PNG participates in the women and conflict transformation in Asia,the Pacific, and United States
PORT MORESBY: Josephine Smare, Small Enterprise Development Project Coordinator with the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) PNG will depart Port Moresby today (July 18) to attend an East West Center Program in Honolulu, Hawaii. She will participate in the “Changing Faces Women’s Leadership Program, a leadership development program for women from the United States and the Asia Pacific region.
In a region experiencing a wide range of low-and high-intensity conflicts the assertion that conflict is unavoidable certainly rings true. The real choice then, lies in how to confront, analyse, and respond to conflict in a way that moves society forward toward positive change. The importance of women’s participation in peace-building, security decision-making, and conflict transformation, has been most clearly put forth in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in the year 2000: “stressing the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution.” Notably, the resolution calls for all actors involved in negotiating and implementing peace agreements to institute support of local women’s peace initiatives and indigenous processes for conflict resolution, and that involve women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements. In a statement during open debate on
women, peace, and security issues marking the fifth anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 1325 in October 2005, the Romanian delegation to the Security Council articulated the compelling motivation for women’s representation: “Women should be acknowledged as having a valuable contribution to their societies and to international relations not because of their high potential to become victims, but because they are recognized as valuable and skilful resources, able to make a difference and bring added-value to peace processes in all parts of the world.”
The 2008 Changing Faces Women’s Leadership Program will focus on the issue of women’s involvement in conflict transformation. Conflict may arise in relation to political recognition and representation, or access to natural, social, or economic resources, and at every level: from the community to international. And when conflicts arise, every level and facet of society is affected: economic development and sustainability, resource allocation and use, education, and public policy. Women’s involvement in the transformation of these conflict situations is imperative. The 2008 program includes professional women, in both the public and private sectors, at lower and middle level positions of leadership from around the United States and the Asia Pacific region to participate in a program of dialogue, exchange, and leadership skills building focused on the issue of women and conflict transformation.
When women are empowered to exercise leadership at all levels it is not just in the service of women, but as a contribution to the betterment of society as a whole. Now more than ever, communities and organizations across the Asia Pacific region are in need of balanced and constructive leadership. Launched in 2002, Changing Faces is a program designed to bring together women from the United States and the Asia Pacific region to participate in dialogue on leadership and issues specific to women in leadership around the region. The program seeks professional women at lower and middle level positions of leadership who have the potential to move into positions of greater responsibility and influence. Visit http://www.eastwestcenter.org/seminars-and-journalism-fellowships/leadership-development/changing-faces-womens-leadership-program for more information.
Weekender Stories