The Alliance of Women for Peace, with the women African Ambassadors to the United Nations

Madrid, 30th of June. This afternoon was held a virtual meeting with the leaders of the Alliance of Women for Peace. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations, and María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, president of Women for Africa, has participated together with the seven women African ambassadors to the United Nations.

They are the permanent representatives of the African Union, Fatima Kvari Mohammed; Ruanda, Valentine Rugwabiza; Angola, Maria de Jesús dos Reis Ferreira; Ghana, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee; Eritrea, Sophia Tesfamariam; Guinea Conacry, Fatoumata Kaba; and Madagascar, Vero Henintsoa Andriamiarisoa.

The discussed issues at the meeting, always with the underlying matter of Women, Peace and Security Agenda of the United Nations which turns 20 years without having yielded the desired fruits, have focused on exploring ways to generate synergies to boost the presence of women in peace processes and identify possible initiatives on the ground in conflict zones.

The situation created by the pandemic has also been discussed. It is supposing a huge challenge for countries in conflict, specially in the Sahel region. In this regard, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega offered the ambassador of the African Union, Fatima Kvari Mohammed, the possibility of carrying out together with the Alliance of Women for Peace a training initiative for women mediators. Something that Women for Africa already did a few years ago in Mali with its project Women of Mali for Peace.

Likewise, the president of Women for Africa proposed the possibility of starting an online training project in mediation, through webinars, addressed to African female leaders from different backgrounds. It would be about reunite women from different countries in a virtual space so that, in the context of generic training, where they can exchange experiences.

The mediation training -explained Fernández de la Vega- has been very oriented from northern countries, so is necessary to incorporate the practices to female leaders of the South, the casuistry of grassroots women and their proposals surely are more attached to the needs of people and a greater potential to transform the realities of their countries.