• MONUSCO conducts an awareness-raising and capacity-building session for women.

• MONUSCO reminded participants that women can make a difference in conflict resolution.

• Ruth Sabuni urges women to share what they have learned with other people.

 The United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo organized an awareness-raising and capacity-building session for twenty women in the town of Beni in North Kivu. this training brought into existence a core group of women mediators for conflict resolution. The women will now be involved in conflict management and participate in the restoration of peace and security in their province.

This action was based on UN Resolution 1325. It is a tool for drawing women’s attention to their participation to promote peace in their communities.

During the meeting, MONUSCO, through its gender section, reminded the participants that women can make a difference in conflict resolution. Emery Chibi, who oversees the Gender Section at MONUSCO in Beni, during his address said, “You have a lot to contribute. More than you think. Notably because you represent 52% of the Congolese population”.

The MONUSCO Gender Officer argued that Congolese women have almost always been excluded from peace negotiations, under the excuse that they have no training or interest in security issues. “We are convinced that women, who are often victims when conflicts erupt, can play a decisive role and can, if not prevent, at least put an end to conflicts with a win-win solution, through their mediation.”

The participants in the meeting also talked about other things that deal with peace and security exhaustively. They promised to conduct feedback sessions in their communities to encourage a greater engagement of women in finding peaceful ways and means of resolving all kinds of conflict in the region.

The head of the Gender, Women, Families, and Children office, Ruth Sabuni urged the women present at the meeting to share what they learned with other people. She mentioned how conflict is present everywhere; the communities and workplaces and even at home. She further stated that everyone has to play their part in all the processes of resolving conflict which is known to cause a lot of harm and women need to get actively involved and put in more effort than they have done in the past.

At the end of these exchanges, the head of the Gender, Women, Families, and Children office expressed her satisfaction with establishing the core group of women mediators. She said that ” the women will do their utmost to ensure that there are tangible results “.

Ruth Sabuni ended her speech with words of hope: “We are going to popularize the gains of this training. We are going to raise awareness among men and our children, and we will talk to other women around us so we can resolve these numerous conflicts peacefully. People must understand that not all conflicts have to be brought to court: there are those that can be resolved amicably. We are no longer going to act as observers, but rather as actors in the transformation of conflicts. We will make this process our own”. She also asked MONUSCO to conduct more of this type of training.