The Consultation on enhancing women’s participation in peace-building was held in ECA Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 23 to 25 April 2001. The meeting was organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the African Centre for Women of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in close collaboration with the African women Committee on Peace and Development (AWCPD).

The objectives of the meeting were: (a) to review current initiatives in relation to women and peace-building to identify strength and weaknesses; and to (b) identify women’s capacity-building needs to enhance their contribution to the Peace Process.

The Participants at the above consultation representing the governments of Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, together with representatives of the OAU, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the African Women Committee for Peace and Development (AWCPD); UN agencies including the Department for Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Economic Commission for Africa, UNIFEM, UNDP, UNHCR and the following NGOs: ABANTU for Development, Centre for Conflict Resolution (South Africa), Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, Femmes Africa Solidarité, Mano River Women Peace Network (MARWOP Net), and Save Somali Women & Children Association.

The participants identified the following priorities:

• Launch and support a women’s peace network in the Great Lakes Region.
• Train women in political skills, including communication, mediation, and negotiation skills.
• Train trainers in conflict resolution and in assisting women in exercising their human rights.
• Build support for alliances with and between grassroots, national, regional and international women’s groups.
• Support training in stress and trauma healing and counselling.
• Train NGOs in early warning methods.

The participants decided to form partnerships among themselves, in particular to:

• Implement the above priorities; and
• Strengthen existing mechanisms and sustain initiatives for enhancing women’s role in peace-building particularly the AWCPD.

The participants committed themselves to:

• Sensitise their respective governments and organisations on this initiative and its recommendations;
• Encourage governments to sponsor the report on this consultation as an item on the agenda of the OAU ministerial meeting to be held on 9 – 11 July 2001 in Lusaka.
• Urge, the OAU Secretariat, to support the strengthening of the MARWOP Net and the proposed initiative to establish a women’s Peace Network in the Great Lakes Region.
• Bring our resources, as implementing partners, to bear in developing the capacity and skills of women in the areas identified above.