Over the course of two weeks in September and October, WILPF co-convened the 2021 MenEngage Africa Training Institute (MATI) in partnership with MenEngage Africa, Sonke Gender Justice, and the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. This year’s MATI welcomed participants from 17 different countries across Africa and focused on advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
Read the MATI report on the course on advancing the women, peace and security agenda in Africa.
Established in 2010, MATI is typically an intensive two-week residential training programme for gender equality activists from across the African continent. It is an annual program, and is usually held in collaboration with an African university.
This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Institute took place in a virtual format and brought together emerging academics, activists, and practitioners, including from WILPF Sections and MenEngage Africa networks in 17 different African countries (Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Africa, Nigeria, Togo, Uganda, Namibia, Rwanda, Madagascar, Mali, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).
The 2021 MATI focused on advancing the women, peace, and security agenda in Africa. This year’s theme was inspired by the persistent challenges to peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and prevention of violence that continue to be experienced both within the African continent and around the world. Some of these challenges are deeply rooted in structural inequalities, including gender inequalities. Overcoming these obstacles and working for peace therefore requires an understanding of the different ways that war, conflict, and violence affect all people based on their gender, as well as other identities.
Participants came away with a deepened understanding of the gender dimensions of conflict, the structural drivers and root causes of conflict, and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda from regional and sub-regional perspectives.
The Institute included courses on a range of topics, including key theories and concepts; practical strategies for advocacy on WPS and human rights; and deeper dives into themes and country case studies. Joy Onyesoh, WILPF International President, facilitated the session about the Women, Peace and Security agenda and approaches to implementation.
Throughout the sessions, MATI incorporated a focus on men, boys, and masculinities, which are relevant to discussions about war and violence.
“Gender in Africa is in most cases referred to almost exclusively to the disadvantages that women and girls face,” reflected participant Raymond J. Kakuba. “Given the extent of gender inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa, an almost exclusive focus on women and girls has been appropriate … but the MATI course changed my mindset in that it portrayed gender to be more than just this.”
A critical component of WPS is the topic of conflict prevention and addressing root causes. Participants in the course engaged in many discussions around the root causes and systemic drivers of conflict, including structural violence.
Participant Dr. Chiemezie Atama found this emphasis especially useful, stating that “The link between structural and cultural violence and its implications in promoting the Women, Peace and Security Agenda was very intriguing. [Dr. Yonas Adaye’s] quote still rings like a bell in my head: ‘Do we [have] conflict because we are conflictual, or do we [have] conflict because of environmental factors?’”
Throughout the course, participants and presenters brought in their own expertise to ground and enrich the discussions.
For example, Annie Mbambi, President of WILPF DRC, shared her experiences working on WPS in the context of the DRC, where civil society organisations have opened space for women’s leadership and participation in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Amon Mwiine, Lecturer at the School of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University, joined the conversation near the end of the training and reflected on the ambiguities of the narratives on “male champions” of gender equality in Uganda Parliament. And Edwick Madzimure of WILPF Zimbabwe spoke about violence related to the mining sector in her country, an issue with which she found commonalities with Congolese participants.
To make the course more interactive than online formats often allow, and to ensure that participants reflected deeply on the course content between sessions, throughout the course participants were encouraged to use photography and video to document their own experiences, reflect on their lives and work, and to explore course themes.
To assist participants with engaging through multimedia, and to orient them to the use of photography, WILPF invited Pete Muller, winner of the World Press Photo of the Year Award and a documentary photographer who has focused much of his work on masculinity and conflict, to present on the second day of the course.
Through a mix of lectures, interactive discussions, networking, and group activities, attendees of the Institute came away with deeper knowledge as well as closer connections with other advocates and practitioners. This will help strengthen WILPF and MenEngage’s shared work to mobilise men for feminist peace and advance inclusive conflict prevention and resolution.
“I can now engage better simply because of the training, which has further empowered me on women, peace, and security international and regional instruments,” stated MATI participant Sekinah Temitope Lawal, who attended from Lagos, Nigeria.
“Going forward … it will be a lot easier to efficiently mainstream the WPS agenda in my work and effectively advocate for the involvement of women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes.”
READ THE FULL PROGRAM FOR MATI 2021, INCLUDING COURSE MATERIALS
Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.
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Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.
Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.
Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.
In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region.
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WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.
Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.
Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.
WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.
In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.
In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.
