In line with the African Union Peace and Security Council’s adoption of the Continental Result Framework for monitoring and reporting the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325, the Office of the Special Envoy on Women Peace and Security organized training and capacity building for the Member States on the use if the Continental Result Framework
The pilot phase of the training targets nine Member States namely: the Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia. The training targets National level WPS focal points in charge of the implementation and reporting on the WPS agenda drawn from the Ministry in charge of WPS and the Ministry of Defence. Currently, the training has been held in the Central Africa Republic, Sierra Leone and Ghana.
In the Central African Republic, the Office of the Special Envoy went on a field visit from the 18th to the 22nd of October 2021 to build African Union Member States’ capacity on reporting on the Women Peace and Security Agenda using the Continental Result Framework. The team met with senior representatives of CAR and non-state actors implementing the WPS agenda in the state. The team further met with the Ministry of Promotion of Women, Family and the Protection of the Child, the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and National reconciliation, UN Women, UNFPA, the UN Resident Coordinator to discuss the WPS initiatives undertaken by various agencies, the use of CRF in monitoring and reporting, the gaps, opportunities and CRF capacity building needs.
The various ministries and agencies visited emphasised the dwindling donor support to women organizations and emphasised the need for the special envoy to continue advocating for WPS resourcing of women organizations. Another key issue raised in CAR by the Minister of Gender is the non-existent functional secretariat for WPS. At the time of the visit, the Minister of Gender was working towards establishing a functional secretariat. The team carried out a two and half-day training on the CRF beginning with WPS monitoring and reporting using the CRF. Relevant areas covered during the training include an introductory phase to WPS concepts, the CRF as the African tool to report on WPS and the necessary institutional arrangements required at the national level to enable regular data collection and reporting.
In Sierra Leone, the Office of the Special Envoy undertook a field mission from the 24th to the 30th of October 2021 to conduct a case study on the utilization of the Continental Result Framework for knowledge Generation and its use in the delivery of the WPS Agenda. Also, the field visit was also an opportunity to build capacity in using the framework for effective reporting. The delegation from the Office of the Special Envoy engaged with senior representatives of the Ministry of Gender and Children Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The National Police, The Peace Commission, UN Women, UNFPA, The UN Resident Coordinator MMARWOPNET and Mano River Union of Sierra Leone and non-state actors implementing the WPS agenda. The delegation learned of the ongoing efforts of the Government of Sierra Leone and non-state actors to implement the WPS agenda and the effectual utilization of the CRF as a tool to enable internal and external accountability.
The two- and half-day training, focused on needs assessment on WPS monitoring and reporting using the Continental Result Framework. The concepts of WPS, the role of data in WPS, concepts of results chain, introduction to the CRF as the African tool for reporting and the necessary institutional arrangements required at the national level to enable regular data collection and reporting were discussed.
In Ghana, the Office of the Special Envoy on Women Peace and Security in collaboration with Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre hosted a 5-day training trainer’s workshop on monitoring and reporting on the WPS agenda. This training was held from the 29th of November to the 3rd of December 2021. The training was instituted in other to ensure that trainers understood the concepts of the Women Peace and Security Agenda and core monitoring and reporting concepts, trainers effectively apply the CRF indicators and utilized these indicators in their reporting, trainers understood how to collect data and analyse, and the approaches in monitoring and reporting of WPS using the CRF.
