Whenever there are conflicts at home involving children, we usually call our mothers to ask for help and resolution. They are our mediators who transform household troubles into a peaceful accords. They seem to have the power to ease out the troubles fast.
But did you know that women are not much involved in regional and national concerns of peace and decision-making processes for settlement of conflicts?
A UN Women study entitled Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections between Presence and Influence noted “that only two per cent of chief mediators, nine per cent of negotiators, and four per cent of signatories were women.”
There is under-representation of women in peace processes, and community conflict mediation and resolution.
The UN Women or the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, believes in the capacity of the women and that they can help bring peace to their respective communities. Hence, they recently held two sets of three-day trainings to capacitate the Bangsamoro Women community leaders. This is to train women on conflict community mediation and transformation.
The training brought in 20 qualified women community leaders to be trained to facilitate social interaction and dialogue between different groups in their respective communities that will lead to collective resolution and transformation of conflicts and building greater peace.
The trainings held in Lake Sebu in the last week of November aimed at strengthening the women’s participation in peace processes and community mediation at all levels.
It was a journey for Bangsamoro women participants into their inner self understanding their capacities and their rights. It was also a way to strengthen their capacities to advocate for peace process and conflict mediation by identifying the underlying causes and effects of violent conflicts affecting their villages and understanding the application of Islamic peacebuilding principles and values.
The training ended with the women trainers drafting a six month action plan to address a community conflict that is real and that exists in their respective communities.
I was there to witness and document their learning journeys. I’m sharing here some of the photos of the training that brought them transformation as leaders….and hopefully soon, the transformation of their communities.
Marbel Boy 