Women from various religious denominations, cultural groups as well as civil society organizations have taken the commitment to use their platforms to promote peace and strengthen social cohesion in their various communities.

They took the commitment last Saturday, November 13 in Buea during a session designed to strengthen their role and participation in conflict prevention and early warning/response mechanism using a training of grassroots trainer approach.

Discussions at the workshop organised by the Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation Network, centred on the role of women in peacebuilding processes, conflict analysis/mapping, alternative dispute resolution in the church, communication, community intervention to prevent conflict related and Gender Based Violence, community engagement in combating hate speech and Gender mainstreaming in conflict prevention and Peacebuilding processes.

Taking the women through, one of the trainers, Frida Baiye urged them to build soft skills as well as trust with their various communities which remain very necessary in ensuring sustainable peace from the grassroots level.

During the training, participants were equally enlightened on Resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council adopted in October 2000 recognising the various experiences of women in conflict situations while also acknowledging the contributions and absence of women in the conflict resolution, prevention and Peacebuilding process.It further called for the empowerment of women, to ensure their inclusion in the prevention of conflict, and Peacebuilding process.

The Power Walk session brought out the power dynamics in the Peacebuilding space and reinforced trust building, resilience and increased awareness of participants on their roles in preventing conflict and to support conflict prevention efforts.

Last Saturday’s training was also part of a restitution of the Women in Conflict Prevention course at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Institute Accra Ghana.