Femwise-Africa Key Player in African Union's Silence the Guns Agenda

July 29, 2019

July 29, 2019: Last week, nine precedent-setting, traditionally male-led chiefdoms in Cameroon’s North allowed women to begin presenting women’s matters to chiefs. The women can also now represent themselves, taking over from the men who did it for them.

African women’s inclusion in peace processes has come about through years of efforts culminating in Femwise-Africa, a Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation which was established and situated under the umbrella of the AU’s Panel of the Wise in July 2017. Femwise-Africa is working to help implement an ambitious Silence the Guns by 2020 agenda.

Catherine Samba-Panza, with considerable experience as a former president of a country in conflict, the Central African Republic, and Dr Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, who brings on board the institutional memory of the AWCPD and is current chairperson of the AU Panel of the Wise, co-preside over FemWise.

Mukondeleli Mpeiwa, a young passionate peace builder with regional mediation and capacity building experience in Southern Africa heads the secretariat. FemWise-Africa is “a stepping-stone to ensure women set the agenda on especially health, water and food, building social capital and monitoring social contracts in each of our member states. In five years, an Africa with inclusive peace structures comprised of 50/50 women and youth with no food insecurity or maternal mortality is possible,” Dr Kazibwe says.

Read more: NDERITU: Men make war, women silence the guns, have you heard? (https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke)

July 29, 2019

Femwise-Africa Key Player in African Union's Silence the Guns Agenda

July 29, 2019

July 29, 2019: Last week, nine precedent-setting, traditionally male-led chiefdoms in Cameroon’s North allowed women to begin presenting women’s matters to chiefs. The women can also now represent themselves, taking over from the men who did it for them.

African women’s inclusion in peace processes has come about through years of efforts culminating in Femwise-Africa, a Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation which was established and situated under the umbrella of the AU’s Panel of the Wise in July 2017. Femwise-Africa is working to help implement an ambitious Silence the Guns by 2020 agenda.

Catherine Samba-Panza, with considerable experience as a former president of a country in conflict, the Central African Republic, and Dr Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, who brings on board the institutional memory of the AWCPD and is current chairperson of the AU Panel of the Wise, co-preside over FemWise.

Mukondeleli Mpeiwa, a young passionate peace builder with regional mediation and capacity building experience in Southern Africa heads the secretariat. FemWise-Africa is “a stepping-stone to ensure women set the agenda on especially health, water and food, building social capital and monitoring social contracts in each of our member states. In five years, an Africa with inclusive peace structures comprised of 50/50 women and youth with no food insecurity or maternal mortality is possible,” Dr Kazibwe says.

Read more: NDERITU: Men make war, women silence the guns, have you heard? (https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke)

Latest News

Women at the Center of Rwanda’s Peacebuilding and Recovery

NEWS
January 8, 2026

Women have been central to Rwanda’s peacebuilding trajectory since the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, a period marked by extreme violence, including the systematic use of sexual violence as a tool of genocide

Read News Item

Rwandan Women Peacekeepers Lead Action

NEWS
January 8, 2026

Rwandan Women Peacekeepers Lead Action Against Gender-Based Violence in South Sudan

Read News Item

The Continuing Challenge of Violence Against Women in Rwanda

NEWS
January 8, 2026

Violence against women continues to be a major human rights challenge in Rwanda.

Read News Item

Winnie’s Story - Choosing Policing as my career

NEWS
December 18, 2025

Read News Item

Critical Analysis of Rwanda’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda

NEWS
November 11, 2025

Rwanda has often been cited as a global leader in advancing gender equality, particularly in governance and peace building.

Read News Item

Resilient Leaders, Powerful Mentors: Women in Rwanda’s Security Institutions Inspiring Change

NEWS
October 10, 2025

The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) are security institutions and platforms of transformation, resilience, and mentorship.

Read News Item

Rwandan Female Police Officers Scaling Heights Of Policing Career

NEWS
May 30, 2019

May 30, 2019: In March 2019, the United Nations expressed its gratitude to a Rwandan Police Officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police, (ACP) Teddy Ruyenzi, for her outstanding role in UN peacekeeping. ACP Ruyenzi, who is among the top most senior police officers at the rank of ACP, leads a trail-blazing force of 160-strong all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) in the Republic of South Sudan under the United Nations Mission in Southern Sudan (UNMISS).

Read News Item

Rwanda to send all-woman peacekeeping force to South Sudan

NEWS
July 10, 2018

July 9, 2018: Rwanda is set to send an all-female formed police unit for deployment in South Sudan under the UN peacekeeping mission, the Rwandan police said Tuesday. The contingent is the first female team to be sent on a foreign mission by the country.

Read News Item