Women’s role in local peace building Key findings from Afghanistan & Liberia.

Women’s role in local peace building

Key findings from

Afghanistan & Liberia

Content

• What peace & peace building means

• Characteristics of women’s involvement in peace building

• Obstacles to women’s involvement in peace building at local level

• Links to national level

• Initial recommendations

What peace means

“Both the man and the wife they are friendly, there is no confusion, the children are happy, the man is happy, the woman is happy”

“… being comfortable, without fear, and pursuing the things that make your life good”

“If people become educated then there will be peace.”

“Some calmness of psychological – feel comfortable physically but also psychologically.”

What peace means

“We are still in conflict and there’s no stability. People inside their houses are living like passengers...like they know that something will happen and they can leave at any time. If you are not starting to build your own house or equipping your own house then how can you think about the country overall”

What peace means

“Peace for me is if I come out of the house – if I am not accompanied by anyone. If people do not care what I’m wearing, what I’m looking like. If I can visit a village where I am working and feel safe. If I go back to home – my mother doesn’t call me 4 times a day when I am out for a meeting to check to see if I have reached back to the office safely.”

What peace means

Both men & women across locations talk about

• Togetherness

• Unity

• Love between each other

• Poverty and economic empowerment

• In areas with interventions men talk about gender equality

What peace means

What peace means

Characteristics of women’s peace building

Characteristics of women’s peace building

“So, after they came back they build a house: the women have decided to come together and contribute. We were able to construct a house for the women to meet. During the war the women are most vulnerable, the women are the ones that usually suffer during the war. So they decided to construct a place for the women to meet and discuss ‘what can we do so that we have peace? What shall we do so that war cannot come in here again?’ So, they came together and decided to call their children, both boys and girls to talk to them that if there is war, if there is anything that would bring destruction to this town they shouldn’t partake”

Characteristics of women’s peace building

However....

-Not all peace building projects have focus on gender

- Where they do women’s roles largely focused on mediation on domestic issues

Impacts

“Community police members are usually men. 2 years ago a female unit was established because women wanted a unit for their issues such as VAWG...Before the war most crime was petty thieves, but after they came with all kind of weapons und would take everything you have, rapes were going up, murders.. It is getting better now with the help of the community police. [Head of a female unit of the community police]

Local-national links

“At community levels – women are taking on leadership roles – such as community chairman – this has only happened since the end of the conflict.... Prior to the conflict there was not such a high percentage of women involved, women were told that ‘politics is a man’s business’ – but now there are more women involved. Even in police more women are joining now actively especially younger women.”

Obstacles

“Women need economic empowerment, they need to be independent. If they have to work on the farm or other activities to feed their children they don’t have time to be active. You cannot be part of training or activities if you don’t have food to leave for the children.”

Obstacles

“After the conflict, men are women are doings things equally. Women are trying to get to the same level as men, both economically and politically ... However, men continue to dominate women, through domestic violence and sexual abuse.”

Emerging recommendations

• More resources and support at community level for women

• Start from understanding peace and conflict by listening to what people have to say

• Address stressors for conflict & insecurity at local level

• Safe spaces for women to gather and organise

• Invest in building links between national & community levels

Issues to consider

• Essentialising gender

• Links between formal and informal justice systems – reconciliation vs. justice

Questions

• Does what we’ve talked about today reflect your experiences or not?

• Do you have lessons from your own contexts to share with us?