Women’s nation-building role crucial

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity cited the crucial roles of women in nation-building and sustaining peace initiatives in the country.

This, as the OPAPRU — the lead agency for the observance of National Peace Consciousness month — recently conducted another phase of the Peace Research Conference that pays attention to various studies on the vital roles of women in pushing peace and security agenda as well as recognizing their contribution to conflict resolution and transformation.

OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the peace conference must crucial in disseminating public policies and programs related to the government's peace initiatives.

Additional recommendations collated from the conference are useful in the crafting of the "fourth generation" of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security this year.

"Specifically, they will serve as supplementary inputs to the sunset reviews of the third-generation national action plan on women, peace and security and recommendations and inputs in the crafting of the fourth generation NAPWPS to be done this year," Galvez said.

The first OPAPRU Peace Research Conference was conducted in 2021 dubbed "Post-conflict Normalization in the Context of the National Peace and Transformation Agenda: Challenges and Prospects" with the aim of broadening the "constituency for peace."

It also serves as a platform for acquiring knowledge through co-creation and evidence-based conversations on peacebuilding, conflict, and security concerns.

Galvez said the peace conference shall be an opportunity for the OPAPRU to expand its engagements, particularly with academicians and researchers, who can help in the government's goal of attaining just and lasting peace for the nation and for all Filipinos.

Meantime, Peace advocate Miriam Coronel Ferrer stressed the importance of women's participation and greater inclusion in the peace process.

She discussed the challenges and consequences of achieving greater inclusion of women in the peace agenda.

"Good representation of women can really benefit the whole process. If we include the gender agenda in the process and take welfare into account, the process would be more structural and inclusive," Ferrer said.