Approximately 30 women from security agencies, civil society, and United Nations agencies are gathered in the capital for a three-day workshop on building capacity in efforts to safeguard peace and security.

The training is a brainchild of the Namibia International Women's Peace Centre in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation with support by the UN's women's agency. 

Speaking at its opening ceremony, the acting director of the Namibia International Women's Peace Centre - NIWPC, Morina Muuondjo, emphasized that Namibia remains at the forefront in support of Women, Peace and Security agenda from inception and inclusivity in peace processes, peacekeeping, and post-conflict building.    

In 2020, Namibia established NIWPC as part of a UN security council resolution to coordinate women's role in peace and security efforts.

The purpose of the centre, Muuondjo added, is mainly to build peace, locally and globally in an inclusive, collaborative and synergistic manner through research, partnerships, and advocacy, amongst others.

"We all know by now that peace is not the absence of war, to have peace we also need to focus on the structural conditions in our society that are experienced in the form of pervasive gender-based violence, poverty, hunger, discrimination and injustice. Therefore, we all have a role to play in the pursuit of peace and security to bring about what is termed positive peace. That peace will enable us to move beyond the absence of war to create the social, economic and potential conditions that enable peace co-existence."

Furthermore, an executive director at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Professor Cheryl Hendricks says women's participation in peace and security decision structures is very low, and any involvement also fails to guarantee any meaningful protection.

"We have been particularly slow at having more women participate as mediators, and even though we have trained many women, it is not training alone that will be the game changer in women participation in peace processes but training equips us to understand what these conflict management processes are and how we in the spaces we occupy can best utilise our skills to effect greater peace in our communities and in our societies, between our countries and inter-state conflict."