Sensitisation Workshop held for APD Gender Working Group

The Academy’s Gender Research Team facilitated a two-day workshop for more than thirty women from Hargeisa’s five districts at Maansoor Hotel on the June 4 and 5, 2008.

The objective of the workshop was to primarily form a Gender Working Group which will closely work with the Academy’s major entry points on the mainstreaming of gender issues into the broader framework of the Academy. As such, the workshop was used to acquaint the participants with the Academy and its various activities.

The workshop was officially opened by Mrs. Koss Anwar Mohamed, a member of the Academy’s Gender Research Team, who after a short explanation of the workshop’s main objectives, went on to touch base with the participants on women’s involvement in peace building. Following this, Ms. Su’ad Ibrahim, one of the Academy’s lead researchers, provided the participants with some background on the Academy for Peace and Development as a whole.

Subsequently, Mr. Mohamed Hassan Gani, another of the Academy’s lead researchers, introduced the participants to the Participatory Action Research methodology, which forms the core of the Academy’s operational framework. In further demonstrating this, a documentary film on the 2005 Somaliland parliamentary elections was screened, which the participants watched with a great deal of interest.

Overall, the two-day workshop was able to familiarise the participants with the Academy’s three major entry points: Democratisation; Decentralisation; and Social Reconciliation, each conveyed by its respective lead researcher. In particular, Mr. Mohamed Ganni, the Democratisation Entry Point’s lead researcher, explained to the participants the need for greater awareness on the constitution of this country and the opportunities it offers women.

Similarly, Ms. Su’ad Ibrahim and Mr. Ali Egeh, lead researchers of Decentralisation and Social Reconciliation entry points respectively, both addressed issues concerning the need for greater input and involvement of women in the governance and reconstruction process of this country.

» Home