COMING UP!>>Ep.34: Towards a more Equitable Gender Participation in Peace & Security with UNSCR1325

34th Edition:

Towards a more Equitable Gender Participation in Peace & Security with UNSCR1325

This year, the AU is paying particular attention to women by celebrating their empowerment under the theme “Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

October 2015 will be exactly fifteen years since the landmark resolution UNSCR1325 was adopted.

UNSCR 1325 is considered a “landmark resolution” because it was the first time in the history of the United Nations that member-states decided to link the maintenance of peace and security to the situation of women and girls.

UNSCR 1325 is based on three key pillars — which are participation in peace processes, mainstreaming a gender perspective into all conflict prevention activities and strategies, and the protection of women in war and peace

Truth be told, the adoption of the UNSCR 1325 and its follow up resolutions 1888, 1890 and 1960 on women, peace and security calls on governments, states and international organizations to promote the participation of women in negotiations, governance and leadership positions in security sector institutions.

We want to use the 34^th edition of the Show to kick-start conversations around 1325 in a month that is particularly important for the celebration of women (it will not have escaped your attention that 8 March is International Women’s Day).  Located in the larger global context of 20 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action -- a historic roadmap signed by 189 governments 20 years ago that sets the agenda for realizing women’s rights – one begins to understand why we need to start the ball rolling on filling the deficits on gender as quickly as we can.

One critical and obvious way for this show is through advocacy of 1325. Last week, I spoke to the issue of a newly-established network in which Radio XYZ/Africa in Focus show sits on the steering committee. It is important to have communicators at the centre of this all-important discussion, as Mrs.Appiah-Pinkrah suggested last week, to make the reach of one’s messaging wider. Enter AIF, and other media to help do that.

It is for this reason we are having a conversation today with the implementers (Ministry of Defence/Ministry of Gender & Social Protection); facilitators (WPSI/KAIPTC); and a rep of the National Peace Council.

This is our first step in helping demystify 1325.

Join us if you can at 1pm on 3 March, 2015.

Guiding questions

• Why is a Communications network on UNSCR1325 necessary?
• Have the National Peace Council been able to bridge the gender-gap/divide in their composition?
• How will some of the implementers of 1325 (Ministries of Gender/Defence) help the media communicate the importance of 1325?
• What, if any activities, are the Network, and WPSI of KAIPTC doing to sensitise Ghanaians around 1325?

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Mrs.Catherine Appiah-Pinkrah, Director, Ministry of Defence

Ø  Mz.Margaret Alexander-Reheboth, Head of Women, Peace & Security Institute (WPSI), KAIPTC

On the line:

·         Mz. Malonin Asibi , Programme Officer, Ministry of Gender, Social Protection @14h10

·         George Amoh, Director in charge of Conflict Resolution and Management, National Peace Council, Ghana @14h30

·         Kobby Blay, #EbolaWatch, @13h30

Third Edition -- #Ecowas@40Podcast: #StopBokoHaram; #Mugabe; #AUSummit

Welcome to another edition of the Ecowas@40Podcast, where we normally give you insights into all that is ECOWAS. This week, however, ECOWAS has been trounced by the trending #AUSummit24, which is not surprising as the January edition of the AU Summit concluded in Addis on 31 January, with the election of a new Chair in President Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

The ECOWAS@40Podcast is divided into four parts. We start off with an overview of what stories are trending under ECOWAS. We then move on to what ECOWAS and/or AU accounts are tweeting. Third, we give listeners an ECOWAS Fact; and, finally, “What’s my ECOWAS Beef?” where I offer candid views on a trending topic.

First, given the centrality of the #AUSummit24 that commenced the week of 26 January, we were always going to get an eclipsing of ECOWAS, primarily because the organisation was going to be represented in Addis anyway to discuss how to #StopBokoHaram.

So, as one might expect, none of the ECOWAS accounts tweeted anything at all during this auspicious time when the #AUSummit was trending. Instead, a number of official AU twitter accounts were tweeting. This included the official @_AfricanUnion; @AU_PSD; @DlaminiZuma; @Erastus_Mwencha; and AUC_DPA, which all gave different renditions of aspects of the AU Summit. What was perhaps most interesting about the AU Summit were the tweets by non-AU accounts. Let’s take a look at some of them.

