Consultation with women on peace and security issues

Published: Tuesday, November 09, 2010

We are beginning a consultation process with women from the north, border counties, women in direct provision and asylum seekers in the south and women who have experienced conflict and gender based violence on this island; and representatives from the women's centres and groups that work with these women.

There will be three workshops between now and 3 December and they will take place in Dublin, Cork and Derry.

The first workshop will take place in the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin on Wednesday 17th November from 2pm to 5pm and I want to invite you and any women you work with who have been directly affected by the conflict and who would be comfortable engaging in a participative process. The information from the workshops will ultimately feed into and influence the content of Ireland's National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. However, we will not be focusing on the resolution during the workshop, the focus will be on the women and their experiences.

On the same day in the morning a conference will be held on the monitoring and evaluation of Ireland's National Action Plan for 1325, speakers will include Mary Robinson, Inez McCormack, Susan McKay and Margot Wallstrom. Please see attached an invitation to this event also.

A light lunch will be provided for workshop participants along with refreshments throughout the afternoon, travel expenses can also be covered in certain circumstances. As the aim of the workshop is to listen to women's perspectives it will be highly participative. Women will be asked to work in small groups to discuss key issues such as: women's security and protection needs; women's capacity building for greater participation and leadership roles. A more detailed schedule will be communicated in advance of the workshop.

Could you please circulate this notice to your community and if anybody is interested in attending could they contact me to confirm their place by 16th November at: 1325@nwci.ie

I must apologise for the very short notice of this invitation. However, I do hope you will seriously consider taking part in this event as I believe your experience and knowledge will be highly valuable to this process. I am aware that you might have many questions about this process so do please feel free to call me on 01-8786400 or 0851476548.

Shirley Graham
Facilitator of Consultation Workshops on UNSCR 1325
National Women's Council of Ireland
Funded by the Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence