BURUNDI: WOMEN TRAINED IN PEACE-BUILDING AND COMMUNICATIONS
UNIFEM and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in collaboration with ABANTU for Development, an African women’s NGO, held a ‘Peace and Communications Skills Workshop for Burundi Refugee Women’ from 1-4 October. The need for the workshop resulted from a UNIFEM Training Needs Assessment Mission for Burundi Refugee Women, conducted in June-July 2001. While the target beneficiaries were Burundi refugee women and men in Kibondo, Kasulu and Ngara refugee camps in Tanzania, participants also included key implementing partners of UNHCR who have a direct bearing on the lives of refugee women in the camps.
Source: UNIFEM CURRENTS
THE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF
THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT FUND
FOR WOMEN (UNIFEM)
ACTIVITIES NOVEMBER 2001
BURUNDI WOMEN TRAINED IN PEACE-BUILDING AND COMMUNICATIONS
UNIFEM and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in collaboration with ABANTU for Development, an African women’s NGO, held a ‘Peace and Communications Skills Workshop for Burundi Refugee Women’ from 1-4 October. The need for the workshop resulted from a UNIFEM Training Needs Assessment Mission for Burundi Refugee Women, conducted in June-July 2001. While the target beneficiaries were Burundi refugee women and men in Kibondo, Kasulu and Ngara refugee camps in Tanzania, participants also included key implementing partners of UNHCR who have a direct bearing on the lives of refugee women in the camps.
UNIFEM also invited a representative from the Ministry of Home Affairs to participate in the workshop, given the role of the Ministry in securing the safety of refugees in Tanzania.
The 33 participants attending the workshop were trained in conflict resolution and mediation skills development, human rights, women’s rights, refugee laws and communication skills, by experts in the different fields. UNIFEM invited Ambassador Berhanu Dinka, the Chair of the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the Burundi Peace Agreement to brief participants on the developments of the Burundi peace process and the role of the IMC in particular. Women refugees were able to meet with IMC members and exchange ideas and aspirations for a sustainable and Just Peace in Burundi.
Among the many recommendations proposed, the participants recommended that both UNIFEM and UNHCR organize a cross-border meeting between women refugees and those living inside the country.
For more information, please contact Hodan Addou, Regional Peace Project Coordinator, at [email protected]