Mr. Mawutor Ablo, Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating Department, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has advocated for an enabling environment for women to contribute effectively to peace building.
This, he said, was prudent because the involvement of women in all decision-making processes created lasting peace and sustained the quality and durability of peace agreements.
Mr. Ablo said this in Accra on Tuesday when he launched an advocacy guideline for the promotion of women participation in peace and security in West Africa at the opening of a lecture series on women peace and security.
The lecture series organised by the West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP), served as platform for stakeholders in the peace and security sector across West Africa to deliberate on how to promote women participation in leadership.
It also served as an avenue to harness the knowledge and experience of gender experts, academia and practitioners on how the COVI D-19 pandemic was impacting the attainment of commitment to the Women Peace and Security Agenda in the face of dwindling and reallocation of resources.
It was on the theme: “Pathways to achieving SDG goal five in the post – COVID 19 era: Challenges and prospects”.
The SDG five states that gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.
Mr. Ablo further called on men to advocate for women to take up higher positions and work with them as partners to help promote gender equity in governance.
He said countries which were committed to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals, must embrace gender balance and focus on the fair distribution of the benefits of development.
Mrs. Levinia Addae-Mensah, Deputy Executive Director OF WANEP, said the COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges to the urgent implementation and the attainment of women peace and security agenda to ensure that women’s right were protected.
“Amidst the pandemic, there has been an escalation in reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in some communities,” she said.
She said the advocacy guideline was on practical steps and approaches adopted by WANEP to engage in policy advocacy at different levels across all ECOWAS states.
“This document is divided into five sections to provide a clear understanding of the linkage between advocacy and the attainment of the WPS agenda,” she said.
It is expected to serve as a guide to building essential skills for effective advocacy and engagement of relevant decision- makers in changing policies, structures and frameworks.
