THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN PEACEBUILDING

AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

By
Abdul Karim Issifu, M.Phil. Student, Peace and Development Studies, Institute for
Development Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Email: akissifu@gmail.com
+233 243133069
To cite: Abdul Karim Issifu, 2014

Key words: Peacebuilng, Community development, role of women in peacebuilding and

community development

Introduction
Women and children are the most vulnerable people in society. Women and children
are the least prepared before, during and after wars, violent conflict, strife and conflict
upheaval. Meanwhile, women and children are not instigators of war and violent conflict but
most affected. In the aftermath of violent conflict, programmes and interventions are
designed for women as beneficiaries of post war and violent conflict periods. However, most
of the post-war programmes such as physical and economic restructuring of societies, and
democracy do not consider the tremendous roles women play during and after periods of war.
Research has revealed that women over the years, women have displayed remarkable efforts
in peacebuilidng and community development.
In a bid to consider the roles women play in peacebuilding, the 2000 Special Session
of the UN General Assembly reviewing the progress of the outcome of the Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijin emphasised on the need to ensure womens participation
throughout all levels of decision making and implementation in development activities and
peace processes. The essence of womens participation in prevention and resolution of
conflicts and building peace was reinforced later that same year in the UN Security Council
Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The Resolution 1325 recommended
mainstreaming a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations. The resolution set a new
threshold of action for UN and all governments by calling for the process of institutionalizing
the participation of women at peace table, and in the post-conflict processes of peace-building
and reconstruction.
The paper tries to examine the role women play in peacebuilding and community
development. The emphasis is focused on women role in five (5) African countries as part of
their effort to fulfil the essence of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which sees the
inclusion of a gender perspective in post-conflict settlement, including the special needs of

women and girls during repatriation, settlement and rehabilitation, reintegration and postconflict reconstruction.

Definition of concepts
In the context of this paper, peacebuilding is a holistic and conscious effort of
promoting domestic security, community development and humanitarian assistance and
strengthening governance and the rule of law without undermining the role of women
participation. Peacebuilding also means activities that includes supporting ceasefires and
peace processes; demobilization and disarmament of former combatants and reintegrating
them into society; stabilizing the economy; employment creation and economic development;
repatriation (or resettlement) of refugees and internally displaced persons; responding to food
insecurity; responding to acute health concerns; strengthening law and order; promoting and
facilitating democratic practices; strengthening institutions of justice and legislation;
resuming and strengthening public service delivery; promoting human rights and
reconciliation; addressing land reform claims; and constitutional drafting or amendments with
the active involvement of women.
Community development on the other hand is a set of values and practices which
plays a special role in overcoming, violent conflict, poverty, knitting society together at the
grass roots and deepening democracy. It is not about strengthening phantom entities called
communities as though these were mutually exclusive and internally consistent bodies. It is
about strengthening the ability of people to act on joint interests and in the common interest,
including having equal concern for other communities and promoting peace. Generally,
community development is the process of developing deprived communities and war shatter
areas through set of coherent activities that leads to the improvement of the standard of living
and general infrastructure of war affected communities. It emphases, that development must

originate from within community and must reflect the expressed needs, interest and
aspirations of the target population. Community-development driven peacebuilding has raised
concerns about the sustainability of peacebuilding programmes and projects. Peacebuilding
programmes are likely not to survive if it does not take into consideration the values, culture,
beliefs and practices of the marginalised groups. Most especially, it must take into
consideration women because they are the true developers of communities and peace
builders.

Contextual Analysis of Peacebuilding

Peacebuilding emerged as a key focus of international attention beginning in the
1990s, with the United Nations (UN) playing a crucial leading role. Since then the concept of
peace building and its agenda have evolved significantly. According to the former UN
Secretary General Boutros Boutros- Ghali peace building is defined as the process by which
an achieved peace is placed on durable foundations and which prevents violent conflict from
recurring by dealing with the underlying economic, social, cultural and humanitarian
problems responsible for the conflict (UN, 1992: 57). In other words, peacebuilding is the
actions undertaken by national or international actors to identify and support structures which
tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict. One of the
challenges facing the international community in the post-Cold war era is the increasingly
pervasive problems of civil war and violent conflict which affect community development.
As part of global effort to help promote peace and community development in war
shattered states, peace-keeping and peace-making albeit have gain international
consideration, peacebuilding is now the reigning donor darling strategy of promoting
sustainable peace, building state, ensuring human and food security, and sustainable
community development in the 21st century.

The Role of Role in Peacebuiding and Community Development

In this section, I try to explain the numerous roles play by women before, during and after
war-times in building sustainable peace and promoting sustainable community development
in five (5) selected African countries including, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Central Africa
Republic and Burundi.

