Press Release

Women’s Regional Network Opens Peace Building Opportunities

In Conflict Affected Border Areas

Nairobi, Kenya  | Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Over 50 key women leaders from border areas of North Eastern Kenya, Gedo and Lower Juba regions of Somalia and South Eastern Ethiopia will gather in Garissa 13th - 15th August 2008 to discuss way for women to play a more significant role in peace building processes in the region.

This gathering will include Kenyan Gender Ministers, as well as, a regional Gender Officer from IGAD, women parliamentarians from the region, USAID/Kenya, USAID/Ethiopia and USAID/East Africa officials and PACT Inc staff who will give key note addresses. Mandera Women for Peace and Development (MWPD) and Pact Kenya, in collaboration with Pact Inc and USAID East Africa regional office, will support this gathering. Kenya’s North Eastern Provincial Commissioner will officially open the gathering.

Background:

In 3rd and 4th of June 2008, PEACE II organized a consultative stakeholders meeting in Mandera that sought to create space for the participants to analyze and contextualize conflict in the tri-border area of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, to explore and understand the underlying causes of conflict in the area, identify the interface of peace practice and policy and recommend options for PEACE II in order find solution for the conflicts existing in the area. During this meeting, there was a critical and significant lack of women participants and participation in the meeting. Only three were women out of a total of 49 participants in that meeting despite the fact that most of the organizers were women.

PEACE II seeks to achieve a society based on gender equality in terms of sharing resources and decision-making. It will encourage shared meetings where women and men will have equal representation to ensure cooperation at all levels of engagement--household, local, regional and national.

PEACE II

Peace in East and Central Africa Phase II (PEACE II) program that is implemented by Pact aims to enhance African leadership in the management of conflict within the Horn of Africa. In particular, it intends to improve the ability of communities and community-based organizations to respond to conflict by strengthening the linkages between those communities and the wider civil society and government at local and regional levels in the border areas of this region, where it is acknowledged there is weak local government capacity.

The program builds upon previous USAID/EA conflict programs by focusing on communities composed largely of culturally and ethnically different nomadic and pastoralist populations that move across porous national borders in two priority focus areas: 1) the Somali Cluster (Kenya/Somalia/Ethiopia tri-border area; and 2) the North Eastern Karamoja Cluster (Kenya/Sudan/ Ethiopia borders).

Pact Kenya

Pact Kenya is a development organization focusing on capacity building. It is committed to building the capacity of local organizations, networks and coalitions working in one or more of 4 thematic platforms that Pact Kenya believes are crucial to reducing poverty and to Kenya’s sustainable development. It builds capacity through grant making, organizational development and a range of other tailor made interventions targeted to help local people and their organizations address the challenges they face. These challenges might be within their communities, between communities and within the country. It also works across borders in the region where needed – such as in addressing conflict and natural resource issues. For more information, visit http://www.pactkenya.org/