Kofi Ampeah Woode
The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), in partnership with a Swedish Government Agency – Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), have commenced the 2023 edition of the Gender Advisor Course (GAC) for gender advisors and gender focal points, from regional organizations across Africa, to promote the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and enhance gender mainstreaming in peace and security, policymaking and operations, in Africa.
On Monday 17 April, 2023, in an address at the opening ceremony of the one-week course, the Commandant, KAIPTC – Major General (Maj Gen) Richard Addo Gyane cited the Centre’s strategic plan’s third pillar which states: “To build African capacities to fully implement the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, (popularly called the Maputo Protocol) and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and follow-up resolutions on the Women Peace and Security Agenda”, to reinforce the collaboration.
Maj Gen RA Gyane said the course, a product of partnership between the Women Peace and Security Institute (WPSI) of KAIPTC and the FBA, fits into the Centre’s strategic plan’s third pillar.
He said since 2020, the FBA has collaborated with WPSI to organize the GAC at the KAIPTC for African participants, contextualizing and targeting gender advisors and gender focal points from regional institutions across Africa, thus bringing in the added value of offering the course to a wider pool of participants from Africa.
General Gyane added that Gender Advisors provide technical expertise to achieve gender mainstreaming during the design and implementation of policies, as well as in the execution of various operations, to ensure that the interest and needs of women and men, are equitably addressed.
He concluded that the GAC offers a unique opportunity for experienced professionals already performing gender-advisory roles, to enhance their knowledge and skills in executing their responsibilities as gender advisors and gender focal points, even as it offers an opportunity for gender advisors from across Africa to network, share experiences, challenges and best practices in their work.
The 1st Secretary and Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Sweden in Abuja, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon – Mr Jöran Bjällerstedt, who represented the Swedish Ambassador, said the FBA is mandated and financed directly by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He furthered that the GAC (which he said is a workshop of the implementation of the agenda of the UN Peace and Security across the African continent), which is also referred to as Sweden’s Strategic Development Cooperation in Africa, is highly valued in Sweden.
The 1st Secretary said Sweden has a track record of playing important roles in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and peacekeeping, and that his country is determined to continue to cooperate with strategically selected regional actors, organizations, and institutes such as KAIPTC, since the African continent has long been a strong champion of gender mainstreaming, peace and security.
The Gender Advisor Course was developed by the FBA and has been organized in Sandö, Sweden for several years to train Gender Advisors and Focal Points from the United Nations, European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The GAC ‘23 has 24 participants from 14 African countries, namely; Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa and Togo.
The WPS agenda is a policy framework that recognizes that women must be critical actors in all efforts to achieve sustainable international peace and security. WPS promotes a gender perspective and women’s equal and meaningful participation in peace processes, peacebuilding and security.
Present at the opening ceremony were Miss Helen Wiland – the Program Manager for Regional Development Cooperation with Africa at the FBA; Marielle Sundin – Senior Women, Peace and Security Officer, Gender Equality Unit, Department for Governance at the FBA; Mrs Agnes Agbevadi – Acting Head of WPSI, the Course Director, Facilitators, Course Participants and Staff of KAIPTC.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