South Africa: The case of Zandile Nhlengetwas experience

The story of Zandile Nhlengetwa, a community development practitioner in South
Africa describes how women remarkably as part of the opportunities given them by the UN
Resolution 1325 are promoting peace and community development (Noma et al, 2012).
Nhlengetwa a native of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa has worked for a very long time as a
peacemaker. Her passions for a world of no war energised her to work with several
organisations including the Organisation Survivors of Violence, thereby helping to design
and implementing peacebuilding interventions in lawless communities engulfed with criminal
activities in the aftermath of the Apartheid in South Africa. Nhlengetwas experiences in the
apartheid, the death of her husband, and the murder of her fifteen (15) year son by minors
coupled with the firebombing of her home intensified her passion for a world of violence
free. Her experiences also became a suitable springboard towards her most meaningful
peacebuilding and community development works. Nhlengetwa together with other women
formed the Harambe Womens Forum (HWF) to contribute their quota to promoting peace in
the aftermath of the violence associated with the apartheid.
HWFs vision was working closely together to find a lasting security in the
aftermath of the apartheid, promoting community development, making a better future for
children, fighting against poverty and building sustainable peace. Nhlengetwas role in the

forum empowered many women, facilitated educational policies for young prisoners charge
of apartheid crimes and organising adult literacy classes for women to be able to promote
peace seeing local culture. The women worked closely to help promote peace, security and
community development in Harambe and Kwazulu-Natal communities through peace
education, awareness creation in peace making. For women in the Forum, peacebuilding must
be framed as encapsulating economic, social, political, and cultural development of women.
According Noma et al (2012), Nhylengetwa has worked in communities for many years but
her sense of achievement is the experience she has gained now in a way she never had in the
past.
Rwanda: The case of community women
In Rwanda, one million Tutsi being the minority ethnicity group were killed by the
Hutus who are the majority group during the 1994 ethnic war which is termed as the worse
ever genocide in the history of the world. It is estimated that, two hundred and fifty thousand
Rwandese women and girls are victims of sexual violence during the genocide (Izabiliza
2003). According to Agahoza (1998) one major factor that led to the extreme violence against
Tutsi especially Tutsi women was inter-ethnic marriage. Hutu husbands were forced to
betray their Tutsi wives under the influence of drugs and pressure by extreme Hutus. The
logic was either they killed their Tutsi wives or they would be killed. This and other
atrocities qualified Rwanda to assume the status of a failed state because political, economic,
social, and ecological structures collapsed as a result of the war. The genocide ended up also
with properties been destroyed, social amenities and infrastructure including schools,
hospitals, clinics, roads, markets, telecommunication, electricity, recreations all damaged as
well as livestock and animals killed indiscriminately.
However, in the aftermath of the genocide, Rwanda women assumed non-traditional
roles including leadership assignments in the public sector. As part of womens efforts in

building peace and promoting community development they were in the forefront of finding
homes for orphans, caring for survivors of and rebuilding homes for returnees (Izabiliza,
2003). In the private and public sectors, women emerged as leaders in the fields in which they
had been virtually invisible, such as bank tellers, cab drivers, mechanics and cabinet members
(Enda, 2003). Women became heads of households playing the role as men thereby building
homes, repatriating thousands of displaced people and made important decisions as well.
Rwandese women contributed remarkably in the repatriation of refugees, working side by
side with men in constructing houses for ex-combatant and other returnees (Mzvondiwa,
2007). Women in Rwanda again assumed the role as judges in the Gacaca system- a
traditional conflict resolution mechanism of participatory and restorative judicial process of
handling post conflict cases. Women as part of their role in building peace and promoting
community development in contemporary Africa society, Enda (2003) further argued that
even in Rwanda today, women hold nearly 49 per cent of the seats in the Lower House of
Parliament. Enda believes this is the greatest representation worldwide, according to a tally
by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. In 2003, the Union reported that Rwanda
had come closed to reaching parity between men and women of national parliament,
replacing long-time champion Sweden (Enda, 2013).

Kenya: The Case of Wajir Peace and Development Committee (WPDC).

Nevertheless, there was a violent conflict during the early 1990s on misunderstanding
over livestock raiding by pastoralist groups in Wajir, a local community in Kenya. The
violent conflict affected many communities largely the district of Wajir in the North East
region especially between the clans of Kenyan Somalis, leading to more than 1200 deaths
over a period of four years (Tongeren, 2013). Small arms and light weapons were disposed
indiscriminately everywhere, and government as well as other institutions became reluctance

in coming to the aid of Wajir. This prompted Wajir women to take their own initiative of
building peace and promoting community development since they are the most affected but
least prepared for the violence conflict. A group of women in their normal market day
conversation started to discuss about the conflict and why the relevant stakeholders have
rejected them in times of trouble. The discussions resulted in a process of peace-making.
Later, these women formed a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) working together to sensitize
the population on the need for peace and security in Wajir.
In May 1995, the CSO was officially inaugurated and named the Wajir Peace and
Development Committee (WPDC). The committee promoted peace and community
development at Wajir. This became evident during, the post-election violent in Kenya in the
early 2008, where in the North-East region including Wajir was violent free because of the
role women in the WPDC played (Tongeren, 2013).

