Strategising for sustainable peace

I watched with sadness the picture of a man carrying a four day old baby rescued from Sambisa. Security of lives and property is the primary purpose of government and the security challenges facing the people has strengthened their resolve to make restoration of peace a priority. In their determination to combat violence and restore […]

I watched with sadness the picture of a man carrying a four day old baby rescued from Sambisa. Security of lives and property is the primary purpose of government and the security challenges facing the people has strengthened their resolve to make restoration of peace a priority. In their determination to combat violence and restore peace in the country, government and non state actors are designing community based strategies for peace building. Two important meetings were held from April 26-30 in Abuja to build on such initiatives. The first which held at Sheraton Hotel Abuja was attended by members of the Steering Committee of the Partnership Against Violent Extremism PAVE which is a coalition of civil society groups working in peace nationwide. The Office of National Security Adviser ONSA is supporting such initiatives as part of its soft approach to combating violent extremism. The meeting was supported by the European Union Technical Assistance to Nigeria on Security challenges facing the country, EUTANS.
The second related event was the joint meeting of the Monitoring and Evaluation and the Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Nigeria Action Plan NAP for women in Peace and security. The Nigerian NAP was developed to meet the  UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on the Involvement of Women in Peace and Security. It was organised by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development with support from the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) which aims to reduce violent conflicts in Nigeria. The Manager of the NSRP Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi welcomed participants and did a review of the NSRP’s five year programme which provides support to Nigerian stakeholders to better manage conflict resulting in wealth creation, service delivery and poverty reduction. It is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). With the support of NSRP, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development developed and launched the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. I was privileged to participate in the development of the NAP, along with three other consultants: Dr Lydia Umar of Kaduna-based Gender Action Trust GAT, Mr Chukwuemeka Eze of West African Network for Peace WANEP and Grace Awodo of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution Abuja.  Dr Lydia and I made presentations on Community mobilization and Advocacy strategies.
The Ministry had earlier brought together the peace actors from the various states where the project is being implemented to develop activities around five pillars of NAP.  The states are FCT, Plateau Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, Rivers, Bayelsa and Borno. The implementing organisations also invited other women’s peace groups and established the Women in Security and Peace Network in all the project states. They developed action plans with activities that were based on the five pillars of NAP which are prevention, protection, participation, promotion and prosecution. Their activities focused on prevention of violence against women during conflict and in peace time, strategies for protection of women from violence, ensuring their participation in peace building and conflict resolution, promoting the NAP and other peace initiatives and ensuring the prosecution of all those who perpetuate violence against women during conflict.
At the meeting on held on April 28 2015 at Valencia Hotel in Abuja, the FMWA provided a forum for the implementing organisations from the various states  to review how far they had gone with the implementation of their action plans. They also shared the challenges being faced in project implementation, the best practices and lessons learned with their colleagues. In their presentations, participants highlighted the work they were doing around sensitization and organizing women to promote peace, and working with youth groups, religious and traditional leaders to combat violence. In the North East zone where we have been battling with an insurgency that has led to the death over citizens and displaced more than one million five hundred thousand people, women and children constitute the majority of those rescued by soldiers from the Sambisa forest, a strong hold of the insurgents. The rescued women have told tales of horror, stoning to death, sexual abuse, forced marriages and starvation.
‘Women are the worst affected by conflict. They bear the brunt of it because when war comes, they often become targets of sexual violence, their husbands and children may be killed – leaving them without support, and they are themselves the majority of casualties of war. Women make up 80% of those who have to flee their homes. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 200,000 women have been raped in a decade of conflict.
But women are not only victims, they can be central in the fight for peace. The award of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize to three women from Liberia and Yemen recognised this vital role. When the men of fighting age have disappeared to war, women become the heads of household, conservers of the community and rebuilders of the economy.  Women’s perspectives are therefore invaluable – they can make unique contributions by offering their perspectives and taking advantage of the roles expected of them. While international bodies have urged greater participation of women in peace-building work, our local peace-builders show that women are already often at the forefront of the mission for a lasting peace.’ The civil society organisations that assembled in Abuja under the Women’s Security and Peace Network some weeks back confirm this.