Participation

Women rights activists are preparing to share Rwanda's practices in promoting gender with the rest of the world.

The activists, from government, the UN and other civil society organisations, met in Kigali, yesterday, to discuss Rwanda's progress in promoting women's rights in order to share their story at the UN 57th Summit on the status of women in New York, US, next month.

Ten projects of civil society organizations were officially launched today in the presence of the Head of the European Union Office in Kosovo / European Union Special Representative in Kosovo Mr. Samuel �bogar, Kosovo UN Development Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Osnat Lubrani and Officer in Charge of the UN Women Project Office in Kosovo Ms. Flora Macula.

When Sudanese President Omar Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir signed a series of agreements on September 27 in Addis Ababa, they signaled their governments' commitment to peace and cooperation between their two countries. However, since that time, implementation of these agreements sadly has been lacking.

Women in Sierra Leone are stepping on center stage in a steady but slow pace to play their part as equal partners in national development. That movement, precedes roles by leaders the likes of educationist Dr. Talabi Lucan, Chief Justice, Hawa Tejan-Jalloh; Chief Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Christiana Thorpe; university professor and former Vice Presidential candidate, Dr.

Violence, harassment, slander and threats, poverty, corruption – the obstacles for women taking part in the daily life and future of their societies are many in the war-torn DR Congo. And the escalation of the conflict in eastern DR Congo the last couple of months, has once again made it evident that women are especially targeted.

A series of workshops on women's participation in the Darfur Peace Process were organized throughout Darfur by the African Union - United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The forums, which targeted more than 160 local media representatives of which most were women, aimed at enhancing the capacity to advocate on the importance of the role of women in the peace and political process in the region.

Women and children play a major role in poverty alleviation and are expected to feature prominently in any future development goals, it emerged during debates in Liberia last week.

In July last year Libya held its first free elections in almost 40 years, following the death of former dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Around thirty women were elected to become members of parliament. Their success has spurred other women on to become politically involved. RFI met some of these women in Tripoli and Zawiyah.

A group of women from North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have demanded to be involved in the on-going peace talks and negotiations in Uganda between the M23 rebels and the DRC government.

The talks are taking place under the mechanisms and guidance of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

Speakers reiterated the demand of quota for women on general election seats and urged political leadership to finance election campaigns for women who are interested in contesting the forthcoming polls.