Solidifying ingenuity by supporting women's movements

Just back from Kigali, a CECI delegation made up of staff members and partners took part in the Women Deliver international conference. This conference - one of the most important in this field - brings together women's rights and human rights organizations and people working to advance the issues of equality, inclusion and women's rights around the world.

One of our objectives was to provide an opportunity for women's organizations, working more particularly in fragile and complex contexts, to demonstrate their results despite constraining situations and the importance of continuing to support them with mechanisms more adapted to their needs, in particular to promote social cohesion and the promotion of peace.

We organized a discussion to understand how women's organizations are advancing the feminist agenda while operating in fragile and complex contexts. Indeed, these organizations face violence, insecurity, governance deficits, rights protection challenges and shrinking space for civil society. Although the work of these organizations is remarkable and the impact of their actions is considerable, they operate in a global context marked by recurring and complex climate, political and security issues.

“The problems are not national, they are transnational, the solutions must be too.” Maïmouna Dioncounda Dembélé, CECI. director in Mali

It was in the presence of women representing Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Mali, Burundi, Haiti and Ethiopia that this meeting made it possible to highlight the point of view of exceptional women. Here are the highlights of this enlightening event:

1. Women are currently acting as catalysts for peace and positively influencing communities in conflict. They act as bulwarks and bridges in an increasingly risky environment. They show remarkable ingenuity and resilience.

“We united our loincloths despite our differences to face leaders who did not want to listen to us and we stood before them” Ms. Nané Traoré Sissako, President of the Pivot Group of Mali.

2. The challenges women face are often the same from country to country. The exchanges and sharing of knowledge at conferences such as Women Deliver then make it possible to adapt their learning according to the cultural, political and economic realities of their country.

“We want to work with our sisters in West Africa to document the struggles of women that were fought before the arrival of the colonizers and the story of our women leaders. Our endogenous knowledge has been lost, but it is the source of our fight” Safiatou Diop, President of the Siggil Gigéen Network (Senegal)

2. Advocacy is carried out jointly in several regions and has influenced laws on gender-based violence in several countries. Women's organizations are at the heart of these approaches and are the link between populations and politics, according to Nicole Nyangolo, Acting Secretary General of COCAFEM in the African Great Lakes region :

"Organizations make it possible to build a bridge between communities and Governments "

A touching moment, marked by the presence and speaking out of inspiring women who dedicate their lives to the advancement of women's conditions and rights. Thank you all for your commitment!