The Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Kingdom of Eswatini, hosted a four-day capacity-building workshop for national stakeholders on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, from 13 to 16 May 2025, at the Mountain View Hotel in Mbabane
The primary objective of the workshop was to strengthen knowledge and understanding of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda among stakeholders in the Kingdom of Eswatini and to build capacity towards the development of a National Action Plan on implementation of this Agenda. The workshop provided national stakeholders with practical steps and guidance on the processes of developing, implementing, and monitoring a National Action Plan on WPS.
The WPS Agenda is intended to promote implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and other supporting resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council since October 2000. This Agenda recognises the importance of women’s contribution and leadership in conflict resolution, peace-making, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding, and therefore calls for their meaningful participation at all levels of peace and security processes. The UNSCR 1325 clearly acknowledges that war is gendered, and that conflict and post-conflict situations render women and girls more susceptible to sexual exploitation, displacement, kidnapping, trafficking and to heightened poverty.
In launching the Workshop, Ms Nomzamo Dlamini, the Director of the Department of Gender and Family Issues, on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister, pointed out that “sustainable peace is only possible when it is inclusive, representing the voices, needs, and leadership of all members of society, especially women”.
To promote effective national action on Women, Peace and Security, Ms Dlamini emphasised that actions need to be grounded in a clear, inclusive, and well-resourced national action plan. Ms Dlamini further called for a strong collaboration of Government departments, security institutions, civil society organisations, youth and women’s rights advocates, development partners and traditional and religious leaders in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security for the Kingdom of Eswatini. She noted that each stakeholder brings a unique perspective and set of experiences that are essential to ensuring that the Eswatini National Action Plan on WPS is comprehensive and context specific.
Ms Kealeboga Kelly Dambuza-Chifani, representing the SADC Secretariat, congratulated the Kingdom of Eswatini for taking a step to engage national stakeholders on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and the development of the related National Action Plan. Ms Dambuza-Chifani highlighted that SADC has developed a Regional Strategy on Women, Peace and Security, 2018-2030 that calls upon Member States to put in place measures to enhance the participation of women in peace and security processes, including in peace negotiations and peacebuilding and in the prevention and resolution of conflicts at all levels. Ms Dambuza-Chifani further reflected that SADC has been conducting regional-level consultations on the WPS since the year 2022, and this has contributed to an increase in the number of Member States with WPS national action plans from four (4) to eight (8) Member States. She also indicated that the development of the WPS national action plan together with its effective implementation requires multi-stakeholder engagement to ensure inclusivity.
The Mediation and Peacebuilding Officer at the SADC Secretariat, Mr Fabrice Kitenge Tunda, highlighted some of SADC’s Mediation, Conflict Prevention and Preventative Diplomacy structures, including the recently adopted Network of Women Mediators in Southern Africa that aims to increase the roles and participation of women in peace processes.
The capacity-building workshop was attended by 74 participants from the Kingdom of Eswatini, including representatives from various Government Departments (Gender, Police, Environment, Disaster Management and Social Services, amongst others) as well as participants from civil society organisations, traditional and religious leaders, and development partners. The key outcome of the workshop was the development of a Draft National Roadmap that lays out key steps for the development of a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security for the Kingdom
