While powerful gains have been made in the field of Women, Peace and Security at a broader level with an increase in the number of women in politics and governance alongside the national policies and laws, it is still vital to focus on women leaders in religious, cultural and civil society spaces while acknowledging the peacebuilding realities women are navigating through.
The Peace Centre whose curved niche is women, peace and security have established peacebuilding, justice and human rights interventions to support women to actively engage in promoting women’s participation in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction in Uganda.
Aisha Kyakuwa Nanyonga, a senior citizen of Katwe 1, Makindye division is one of the beneficiaries of training interventions organised by the peace centre aimed at sharpening the skills and approaches of community-based facilitators on peacebuilding, mediation and leadership.
With the training focusing on key areas such as advocacy, documentation of stories, and establishing referral pathways, Nanyonga has acquired skills on how to approach people in her community and understand their challenges to best serve them.
Today, Nanyonga is an active peace mediator together with a group of others holding meetings and outreaches sensitising the community about issues of gender-based violence for action.
She boasts confidently of her acquired skill in peace mediation while handling issues of conflict as she has been able to mitigate the impact of many cases and stopped others from occurring.
“Since taking on the responsibility of a Peace Mediator in the community, I have mediated about 20 cases including domestic violence, land grabbing and referred others to the police.” many of which have been successful. Nanyonga told the Peace Centre.
However, “there have been a few persisting challenges, especially with the referral pathways including the police, probation officers and religious leaders, who have not been willing to help in time.” She added.
Nevertheless, even with challenges like COVID- 19 that disrupted people’s social and economic lives, Nanyonga hopes to see a reduction in domestic violence in her community. This she says is why she continues to do voluntary work.
Nanyonga wants to train other trainers in her community so that they can all create awareness and build sustainable peace in their communities.
