Gender Pre-Forum. “Magnifying Women’s Role in Conflict Prevention and Silencing the Guns.”
The dividend of conflict is despair, inflicting everlasting suffering on humanity particularly the vulnerable, women, girls, children, the disabled and the elderly. At the bottom of the barrel, women bear the biggest burden of violent conflicts in Africa with women targeted to be used as weapons of war through rape, abductions, forced pregnancies and sexual slavery. Evidence has shown that women have also been systematically excluded from participation in or leading cultural, political, social and economic aspects of democratic governance. Women can bring about change and positive impact on conflict prevention. Women are not only victims but are incredible leaders, peacemakers, negotiators and mediators with capabilities in de-escalating violence and preventing conflict before it happens.
Gender equality and meaningful engagement of women is imperative in strengthening democratic governance which is central to achieving sustainable development and peace in Africa. Women need to take a central stage in decision making, institutional building and leadership which is crucial in bringing to the fore the capabilities of women to create and sustain everlasting peace in the continent. More specifically, women’s role in breaking the cycle of conflict through highlighting their engagement in structural prevention of conflict, conflict management and post-conflict reconstruction will need to be streamlined as a significant contribution to silencing the guns on the continent.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been acknowledged on the continent and in the world in general that women face the heaviest burden when it comes to response – currently, women make up a large demographic of frontline workers addressing the spread of COVID-19. Women therefore face significant health risks not to mention as primary care providers of families, since they bear the added burden of caring for the sick. As for the unintended negative impact of the pandemic, it has been reported that Gender Based Violence considerably increased as families stayed indoors during lockdown measures. Despite women being weighed down by the pandemic, women’s leadership have been significant in averting the pandemic in many parts of the world.
Reflecting back to our continent, we have miles to go in achieving women participation, equality or leadership. However, we also need to work on recognizing women’s roles and their contribution to build effective and resilient democratic governance processes that ensure conflicts are prevented before they are conceived. It is to highlight these contributions made by women and ensure more investments are made for their meaningful engagement that the African Governance Architecture Secretariat on behalf of the African Governance Platform is organizing the Annual Gender Pre-forum to the 2020 9th High-Level Dialogue focusing on the theme “Magnifying the role of women in conflict prevention to silencing the guns in Africa.” The Gender Pre-forum is scheduled to take place virtually from 19-20 November 2020.
Read more here.
Continental Youth Consultation. “Re-Thinking Democratic Governance amid a Pandemic: The Role of African Youth in Silencing the Guns.”
Young people are unyielding for challenging the status quo, a characteristic that is a common tenor among many in Africa. Youth tend to think outside of the box, with the propensity to take bigger risks and transcend traditional thinking processes through innovation. Estimated to be over 70% of Africa’s population, young people’s demographic forte is still on the rise bringing questions of inequality, fairness and justice on democratic governance and socio-economic development to the fore. Beyond the demographic imprint, the search for a sustainable and durable solution for Africa’s peace and security problem must actively engage African youth. It has been stated, and rightly so, that ‘engaging youth in democratic governance processes in Africa could bring significant social, political and economic benefits’.
The dividends of democracy and governance in Africa are yet to be unveiled fully. Democratic governance that functions well but most importantly a democracy that delivers on their basic needs is still under construction. Young people often ask – can democracy put food on the table? Can democracy ensure employment and livelihood? Ideally, yes, democratic governance through its intrinsic and instrumental values must accomplish exactly that. The reality is far from what democratic governance promises to deliver, increasing inequality, winner takes all politics that breeds contentious public discourse, nepotism, corruption, oppression and injustices. Democratic governance has more to do with non-inclusion, the absence of democratic dividend and at times with violent enforcement of democratic values. These injustices have been exposed further by COVID-19. The social contract was broken, rocking the boat harder, thereby calling for a conversation on re-imagining, re-thinking, re-calculating democratic governance by Africans for Africans.
Re-thinking democracy, however, is a daunting task that comes with immense opportunity in revisiting old ideas, re-calibrating strengths and upholding elements that can bring about favourable results for all including youth. Re-thinking civic participation, Re-thinking social cohesion, Re-thinking public Service, Re-thinking Education, Re-thinking health services, Re-thinking politics as political markets shift to virtual space can be a few of the issues. Contrary to negative stereotypes, young people are powerful agents in building the culture of democracy, participation and contributing to the prevention of conflicts in Africa. Youth have played considerable roles in their community through establishing youth movements to promote social cohesion and they have found innovative ways to engage in deepening the culture of democracy in Africa and building resilience to peace.
This year alone, Young people have shown in numbers in Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Cameroon, Ethiopia and other nations leading on the frontlines of change. Beyond going on the streets to voice frustrations, young people need to organize, strategize and revamp their efforts to build the conflict resilient communities they want to see, strive and work to take leadership roles, positions and places; find a seat at the table or better yet build the table themselves, exercise adaptive leadership through active citizenship, intensify their agency to build a democracy they want to see, a democracy that can overcome challenges of social injustices, through engaging systems, institutions and technologies.
Read more about the Continental youth consultation here.
