A non-governmental organisation has unveiled a programme that aims to strengthen women leadership in peace and security in the coastal region.
Dubbed Mwanamke Imara, the two-year project is being spearheaded by Search for Common Grounds in collaboration with the Republic of Canada.
In an interview with the Media Thursday evening during the launch of the project in Nairobi, Search for Common Grounds Chief Executive Officer Ms. Judy Kimamo said the programme will also promote peace and security for women and young people.
“Today we are here launching a project that is focusing on strengthening women’s leadership in peace and security in the coastal regions of Kenya. And over the next two years we are looking forward to working with state departments and agencies that are working on peace and security and in the criminal justice system as well as community networks to strengthen the role of women in peace and security,” she said.
Ms. Kimamo said the initiative seeks to complement the government efforts of promoting peace and security among communities within the coast and other parts of the country.
“We know that Kenya is party to the women peace and security agenda, and there is a national action plan on the same.
We want to work together on providing opportunities for trust building so that we can all look at the issues of insecurity and threats that are coming to the community because as we go forward, we realise that it is in the interest of the community to be safe. It is in the interest of young girls to be safe,” added the Chief Executive Officer.
She said collaboration in peacebuilding and security is vital for the country.
“It is in the interest of the security actors to see that the country and the borders are safe. So how do we work together? Not by pulling apart but by coming together and collaborating and understanding the issue in front of us and finding local solutions,” Ms. Kimamo stated.
She further said, “For us the threats and the risks and the challenges we face, we believe that they are better addressed when we are working together.”
Also, present at the event were various representatives of government agencies, including the Ministries of Interior and National government as well as Gender Affairs. Others were the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa and the National Police Service Commission, in addition to the National Gender and Equality Commission.
Speaking at the same event, the head of Strategic Communication at the IGAD Centre of Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Ms. Martha Njiri said women play a critical role in the fight against violent extremism.
“For a long time, we have seen that there has been under-representation of women. And one of the things that is very clear is that involving women in efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism leads to successful efforts in ensuring that the community is safe and that we are able to advance the conversation of peacebuilding,” Ms. Njiri stated.
She urged the government to incorporate women in matters dealing with peace and security.
“It is very critical for us to be able to view women as a very important gap for them to be included, to be put, to be given access and platforms to be able to exercise their knowledge, their strength in pushing for prevention and countering of violent extremism,” emphasised Ms. Njiri.
Dr. Duncan Ochieng, who represented the National Police Service Commission, welcomed the Mwanamke Imara project, describing it as timely.
“This is one of the initiatives that is being put in place so as to ensure that the public are empowered and we realise that women have a lot of information on the ground and so even in their positions of leadership, they will be able to counter violent extremism because we will be getting more information from them,” Dr. Ochieng reiterated.
Similarly, Ms. Njiri lauded the project, saying, “We are also here for Search for Common Ground to be able to discuss more on how we can strengthen this collaboration and the fight against violent extremism and terrorism by strengthening women leadership in matters to do with the criminal justice system and state security, which is the part of the conversation that we are going to advance beyond this particular workshop.”
By Douglas Namunane
