By Jeffry Sunday
ABOH/Nigeria: For sustenance of peace in the country, women in Delta State had been trained to understand the process of peace and confidence building for women leaders.
The training organized for “Train the Trainers” , and tagged Training On Peace And Confidence Building For Women Leaders in Delta State”, was organized by the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP, Nigeria), and sponsored by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) was a five days programme held at the, Umuosumli multi- purpose Hall Ossissa, Ndokwa East LGA.
The organizer stated that the place of women in the Nigerian story cannot be over looked, and as such they are, key to peace building and conflict resolution and prevention in their environments.
In her address to participants, Bridget Osakwe, National Network Coordinator, West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP, Nigeria). Asked the participants not to underrate the significance of such events, as the women need to be given equal opportunity and must be allowed to voice out their opinion.
According to her, the woman has a big role to play both in leadership, economy and as such, there is need for advocacy for women. She called for the needs of women to go into politics and also to know their right and growing into “a speaker in the midst of men”.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, Development Initiative for Community Impact (DICI), Mrs. Rachael Misan-Ruppee said that women had in their various actions and activities, encouraged men to think that women belong only to the “other room” (Being a full-time house wife), she noted that women spend less time getting information via internet, radio, television, which should not be, but reminded the participants that though, life is a choice and opportunity, she advised the participants to settle down to plan their lives, to avoid missing out on opportunities later, as she called for full women participation in political activities.
Among issues dealt with within the five days of the training, were peace and confidence building, Gender equality, Gender equity, early warning sign of crises, conflict resolution, networking and many other issues that affects women.
Those who also spoke during the training programme were the chairman of the Local Government, Mr. Juan Governor, Mrs Faith Okpohworho, Director of Women Affairs, in the State Ministry of Women Affairs.
