and contextualize the understandings of violence against women; to address the culture of silence on the ability of survivors to report cases and in denouncing VAW by the society;  to encourage the use of modern technology at various stages of mechanisms working towards protection and prevention; to improve and strengthen how women are protected in conflict, post-conflict & humanitarian settings by having a multiplicity of voices in conflict dialogues. Member states national system of prevention and combating of all forms of VAW needs to be strengthened to address the culture of impunity and ensure prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence.