Archive for November, 2007

SOMALIA-SO NEAR AND YET SO FAR

November 29, 2007 at 5:59 am · Filed under SOMALIA WOMEN

   
Somalia is one of our member countries at EASSI and during our peace campaigns we have tried endlessly to combine efforts with others to contribute to the peace process. It has not been easy. Currently, we are shooting a documentary on the peace process and women’s involvement. We interviewed a few Somali women and their stories are horrendous. I understand that Somalia was grateful for being invited for CHOGM and discuss pertinent issues. However, there is so much at stake. Below is an excerpt I got from IRIN NEWS.

26 November 2007 (IRIN) – Halimo Omar, 40, fled fighting in Mogadishu, and is now living in a cramped, makeshift camp for the displaced near the town of Afgoye, 30km south of the capital. Her family first sought refuge in Jowhar, in the Middle Shabelle region, in the south, and later moved to Arabiska in Afgoye, where she lives with her blind husband and four children in a hut made of twigs, torn plastic and old clothes.

“It [the hut] gives us shade from the sun but when it rains it cannot help us. We arrived here [at the IDP camp] 11 days ago [15 November] when Hawlwadaag became a battleground.” (Omar had been living with her family in Hawlwadaag district, south Mogadishu, near Bakara market, considered to be one of the most dangerous areas in the capital, with frequent clashes between insurgents and government troops.)

“Every day and night there was fighting going on. It seemed that every house was hit. We finally decided to leave. There were dead bodies all over the place. Sometimes you had to step over dead people to get away.

“My husband requires constant attention because of his blindness. It was hard taking care of four children and a blind man when things were good; it is even harder now, especially when one has to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

“My 18-year-old son used to help take care of the family. We used to both find work at Bakara market, but now even that is closed. We have been through a lot but this is the worst it has been in the past 17 years.

“Previously, there was a limit to the suffering because everybody was not affected so you got some help. Now there is no limit, everybody is in the same situation, so you cannot expect or hope for help from anyone. Now at the camp, I go into the bush every morning to collect firewood and later try to sell it at the roadside to add to what I get during the distributions [of relief food].

“But thank God we are at least alive. Many of our neighbours did not make it. I would like to go back but I don’t see how, with the situation the way it is. I am losing hope of ever going back to Mogadishu.”

SOURCE: IRIN NEWS

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2008 YOUNG WOMEN’S YOUNG LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

November 28, 2007 at 6:37 am · Filed under women leadership and training programs

ADVERTISEMENT FOR 2008 YOUNG WOMEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

Do you want to experience a nine-month –long internship programme at EASSI?

EASSI is an eleven year old sub-regional support initiative for women that boasts of having a hand in the implementation of Government commitments to women and girls’ advancement. This program targets women from the ages of 18 to 35 from any of the eight countries of the sub-region, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. Every year we target four women. In 2008, we specifically seek women from Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania.

EASSI works on policy advocacy on governments to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality. Through its work it aims to narrow the gap between policy rhetoric and policy implementation. Placing the advancement of women at the centre of all of its efforts, EASSI focuses its activities on four strategic areas: (1) Monitoring the Beijing Platforms for Action as a key focal area, (2) reducing feminized poverty, (3) increasing the role of women in peace building and conflict resolution, (4) achieving gender equality in democratic governance by increasing the numbers of women in power and decision-making, and recognizing that HIV/AIDS cuts across all areas and working with partners to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls. To pursue these goals, EASSI works with like minded partners to advocate and lobby for laws and policies to eliminate gender discrimination and promote gender equality in all areas. It works to strengthen the capacity and voice of women’s rights advocates. Its programme strategies are through, Research and documentation, Advocacy, Networking, information sharing, and Capacity Building

The young women’s internship programme provides opportunities for learning, interacting and traveling. Its objective is to develop and enhance young women’s skills in leadership, lobbying and advocacy, programme management, report writing and analysis, research and documentation, information management, developing resourceful data bases, website maintenance and resource centre management.

The programme also provides opportunity to the interns to gain hands on experiences in working within a women’s organisation. They have the chance to bring their own perspectives into the work of EASSI and to shape the internship programme. The programme will also shape their approach to feminism and issues at regional and global level that impact on women.

At the end of the internship programme, each intern is expected to produce a research report on an area of their choice but related to the work that EASSI does, based on their experience at EASSI.

