Invitation for Collaboration /Partnership /Funding for a 3 Day International Women's Conference in Congo - Brazzaville (November, 2007)

THEME: Women in Politics and Good Governance Program
(Capacity Building for Women's active participation in Peace Building, Leadership and Decision Making Processes)

This 3 days conference aims at sensitizing and building women’s Capacity to actively engage in peace and reconciliation building in post-conflicts countries, actively participate in the democratic (socio-economic, cultural and political) processes in their country and to initiate and promote good governance and to destabilize the patriarchy system. “The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between women and men are a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and should not be seen in isolation as a women’s issue. They are the only way to build a sustainable, just and developed society. Empowerment of women and men are prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental security among all peoples” (Beijing declaration and platform for action). The main targets beneficiaries will be mainly women and men from the war torn countries, Parliamentarians, Women leaders, Lawyers, Judges, Journalists, Female politicians, Professionals as well as those aspiring for political life and those attending the commission session.

SUMMARY
Sub- Saharan Africa has been the hotbed of some of the world’s most brutal and protracted violent conflicts; with bloody conflicts in the Mano River basin countries of Guinea-Conakry, Liberia and Sierra Leone; in the Kaabu region of the Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Senegal, as well as in Sudan, Uganda, Somalia and Cote d’Ivoire; Eleven (11) out of the 16 countries in West Africa were rated in the UNDP Human Development Index as the World’s most poorest of the poor. We have also seen or heard in the great lake region of Darfur-Sudan and the northern Uganda of an increased systematic rape of women and girls and displacement of tens of thousands. 60,000 of the estimated 120,000 child combatants in Africa were active in West Africa. All countries in Sub- Saharan Africa are threatened with some form of violent conflict as potentially explosive conflicts become imminent in Sudan, Somalia and Congo (Kinshasa and Brazzaville); post-conflict challenges in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola and Guinea Bissau; while the rest of the countries are struggling with their fragile democracy in the face of economic decline and inter-ethnic rivalry. Africa’s traditional peace systems of trans-national social and economic safety nets are transformed into conflict systems with networks of warlords, child soldiers, drug and armed traffickers, prostitutions as well as the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Africa in Democracy and Good Governance (ADG) is seeking for collaboration/partnership/funding to organize a three (3) days international women’s conference on the theme: Women in Politics and Good Governance Program during the 42nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Right (ACHPR) in November, 2007, in Congo- Brazzaville.

•In order to ensure women’s active involvement in peace and reconciliation building, leadership and decision makings at all levels, Africa in Democracy and Good Governance (ADG) intends to use an approach called Women’s Peace Activism, to mobilize women’s groups, parliamentarians, female politicians, professionals and civil society organizations to engage in destabilizing the patriarchy system and promote socio-economic, cultural and political justice among all peoples. Women’s peace activism is not only about advocating for a cessation of physical violence against women and girls during conflict and wars but also the deconstruction of structural forms of violence which exist in our everyday society. This activism is built on the premise that the systematic and targeted engendered forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls such as discrimination in employment and in appointment of peace envoys, party flag bearers, female genital mutilation, etc, are expressions of a deeper systemic disregard for women and girls which exists in our African societies and in other parts of the world. Women’s involvement in peace and reconciliation building, leadership and decision makings has become a constructive platform for women to address these systemic issues.

•ADG bottom up approach of working and dealing with issues of human rights, democracy and initiating of programs and policies on good governance reveals the gap between women’s involvement at the urban and rural levels; with the need being more immense at the rural/grassroots level where illiteracy and ignorance are prevalent. For ADG and its collaborators/partners/funders, addressing these needs during the 42nd Ordinary Session of the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Right, where the highest number of women and men are found from within and outside the continent, is critical to ensuring the active involvement of both women and men in a process that would enable them to influence and direct changes that affects their lives. This formed the basis of why ADG is seeking for collaboration/partnership/funding with any interested organizations/institutions or individuals.

Well seasoned speakers will be invited and also those who which to assist as interpreters in English/French languages are most welcome.

For more details, please kindly contact:

The Director of Programs

Africa in Democracy and Good Governance (ADG)
73, Kombo Sillah Drive (Sonko Jileng Building)
Churchill’s town
P.o. Box 2206, Serekunda
The Gambia, West Africa

Tel: 220 971 82 35/770 70 63/999 43 93
Fax: 220 437 87 06
Emails: adg_gam@yahoo.com, adg_gambia@yahoo.ca