ECOWAS Commission Organizes a Workshop for National Stakeholders on The Continental Result Framework on the Women, Peace and Security (Wps) Agenda

The ECOWAS Commission has organized a three-day in-country capacity-building workshop for national stakeholders and focal persons on the Continental Results Framework (CRF) for monitoring and reporting on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda in Abuja, Nigeria. Participants included foreign development partners, civil society organizations, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Women and Social Development, state government ministries of women affairs, Security Institutions, other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. The event, which will take place from September 19 to September 21, 2023, was collaboratively organized by the ECOWAS Commission’s Human Security and Civil Society Division and the GIZ ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and Operation (EPSAO) Project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The Honorable Minister for Women Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Barr.  Uju Kennedy Ohanenye who was represented by Mrs. Funke Oladipo, Director of Women Development stated that since Nigeria’s domestication of UNSCR-1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the Ministry in collaboration with key stakeholders had continued to implement initiatives identified in the second national Plan and is currently developing its third edition. It has also sustained its support to women peacebuilders, and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in their demands for justice and pushing for women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding processes.

In her opening remarks, the Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, said the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on October 31, 2000, established the global agenda on women, peace and security recognizing the disproportionate impact of violent conflict on women and girls, under-representation of women in formal peace processes and importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective in peace and security architecture. Dr. Sintiki pointed out that the simplified Continental Results Framework (CRF) was developed to serve as a systematic tool for monitoring and reporting on the WPS agenda. She further mentioned that ECOWAS has simplified the tool to make it user-friendly. According to her, the purpose of this training is to build the capacity of stakeholders to utilize the tool and provide the needed data and information to be used for advocacy and resource mobilization in West Africa

The representative of the GIZ-EPSAO Project Ms. Tamwakat Golit expressed the organization’s commitment to assisting ECOWAS in achieving just and strong societies in the West African region through its Feminist Development Policy, which aims to eliminate structures that discriminate against women, girls, and the marginalized.