Embargo Period

12-13-2019

Degree Name

MA in Conflict Transformation

First Advisor

Bruce DAYTON

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to collect and analyze the perceptions of women and men of various cultural groups of the conflict in the Central African Republic, the role of women in transforming it and perceptions about whether and how this might improve women’s inclusion in decisions within their communities, using ethnographic design. The research methods included literature review on the analysis of the links between gender, war, and conflict transformation, the review of secondary data, interview with key informants, focus groups discussions, and observation. The findings revealed that the sum of the effects of women´s local peacebuilding work, the interventions of external actors and the national efforts to implement the resolution 1325 have increased women’s ability to access resources, to have some freedom of movement, a voice in CAR society, and a beginning of positive attitude change among men regarding women’s participation in decision in public and political spheres. However, if the conflict provided opportunities for the redress of gender power imbalance, the interrelation between gender cultural violence and structural violence limit women participation in decisions in customary, private, public, and political spheres. Building on some good practices such as the emergence of female traditional leaders and the legitimacy of women’s power in community-based organizations, recommendations are made to NGO for the support of women civic engagement in favor of women participation in the post-conflict reconstruction in CAR.

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