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WILPF is Delighted to Announce our Newest National Group, WILPF Chad

17 June 2016

Chad map

Bordered by Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, The Republic of Chad is the fifth largest country in Africa; Chad has a population of 13 million people, 54% of which are woman.

With the UN’s Human Development Index ranking Chad as the 7th poorest country in the world, and 80% of the population living below the poverty line and a history of civil war, conflicts and inter-community violence, modern Chad faces many difficulties.

In recent years however, things have been relatively more stable. Nonetheless, with the ongoing violence and conflicts in neighbouring Sudan and CAR, many refugees have flocked to Chad and there are still many internally displaced persons within the country. These people are especially vulnerable to violence and harassment.

The group which was to become WILPF Chad Group begun activities in 2014 looking to include Chadian women in peace processes to ensure longer-lasting peace. Over recent years WILPF has been flourishing in Africa, with WILPF Chad’s entry into the WILPF family coming at a time of great expansion and success for WILPF in the area.

We got to catch up with WILPF Chad Group’s President Djibrine Souleymane Amalkher.

How does it feel to be the newest addition to WILPF’s family?

It is great to be part in of a network of women champions of peace, activist, peace prize winners, women right’s workers.

WILPF is one of the oldest peace contributions coming from a women organization, and what WILPF has achieved until now is phenomenal and unbelievable. It’s a great to have the opportunity to manage a WILPF group here in Chad and to be able to help women reach their potential.

Why did Chad want to join the WILPF family?

We also share WILPF’s vision of a peaceful world where girls and women enjoy full rights and are able to reach their potential, as well as proposing and adopting peaceful solutions to conflicts.

We believe the best way to achieve this will be through working with a network of people that have the same ideology and vision, so we can share learn and channel our common will to achieve miracles together.

In what ways do you believe that WILPF Chad Group will make a difference to communities around the country?

WILPF Chad Group already has started to make huge differences in communities by sensitizing them about their rights and raising awareness and training on women’s rights, conflicts resolutions and peace debates.

Root causes of violence sometimes are related to problems like poverty and illiteracy etc. WILPF could indirectly fix them by advocating for the Government and funders to invest in such domains.

What difficulties have you faced up until now, and what challenges do you believe that WILPF Chad Group will experience in the future?

Some of the difficulties we are facing are include financial problems, as we’ve just started, and not having a WILPF office in Chad is causing difficulties.

In the future, the challenges will include ensuring WILPF Chad Group’s full participation in implementing women’s rights frameworks’ at the national level; cooperation between Chad’s political, traditional and religious authorities; and reaching Chad’s rural areas, where most people live and are the most vulnerable and unaware about their rights.

What are WILPF Chad Group’s main aims for the upcoming year, and what do you hope to achieve?

Our Main goal is to protect women and to allow them to reach their potential in a peaceful country, we wish to “preach peace, make peace and live in peace”. We will focus on ensuring advocacy for government to take women’s issues very seriously; implementing of important frameworks such as CEDAW, BEIJING and UNSCR 1325; and reinforcing the participation of women in the country’s development.

WILPF Chad Group has already now started working in the spirit of WILPF. The Group will become an official WILPF Section in 2018, if the Triennial International Congress decides to adopt the Group at Congress.

/by Isabel May Bull

Photo of Isabel May Bull

About the author

Isabel May Bull is a student, studying Politics and French at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, with a particular interest in gender politics and International Relations. She is currently on an Erasmus year abroad at The University of Geneva studying Translation (French and English).

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Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

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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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.