1.      World Economic Forum – 35 RT: “How empowering women can help end poverty in Africa”

2.      AllAfrica.com – 14RT “African Union’s Plan to Fight Boko Haram”

3.      Nation FM Kenya – 10RT “Broke AU seeks to wean itself from handouts”

Still on AU-related matters, Mugabe was clearly trending:

1.      

@UlrichjVV – 60RTs with tweet “apologies on behalf of all egalitarian men! Mugabe at AU Summit [says] “it’s impossible that women can be at par with men”

2.      @DlaminiZuma – 37RTs with tweet: “welcomed H.E. Robert #Mugabe to the @_AfricanUnion Commission  following his election at the #24thAUSummit”

3.      On a lighter note, one Evita Bezuidenhout (@TannieEvita) tweets: “my refugee-Zimbabwean housekeeperis thrilled Robert Mugabe is now also Chairman of the #AfricanUnion. She says it will probably kill him.”

Closely trailing behind #AUSummit24 is #BokoHaram:

1.      One ian bremmer(@ianbremmer) with no less than 818RTs tweets “Killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria 2009:700; 2010:75; 2011:600; 2012:1650; 2013:3000; 2014:7700; last month:3000+”

2.      Viven Hoch tweets, with 21RTs “les islamistes de Boko Haram auraient assassin 90% des habitants de la region de Baga

On ECOWAS:

1.      Channels Television, with 12RTs tweets : “ECOWAS Parliament gathers support for Nigeria’s elections”

2.      NTA News tweets, with 14RTs, “INEC Meets ECOWAS Election Observation Mission”

3.      ECOWAS FACT

Did you know that ECOBANK is considered an agency of ECOWAS? It has nothing to do with the fact that it is listed on the ECOWAS website, but everything to do with the fact that one of the biggest shareholders from its inception in 1985 in Lome, Togo, was what was known then as the ECOWAS Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development (ECOWAS Fund), or what we now know as the Ecowas Bank of Investment and Development – also located in Togo.

4.      What’s my ECOWAS Beef?
Given the very important role of ECOWAS in combating Boko Haram, one would have thought the Ouedraogo Commission would have gotten more serious on SM. None of the ECOWAS accounts tweeted or even dared to re-tweet all that was happening under the #AUSummit. None at all! Yet the AU accounts – and there are a growing number, including the Vice; Chair herself; AU PSD; Dept Political Affairs, and now AU Foundation, etc – were regularly and constantly tweeting and re-tweeting every hour throughout the five days.

ENDs

STORIFY Feature: A Tweet-up of Coverage of the African Union's Closing of year-long celebration of #CAADP #Agriculture programme at #AUSummit24

Coming Up on 29th Edition: >> Talking points around Ecowas@40(1)

29^th Edition:  

Perspective Retrospective 2: Review of the Year 2014 – Health, & Tourism

We are reprising the issue of review in the 29^th edition of AIF.

We will, once again, be speaking to people who can help us offer a retrospective of the year on some of the biggest stories AIF show covered. Apart from aviation, the second biggest was Tourism, and Ebola. But we also want to pitch the issue of Ebola against that of AIDS, which may have gone under-reported because of the very-existential threat of Ebola.

If you will recall, health, especially that of Ebola, was a major talking point on AIF as Radio XYZ blazed the trail back in August 2014 on regular weekly discussions of Ebola under Africa in Focus.

Join us if you can at 1pm on 20 January, 2015.

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Penelope Agbai , Communications Officer, West Africa Aids Foundation

Ø  Kobby Blay, EbolaWatch

On the line:

·         Dr.Boakye, Director – Tourism Research Advocacy Centre(TRAC) @13h25 for our “Africa in the News” segment

·         Jesse Kawra, former Miss Ghana Tourism 2013 @13h40 for our “Africa in the News” segment