The Peace Centre conducted a six day’s training for 80 cultural leaders and district technical administrative staff from Soroti and Lira district (40 per district) with the main areas of focus being; mediation and negotiation, conflict analysis and leadership among the selected leaders. Cultural leaders play a key role in refining norms to enhance women’s participation in decision making and outlaw negative practices that deter the progress of women. The training contributes to ongoing efforts to strengthen women’s effective and meaningful participation in the formal and informal peace building processes.
This is in line with addressing the women’s -markedly low, particularly at local level – participation in decision making, peace building and post conflict recovery processes (e.g. in disarmament, reintegration, security sector reform, economic recovery programs, humanitarian response, legal, judicial and electoral processes) in Uganda.
The training with a goal to have more gender equality advocates influence peace and security processes included conversations on conflict analysis and management and peace building concepts. During the training, the peacebuilders applied a gender lens to conflict and peace issues and practiced some of the peacebuilding tools.
The women shared some of the success cases mediated including land wrangles, domestic violence, high school dropouts, child neglect and polygamy. The Youth Peacebuilders have also mediated conflicts mainly within their families; family land wrangles, early forced marriage among others. They expressed their excitement to continue learning how to mediate a conflict other than being bystanders.
