The Center for Advocacy, Gender Equality and Action for Development has on Thursday 22 April 2021 launched a Manual to help make learning easy for grassroots facilitators who are aiding the localization of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR1325) on women , peace and Security agenda in Communities across Cameroon.
The launch which took place under the umbrella of the Bamenda 3 Council Hall, with strict respect of the Covid-19 measures and attended by some dignitaries and stakeholders, is a follow up of a project which began some few months back with the training of some women and men as community peace Ambassadors in the Bamenda 1 and 3 locality. The training together with the manual presented to these women and men who are now certified CPAs seeks to empower them with knowledge and skills which will help them carry out the UNSCR1325 with diligence.
Access to Information still remains a problem and given the fact that, the North West Region is still experiencing conflict, this project is designed to see the roles women can play in bringing lasting peace in different dimensions in their communities .
In the course of launching the Manual by the North West Regional Delegate for Women empowerment and the Family, Mr Wirba Asan, he thanked CAGEAD for the Laudable initiative while challenging the CPAS to work hard using the four pillars of UNSCR1325 to make their impact felt.
"I stand here to laud the effort of CAGEAD for taking resolution1325 from the high level it used to be, to the Grassroots for participation. At the level of the grassroots, our communities needs to feel the impact of the resolution. I will also plead with CAGEAD to come up with a whats app group of all peace builders so we can follow up what is going on in our various communities."
Some of the beneficiaries of the training and the manual who are now certified CPAs say with the the knowledge and experience gain through this project, they are developed strategies on how they will go about empowering other women and men with this knowledge.
The 1st deputy mayor of Bamenda 1Council, a trained CPA said;
"As we are going out, to talk to women and men about peace, we know where we are going to. All the CPAs have paired women in groups of ten to facilitate work."
This other male beneficiary whose name we got as Pa Toh Sylvester, says with the knowledge gained, he moves into the community to impact while making sure of inclusiveness.
"We have been empower with knowledge with tools handed over to us to now move into our communities with confidence.We are going to involve the men and women and not work in separation"
20 years down the lane when the resolution 1325 was introduced and Empowering these women and men , with knowledge and other tools to move forward into their communities to facilitate their work, the Founder of CAGEAD Madam Clotilda Andiensa who also doubles as the project manager, notes that the reason behind the simplified manual is to help women at the Grassroot to understand their role in preventing, protecting and participating in the process of recovery and rebuilding their communities.
"More of the UNSCR1325 is being said than done. Reasons why CAGEAD has taken upon itself to localize the resolution by bringing it to the Grassroots through the simplification of the UNSCR document in a way that women and men at the Grassroots will understand what prevention, protection means and what it means to participate in the process of recovery and rebuilding their communities"
Engaging CPAS through the creation of Peace Clubs is expected to bring a positive mark. On the reason why CAGEAD choose just Bamenda 1 and 3 for this project, she added ;
" I choose Bamenda one and three councils because it is a pilot face. We are hoping that when the project is carried out and we all see the impact that it has, other communities will be calling for it if there is an opportunity to replicate it in other communities"
Expectations are high as people are waiting to see the impact these Community Peace Ambassadors will make in their various communities in the weeks ahead. Nelson Mandela once said "Peace is the greatest weapon for Development" so, for any community to develop fully, peace is required in all dimensions.
By Pechuqui Laurata
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