Gender and Peacebuilding in Africa – Addressing Gaps and Advancing Progress

This event will take place at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. 

The 2018 Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP) Conference will be held from 16-19 July at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. This year, the theme of the conference is “National, Regional, and Global Infrastructures for Peace in Africa.” Participants in the conference will comprise mostly heads of organizations and senior officials from the SVNP, along with external stakeholders and practitioners from Africa and beyond. The conference will include both private and public sessions on topics related to the overall theme. Panel discussions will explore the nature, scale, and scope of the infrastructures in place for peacebuilding at the national, regional, and global levels; evaluate the extent to which they are functioning; and, provide best practices and ways forward for building off of or reforming current infrastructures.

On Wednesday, 18 July, a special plenary discussion on “Gender and Peacebuilding in Africa – Addressing Gaps and Advancing Progress,” will examine the role of African women in peace and security on the continent, identify areas in which African countries have made progress, and what challenges lie ahead for gender inclusion; the mechanisms and infrastructures at the national, regional, and continental levels for including women in peacebuilding; and, the role of the African Union in fostering progress within the AU and the entire continent. The discussion will conclude with concrete recommendations for improving current efforts for gender inclusion in peacebuilding in Africa.

The Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP) is a continent-wide network of African policy and research organizations that works with the Africa Program to bring African analyses and perspectives to key issues in U.S.-Africa relations. Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York since 2011, the project provides avenues for African researchers to engage with, inform, and exchange perspectives with U.S. and international policymakers in order to develop the most appropriate, cohesive, and inclusive policy frameworks for the issues of peacebuilding and state-building in Africa.