Banjul, The Gambia: As the participation of women in every sector is critical to enhancing their effectiveness and responsiveness to the rights and needs of women, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare in collaboration with Partners West Africa and the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) conducted a two-day regional advocacy and sharing workshop for women.
The event slated for the 30th – 31st of May 2024 in Banjul was centered on the theme: ‘Sentinels with the ‘He For She’ to strengthen and consolidate the rights of women and children for peace and social cohesion’.
The overall objective was to create a framework for exchange and dialogue with CSO leaders, national and sub-regional women’s rights platforms and networks to discuss and propose effective solutions to refine national strategies, and sub-regional and regional advocacy for the effective involvement of women in mediation and decision-making processes.
Specifically, the event brought together members of the Sentinels who are also leaders of platform organizations and networks involved in the promotion of women’s rights, peace and security in the ECOWAS and the Sahel Region to exchange and share information on the theme.
The participants were availed the opportunity to establish a diagnosis without complacency on the level of involvement and participation of national and regional women’s organizations in achieving the “Women, Peace and Security” objectives; as well as revitalize the participation and contribution of networks, platforms and organizations promoting and defending women’s rights in the ECOWAS and the Sahel Region for the effective implementation of programmes which promote women, peace and security.
Among other objectives included carrying out an assessment of the follow-up of recommendations for achieving the objectives of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda; making recommendations to authorities, technical and financial partners at the national, regional and international institutions, and popularising the policy briefs developed from this session for a better advocacy strategy for Resolutions 1325 and other related resolutions.
During the two days of training, there was a high-level panel discussion on the Women, youth, and Peace and Security agenda: Progress, limits and perspectives for the ECOWAS and Sahel States.
Another panel dwelling on “He for she”, youth, women in the resilience processes of women’s organizations and the promotion of youth, women, peace and security resolutions for social cohesion was staged among others.
