International: Africa: Strengthening Women's Activism in Post-Conflict Africa

ABANTU for Development with support from the Global Fund for Women (GFW) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is organizing a four-day methodology workshop under the theme "Strengthening Women's Activism in Post-Conflict Africa" in Accra for international and locally based researchers and activists from Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The purpose is to design action-oriented women's rights tools for undertaking researches in the sub-region.

It is scheduled for February 9-12, 2010, is to strengthen and reinforce women's movements and civil society organizations capacity for gender advocacy and activism around issues of militarism and conflict.

The workshop, which is a follow up on a series of consultations held in 2008 and 2009 in Accra and the United States respectively, is to set the stage for a broader research on "Gender, Conflict and Militarism in West Africa". It is taking place against the backdrop of militarism experienced daily in Africa especially West Africa and there is the urgent need to address this issue especially from a gender perspective.

The research forms part of a 3-year activist research project to strengthen women's activism in post conflict and post-military contexts. It is the third in a series of workshops to develop the methodology research aimed at achieving three broad goals: contribute to democratization and development by pursuing the realization of women's citizenship in the context of militarism in selected countries; strengthen and reinforce women's movement and civil society organizational capacity for gender advocacy and activism; and investigate the relationship between democratization, women's rights, and security in a variety of situations from a transnational feminist perspective that is attentive to local specificities.

The consequences of military rule across the West African sub-region have not been addressed to tackle women's rights in the major studies on militarism. It is clear that militarization and war-making are processes that have significant effects on gender relations, women's lives, and constrain women's livelihood options and prospects for women's rights.

Colonialism in Africa led to the formation of national liberation armies who fought for independence across the continent. Post independent Africa also witnessed military coups and counter coups.