Source: Government of Ghana
The Women Peace and Security Institute (WPSI) of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has called on the media to project women in a more positive way and thereby increase the awareness of women in leadership and governance.

It said policies on gender mainstreaming was still binding and should be realised at all levels hence the need for governments to promote the participation of women in leadership and governance.

The call was made at a media interaction forum yesterday in Accra.

The forum brought together a core group of journalists interested in gender related activities was on the theme: “The role of the Media in promoting Women’s Leadership in Governance, Peace and Security”.

Brigadier General Benjamin F. Kusi, Deputy Commandant KAIPTC, said the forum was expected to engage the media in promoting the UNSCR 1325 which would ensure an enhanced visibility of women’s roles in decision-making in the prevention of violence against women and the advancement of peace and security.

Gen. Kusi said since the adoption of the UNSCR 1325 over a decade ago, numerous initiatives to raise awareness and promote ownership of UNSCR 1325 and the succeeding resolutions on women, peace and security had taken place across Africa.

He said the AU framework on women, peace and security was guided by the protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa and the AU Gender Policy amongst other policy initiatives.

Gen. Kusi said despite the fact that only 11 out of the 54 countries in Africa had adopted the National Action Plans to implement resolution 1325, there was a growing awareness of the critical role women play in conflict, post conflict, peace building and reconstruction as well as reconciliation issues.

He KAIPTC had made some key strides to support the implementation of UNSCR 1325 which saw to the establishment of the Women, Peace and Security Institute, the integration of gender in their training courses and with the roll out of a Masters Programme in Gender, Peace and Security which currently enrolls 55 students.

Angela Dwemena -Aboagye, Human Rights Lawyer and Executive Director of Ark Foundation, said the media was important in projecting the agenda of women’s participation in leadership and governance.

She said women had often faced negative stereotyping from the mass media and pertinent gender issues were often trivialised and treated with amusement by many media personnel.

Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye said the establishment of Gender and Women’s pages in newspapers and magazines and increase in gender-sensitive media personnel especially women in media houses had heightened consciousness about women specific and gender equality issues.

She noted that the UN Resolution 1325 and related Instruments had been adopted by the Security Council to draw attention to the necessity of women’s equal participation in governance, peace and security processes.

Tolulope Lewis Tamoka, Programme Manager, WPSI/KAIPTC, said the adoption of the UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security marked one of the greatest achievements of the dawn of the new millennium.

She said WPSI aims at promoting women empowerment through innovative outreach programmes as well as capacity-building and training activities to enhance women’s leadership in different aspects of the peace and security agenda.

• Ghana