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.
