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WILPF Chad Group: First Steps as Part of the WILPF Family

11 April 2017

WILPF Chad Group has officially become part of the WILPF family in June 2016. Almost one year on, the president of the Group shares their aspirations, achievements and their current reality.

Members of WILPF Chad Group
Members of WILPF Chad Group. Photo: Djibrine Amalkher.

Preach peace, make peace and live in peace.

By Djibrine Amalkher, President of WILPF Chad Group

It is great to be part of a network of women champions of peace, activists, peace prizewinners and women right’s workers. WILPF is the world’s oldest women peace organisation, and what WILPF has achieved until now is phenomenal and unbelievable. It makes us believe that women’s contribution is fundamental to the development of this world. And how crucial it is to involve women in all peace processes at the national and international level. Most importantly, WILPF’s vision and mission fit completely our situation in Chad. And it’s a great opportunity to manage a group that will soon become a WILPF Section in Chad and to be able to help women reach their full potential.

Since the end of 2014, WILPF Chad has become more structured as an organisation and the group took a long peace journey by conducting many activities such as:

  1. Members capacity building training
  2. Women awareness and training on UNSCR 1325
  3. Debate, conference on the theme “Peace through basic education”
  4. Participation at WILPF’s centenary at The Hague (Netherlands)
  5. Training on the role of women in community life
  6. Awareness day organised by WILPF and AJASSA for women with disabilities on “women and leadership”
  7. Press brief on the incident of “Zouhoura Affair”, a young Chadian lady raped and humiliated on the Internet
  8. Debate organised after mother’s day on the theme “Role of mother for a peaceful environment in Africa”
  9. Participation of WILPF Chad members on TV Debates about Peace (National Tv and Afrique Media Tv)
  10. Participation at international events including Presidential summit with Obama in August 2015, West and central young leaders Conference in Accra 2016 etc.

WILPF Chad has also initiated discussions with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Gender about the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and the adoption of a National Action Plan.

WILPF Chad Group has contributed to great changes in the communities by: sensitising people about their rights, conducting awareness and trainings on women’s rights, conflicts resolutions, and peace debates. Sometimes, the root causes of violence are related to issues such as poverty and illiteracy. WILPF could indirectly fix these issues by advocating to the Government and Funders to invest more in such domains. WILPF contributes to advocacy for peace and women’s empowerment as well as related juridical aspects, making sure all necessary frameworks are adopted and well implemented. With the recent terrorist threats, prevention is the necessary solution.

Some of the challenges we are facing are: financial problems. As a newly founded group it’s difficult to find funding for our activities. Until now, our work has been supported by WILPF Chad members’ contributions. Our current activities have made WILPF Chad very well known among people. However the fact that we still don’t have an office in Chad make us less credible, as people keep asking where we are based. We also have language problems; majority of our members only speak French or Arabic, so it’s difficult for them to attend international events, webinars, meetings, etc.

Our main goal is to protect women and allow them to reach their full potential in a peaceful country. Our motto is “Preach peace, make peace and live in peace”.

Future work and challenges

In the upcoming year, WILPF Chad Group has some ambitious goals:

– Full participation of WILPF Chad in implementation processes of women’s rights frameworks (CEDAW and Beijing declaration, UNSCR 1325) at the national level;

– Cooperation with political, traditional and religious authorities;

– Participation of WILPF Chad in conflict resolution by proposing peaceful solutions at schools, universities, security and military corps, women and youth’s organisations;

– Strengthening women’s participation in the country’s development work;

– Reaching the population in rural areas, as they are the most vulnerable and many times unaware of their rights.

If you are interested in knowing more about the activities of WILPF Chad or you would wish to get in touch with them directly, please write to amalkher.djib (a) hotmail.com

 

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

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

VICE-PRESIDENT

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

PRESIDENT

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.

WILPF Afghanistan

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. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

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.

Militarised masculinity

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.

Feminist peace​

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.

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