Central African Republic (CAR): The Case of the aged women

Mathey et al (2003) revealed that a fundamental fact of traditional Central African
societies was the sacred character of the respect given to the elderly in general and to aged
women in particular. Aged women were respected by all, and played a key role in crisis
management and conflict resolution. Thus, when a conflict degenerated into armed violence,
an appeal would usually be made to a third party most often an old lady of many years to
calm the tension and reconcile the combatants. Such an appeal for mediation was usually
made to an aged woman who enjoyed the consideration and respect of all who knew her. If
war broke out among the Zande of CAR, the oldest women of the clan would go to meet the
opposing clan, and to interpose themselves between the fighters in order to make them
resolve their differences. When words proved fruitless, the women would threaten to expose
their nakedness or to go down on their knees. In either case, the gesture signified a curse for

those who bore the responsibility for such grave acts. Because of the respect that the enemy
soldiers had for the women, they would usually put down their weapons before the fateful
acts were accomplished.
On the contrary, if combatant refuse to end the conflict and put down their arms, the
old women, naked and on their knees, would crawl towards the foolhardy combatants and say
to them; We are your mothers, we do not want war, and we do not want bloodshed, do not
fight with your brothers, they have sent us to sue for peace. And if the assailants still refused
to see reason and marched on the village, they would suffer the ultimate punishment for
having disobeyed and obliged their grandmothers to expose their nakedness. This action by
the aged women have promoted peacebuilding and enhanced community development in
CAR for years (Mathey et al, 2003).

Burundi: The case of Women Peace educators

In Burundi, women play a holistic role in conflict mediation as peace educators for
community development. According to Ntahobari and Ndayiziga (2003), although the
traditional Burundi society was organized and structured in ways that encouraged
cohesiveness and peaceful co-existence, from time to time, it experienced conflict. Conflicts
arose between individuals, within a family, between different, families or between the
inhabitants of different territories. However, to manage such conflicts, Burundi traditional
society had well organized regulatory machinery in which women generally played a major
part in peace process. Under this system, a woman was recognized as having an advisory
role, behind the scenes, mainly where her husband was concerned and as playing an active
part in strengthening solidarity, enhancing community development and social harmony
generally. Within this structure, women played the more unobtrusive yet leading substantial
role, both in their families and within their own circle. Speaking particularly of the people of

Burundi in this issue of women and mothers as peace educators in traditional Africa,
Ntahobari and Ndayiziga (2003) observe that it was primarily the mother that had
responsibility for the upbringing of the children. Children, especially when very young,
remained with their mother, who would look after both boys and girls until they reached a
given age (for boys, until the time when their father took over the responsibility). There were
strict rules to be complied with on how to dress, speak, eat and even walk and sit (especially
for girls). In traditional Africa, children live in the home of their birth, observing what is
done, watching their parents and elders and following their example. This period of extended
observation is supervised by the mother, who has her young children constantly at her side,
giving them punishments scaled to their years, so that from an early age, children come to
acquire an appetite for those human qualities, immensely valuable to the society, that denote
a good upbringing. The education of a daughter who had reached the age of puberty was a
matter of on-going concern for her mother, who had to prepare her properly for marriage, so
that, once a wife herself, she too would become a factor for stability and peace in her
husbands family.

Conclusion
The case above on the seven (7) countries is a clear indication that women are peace
ambassadors for community development. Women have played and are still playing
remarkable peacebuilding roles and development. When given the complete chance women
can push the global towards reducing drastically violent conflicts in human existence. This is
because aside the various activities of women including clothing, literacy classes, fetching
water, office work, gathering firewood (see appendix 1), they are still able to maintain peace
and promoting community development.

Women need to be educated not only on the negative aspects of African culture and
tradition, but also of the crucial role that women had played in the past towards promoting the
culture of peace and conflict resolution. Some of the peace mediation methods used by
women in the past as seen in this paper need to be evaluated to see which of them can be
modified in promoting sustainable peace and community development especially in Africa
where violent conflict is rampant. Some conflict resolutions practices and rituals exhibited by
women in the past contain important psycho-spiritual healing powers relevant for
peacebuilding (Ranger, 1992). Such rituals should be given adequate attention. They must be
re-interrogated and popularised as African womens major contributions to peace building
and conflict resolution models that ought to be shared with the rest of the world.

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