After the initial round of introductions, facilitator Kimberly Weichel announced the launch of the Women and Peacebuilding Affinity Group. She underscored the importance of gender sensitivity in policymaking, and how it is critical to engage more voices to build sustainable peace. Following Kimberly, Singmila Shimrah gave a detailed presentation on the background and history of the Naga people and the role of Naga women in the Naga peace process. She explained how Naga women have used innovative means of protecting their communities, and how they continue to play the role of peacebuilders today. Shimrah highlighted how the Naga peace process is an example of the active and empowering role women can play as mediators, conveners, protectors and negotiators in formal and informal peace processes. While the Naga women have had successes in their peacebuilding, they continue to face setbacks in their
endeavors. These setbacks could be mitigated if the Naga women were to receive more resources
and greater training in technical skills.
Kimberly Weichel then conducted a Q&A session, illuminating that while women have been at the forefront of the civil society peacebuilding process for years, they have not been given adequate space at the negotiating table. In addition, Shimrah suggested that society can aid the Naga women in their peacebuilding endeavors by providing them with resources, training in technical skills and how to talk to high-level officials.
Finally, Kimberly facilitated a discussion in which participants, (Seeds of Peace, The Women Peacemakers Program, Alliance for Peacebuilding, Generations of Peace), shared their experiences and work in the peacebuilding field. The following points were emphasized:
- Women’s empowerment is an inclusive process that requires active participation and collaboration between women as well as men; and the Women and Peacebuilding Affinity Group is an excellent forum to facilitate conversations about filling those voids without making it an exclusive, isolating process.
- The Alliance for Peacebuilding webpage could potentially be a useful convening platform to collaborate and share online resources.