A woman from northern Sudan shares her vision for the future of the coalition during a workshop exercise
I recently returned from Nairobi, Kenya, where I facilitated dialogue for a coalition of 30 women from North and South Sudan. The people of South Sudan recently voted for independence, and on July 9 this largest country of Africa will become two separate nations, a result of peace talks that followed 20 years of civil war.
Karuna Center was invited to lead a workshop for these women by our colleagues at the Institute for Inclusive Security (based in Washington, D.C.), which advocates for the inclusion of women in political processes such as constitutions, parliaments, ministries, and elections. Their Sudan desk officer was a student of conflict transformation who I had the pleasure to teach at the SIT Graduate Institute. We have also received support from the Institute over the years, and are collaborating on a future program for women members of parliament and civil society in Nepal.
This coalition of women leaders from North and South Sudan has been meeting for about 5 years, offering support to each other and shared advocacy for women through all the years of the dreadful civil war. KCP was asked to facilitate a process where the women could share honestly with each other about the impending separation and its impact on their coalition. Dialogue skills, group facilitation techniques, and a peacebuilding lens on their advocacy work were new contributions to participants, and were well received. Some of the group members lead trainings at home, and they especially appreciated new tools and approaches for the design and delivery of their own workshops.
Sudanese women attend a Karuna Center/Institute for Inclusive Security training in Nairobi, May 2011
We worked very well as a team, and both the participants and my co-trainers from the Institute for Inclusive Security were pleased with the process and outcomes. The Sudanese women are determined to continue their coalition, supporting each other as their two governments write or amend constitutions and draft civic and legal structures. The government in the north may further enshrine traditional Islamic restrictions in ways that will be difficult for these activist and highly educated Northern Sudanese women. In the south, where the women fought alongside the militias, they are now sidelined while the men broker the peace.
Although I have worked with individual Sudanese women and men as CONTACT students, this was my first time with a Sudanese group, and I hope to do more with the Institute for Inclusive Security to support this ongoing program. This group of Sudanese women felt extremely warm, feisty, and outgoing, filled with music and dance in spite of the hardships. They have truly come to understand that women from the various identity groups in Sudan are not their enemies and that they need each other for any hope of establishing human rights and dignity for women in both Sudanese countries. As they say, Insha’Allah.
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