WANEP-Gambia
on Wednesday organised a daylong training for women with disabilities and other
vulnerable groups on gender and peace-building.
The training, held at the NaNA conference hall, was supported by CEDAW, DANIDA and the Austrian government.
It targeted thirty participants – twenty from Gambia Federation for the Disabled and ten from other civil society organizations.
Anna Jones, acting national coordinator of WANEP-Gambia, said the forum was organised to prepare the participants to be more involved in peace building, which is key for any national development.
She said the objectives of the forum include sharing with the participants the relevance of women participation in peace building, conflict analysis and mediation and coming up with concrete recommendation for achieving peace building in the society.
“By the end of the training, the participants would be equipped with skills on conflict prevention and resolution,” Mrs Jones said.
She added that WANEP-Gambia is now focusing on getting women with disabilities on peace building issues as part of efforts to get such women involved in decision making processes.
Ebrima Dibassey, executive director, Gambia Federation for the Disabled, said the training was a laudable initiative as women with disability play a very significant role in society and in the socio-economic advancement of the country.
He hailed WANEP-Gambia, saying they are one of the key partners of the federation in terms of education, health and other issues.
Mr Dibassey told the participants that at the end of the training they should be in position to take the message home and spread it in their communities.
Francis Mendy, zonal coordinator of WANEP-Gambia, said the needs and experiences of women are different.
“Therefore, it is important that women are involved in peace building processes – mitigation, negotiation and peacekeeping.It is good that they also know that there are instruments both at the local, regional and international levels that provide for the inclusion of women in all these peace building activities,” she said.
“A lot of times when we talk about vulnerability, we think of people who are differently disabled but all of us are vulnerable because to be alive is to be vulnerable,” she added.