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Criteria for Selection

  • Female between the age of 18 to 35
  • Citizen and resident of Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia or Tanzania
  • Must have at least a Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences, Law, Development Studies, Mass Communication, Education, Information Technology, Gender and Women Studies, Economics and other related Arts and Science subjects.
  • Must be able to communicate fluently in spoken and written English. French and Kiswahiili are an added advantage
  • Must have practical interest in the advancement of women empowerment in the region
  • Must ably demonstrate how they will apply their skills to the advancement of women concerns within their own countries
  • Must have some workable knowledge of IT
  • Be able to work under pressure
  • Be able work as a team
  • Must be willing to be away from home country for nine months from April 1 to December 15 2008
  • Must possess a valid passport for at least a year

Expectations of the interns

The success of the program will be measured by:-

1. An analytical qualitative and quantitative research from each intern on any of the four program areas:-

  • Monitoring Commitments to the Platform for Action
  • Women’s Poverty, Food Insecurity and Lack of Economic Empowerment
  • Governance Leadership and Decision making
  • Peace and Conflict Resolution

2. Ability to demonstrate skills in each strategic area of EASSI

· Research and Documentation

· Advocacy

· Networking and Information Sharing

· Capacity Building

Requirements for the Application Process

1. Letter of recommendation by a credible women’s organization and endorsed by EASSI’s Focal Point in member country

2. Curriculum vitae-not more than 3 A4 pages, including three referees, one academic, one personal and one from a women’s organisation

3. One recent colour passport photo-(either scan one or send by post)

4. Evidence of commitment to the women’s movement in the region

5. Copy of passport

6. Copy of academic certificates

7. One A4 page of written work in a field of women’s concerns

EASSI will provide suitable accommodation and a monthly stipend for each intern. They will also be entitled to two weeks leave.

The deadline for submission is Monday January 14 January 2008 at 1200pm GMT.

You can submit by email to Marren Akatsa-Bukachi at eassi@eassi.org or post to

Marren Akatsa-Bukachi

Executive Director-EASSI

P O Box 24965

Kampala, Uganda

East Africa

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WOMEN AND PEACE-BY NIVATITI NANDUJJA

November 28, 2007 at 6:17 am · Filed under Women and the peace process

Nivatiti is one of our interns for this year 2007. She comes from Uganda and has a degree on Law from Makerere University, Kampala.  Her major interst has been wome’s role in the peace process of Uganda. I decided to include one of her articles here to give you a feel of what she means.

 

WOMEN’S ESSENTIAL ROLE IN PEACE BUIDING.

 

Women must take the leadership role in conflict resolution and peacemaking, not only to protect themselves and their children from immediate war dangers and its effects of internal and external displacement and insecurity, but because they are the ones, individually and collectively, who have the potential to save future generations. It is the duty and obligation of all humanity to enable them to do so.

 

Zerfinesh Ketsella Bendow, Deputy Regional Director, UNICEF Eastern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) Nairobi 1994.

 

Women represent an untapped resource in peace building. Stereotypical images of women as passive victims of war overshadow their agency and contributions to peace building, and belie the complex reality of women’s experiences in conflict situations. In 2000, the UN Security Council reaffirmed the essential role that women play in peace-building in its historic Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Defining women by their biological roles is problematic and gives rise to gender inequality and the oppression of women in society. In today’s conflicts, more than 70 % of the casualties are civilians, most of them women and children. Women face specific and devastating forms of violence related to gender, including rape as a weapon of war and sexual slavery, practices that in turn greatly increase their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

 

Women as care givers and peace makers they are the first to be affected by infrastructure breakdown like in Somalia, and may be forced to adopt survival strategies that involve their exploitation. In the Eastern Africa Sub region, women have recognised that peace and security issues have become inextricably and intertwined for development. Women too the front lines urging for the end to conflicts through peace talks, signing peace accords, peace campaigns and providing support that allows their families and communities to survive, however they have remained in the periphery of formal peace and reconstruction processes. It has been recognised that for a sustainable peace to be successful, women must take up an equal role in shaping decisions in their country. Women’s’ perspectives and experiences are critical to stability and development for inclusive governance. Recovery, disarmament and rehabilitation provide a chance to strengthen gender justice through the formulation of laws, judicial systems and political processes that uphold women’s equality for instance in the Gacaca courts in Rwanda.

 

Women activists in Rwanda have strongly lobbied to produce Constitutional guarantees for women’s participation in peace-building. After the Kigali Declaration, women ex-combatants have been demobilized through forming “Ndabanga Association”, an association of women ex-combatants to develop new ties with the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission for systematically reintegration processes.

 

Due to genocide and massacres that destroyed the Rwanda social bond, women groups from all ethnicities, refugees and returnees came together to reflect on the way forward to create a favourable environment for a fair society where lasting peace reigns, recognition and respect of human rights for national building. Rwandanese women have developed strong networks among which is Profemme Twesehamwe a network of 48 Organisations which advocates for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. The Association of Genocide Widows (AVEGA) empowers widows to deal with their past experiences and to rebuild their shattered lives. They have been engaged in small income generating activities like making “peace baskets” for sale to generate income for their families.

