By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The ECOWAS Commission organized a three-day in-country capacity-building workshop for national stakeholders and focal people on monitoring and reporting Women, Peace and Security Agenda, WPS, in Abuja, Nigeria.
The 3 days workshop which held from September 19th to 21st, 2023 was organized by ECOWAS Commission’s Human Security and Civil Society Division and the GIZ ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and Operation (EPSAO) Project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The Minister for Women Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Barr. Uju Kennedy Ohanenye who was represented by Mrs. Funke Oladipo, Director of Women Development stated that since Nigeria’s domestication of UNSCR-1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the Ministry with key stakeholders had continued to implement initiatives identified in the second national Plan and is currently developing its third edition.
It has also sustained its support to women peace builders, and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in their demands for justice and pushing for women’s meaningful participation in peace building processes.
The Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, said the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on October 31, 2000, established the global agenda on women, peace, and security recognizing the disproportionate impact of violent conflict on women and girls, under-representation of women in formal peace processes and importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective in peace and security architecture.
According to Sintiki, the simplified Continental Results Framework (CRF) was developed to serve as a systematic tool for monitoring and reporting on the WPS agenda.
She further stated that ECOWAS has simplified the tool to make it user-friendly. According to her, the purpose of this training is to build the capacity of stakeholders to utilize the tool and provide the needed data and information to be used for advocacy and resource mobilization in West Africa,
The representative of the GIZ-EPSAO Project, Ms. Tamwakat Golit reiterated the organization’s commitment to assisting ECOWAS in achieving just and strong societies in the West African region through its Feminist Development Policy, which aims to eliminate structures that discriminate against women, girls, and the marginalized.