 

 In the absence of formal peace processes, women’s groups have embarked on individual diplomacy by reaching out to each other across the lines of conflict and ethnicity to enable peaceful co-existence. They have built mutual trust and found unity in working together on women’s human rights issues, and have supported each other in fostering peace within their communities.

In light of this, women have resorted to making significant contributions towards the culture of peace. They are largely known to be responsible for nurturing positive cultural practices and they offer non-violence skills in conflict situation. Although women are less visible than men, they should be involved in seeking solutions to issues that are intrinsic to peace building, sustainable economic and political development for national building.

 


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SALW VALIDATION WORKSHOP IN NAIROBI

November 19, 2007 at 3:44 pm · Filed under Gender and violence

EASSI finally held her small arms and light weapons validation workshop in Nairobi. What’s that? well, a small arm is basically a gun that is used for personal use. That is a putting it very plainly. There are hundreds of types of small arms. Some people want to argue that machetes are also small arms and light weapons-maybe? given their role in genocides. Well, this workshop was facilitated by EASSI. EASSI has, over the past months, been reading up on the national action plans (naps) on small arms and light weapons (salw) of uganda, kenya and tanzania and interviewing a few key person(s). EASSI discovered that the NAPS lacked a bit of gender responsiveness and so came up with an evaluation report. At this workshop, experts from the five east african countries looked at the report and critiqued it to make it thorough. There were also sessions on defining SALW. Another key aspect was to identify gender mainstreaming guidelines for the process.
Over 30 participants attended the workshop even after late invitations went out. That shows that the workshop was truly meant to be. The training was at SOS Training centre in Karen which, is almost one thousand light years away from Nairobi but looks rally neat. Apart from the double rooms that look like dormitories , the place is neat, serene and breathtaking and the kitchen staff and managers treat their customers very well. If they stopped making so much tree tomato juice, everything would be excellent.

The report , which was drafted by Marren Akatsa-Bukachi, the lead consultant and Jessica Nkuuhe,  staff- Joyce Tamale and Jane Ocaya-Irama, was given a thorough critique from the participants as they divided into country groups. (Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania) Members from EAC, Rwanda and Burundi divided themselves amongst these groups.

From the beginning, it was evident that all participants wanted the recommendations to be implemented from the workshop and to serve the purpose of the people so that it does not serve as a workshop for workshop’s sake. In all honesty, all of us had attended so many workshops each that we were suffering from workshop syndrome. As I mentioned before, the participants came from  rich backgrounds of expertise and each added value to the process. Inteerstingly, while NAPS shold be public property, nobody at the workshop had ever got a hold of the Tanzania NAP on SALW apart from a summary.

Mary Makoffu, who represented the EAC made mention of the fact that such important information should be disseminated at the level fo EAC and she made commitment to ensuring it were so.

Other participants needed clarity on gender issues and were wary of some of the gender terms that were rather too curt and biased like gender blindness and gender ignorance and advised on one common term that served the same purpose eg. gender sensitivity.

After Jessica Nkuuhe guided us through the gender mainstreaming process , she carefuly told us that while it is important to engender the NAPS, sometimes women too are used as perpetratrs in conflict situations and used to acarry arms. This and other discussions made the workshop a success.

The next time we will meet with a revised report and NAPS from Rwanda and Burundi.

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EASSI now covers the whole world!

November 5, 2007 at 11:52 am · Filed under eDAY ONE OF EASSI BLOGGING

This is a new day for us. The start of our own blog. A whole new space. We are truly getting bigger.

EASSI is a sub-regional organization in Eastern Africa that follows up on Government commitments to women concerns. EASSI began in 1996 after the fourth world conference on women ion Beijing. Since then, other commitments have been followed like MDGs and CEDAW.

We are a network in the eight countries of Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda. We are pretty big. But now that we are blogging, our space has become even bigger. We cover the whole world.

We welcome you into our space to learn and share as we all grope with the struggles of existence, of life, of meaning and of trying to meet with the difficulty of attaining more opportunities for women.

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Day one of EASSI blogging

November 5, 2007 at 9:01 am · Filed under A NEW E-DAY FOR EASSI ·Tagged ,

This is a new day for us. The start of our own blog. A whole new space. We are truly getting bigger. EASSI is a sub-regional organization in Eastern Africa that follows up on Government commitments to women concerns. EASSI began in 1996 after the fourth world conference on women ion Beijing. Since then, other commitments have been followed like MDGs and CEDAW. We are a network in the eight countries of Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda. We are pretty big. But now that we are blogging, our space has become even bigger. We cover the whole world.

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