In short
Course Date/Duration	18 – 29 November 2019
Course Capacity	15 participants
Target Group	middle level women in Peace and Security
Course Language	English only
Application Deadline	30 September 2019

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

Since the adoption of the landmark United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2000 there is an increased effort at international, regional and national levels to systematically integrate gender perspectives into peace and security discourse, policy and practice.

In spite of all these efforts, globally, there remains a gender gap with regards to women’s presence, leadership and participation in PSO from the grassroots community level through the national, regional, to the international level. The KAIPTC since the adaptation of its Gender Policy has been applying an affirmative action system aimed at increasing female participation in courses but this has yielded marginal results. Thus, there is the need for a more drastic approach if the Centre is to see massive increase in the proportion of women trained.

The KAIPTC’s Strategic Plan for the year 2019-2023 seeks to among other things, “Enhance KAIPTC’s contribution to fully implement the African Union (AU) Protocol on the African Charter on the rights of women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the UNSCR 1325”. In line with the KAIPTC’s third strategic objective and linked to a needs-based training portfolio which is specifically considering gender-specific aspects, the Centre envisages an increase demand for women leadership in PSO in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the AU.  It is in line with this that the KAIPTC Women Support Scheme is being established. 

 COURSE AIM

The Inspiring African Women Leaders in Peace and Security Programme is aimed at providing capacity-building and networking opportunities for women to increase leadership and participation in the peace and security environment.

EXPECTED OUTCOME

It is expected that through the programme the participants will be able to:

1. Understand their leadership skills and style better and utilize the skills set and tools set acquired to not only impact their work but to transfer that to other women and mentor them;
2. Design and implement concrete short, medium and long-term plans and actions that respond to the needs of their environment;
3. Design interventions that target and increase participation of women at all levels;
4. Apply skills developed to harness, lobby, advocate and/or mobilize support to implement their designed projects through this network, plus further linkages, and processes across other environment;
5. Contribute to effective change in peacebuilding environments, and strengthen enabling environments (including institutional) for peacebuilding stakeholders to implement desired changes.

TARGET GROUP

The programme is targeted at middle level women in Peace and Security. Based on the core principles of the WPS agenda which are Participation, Protection and Prevention, beneficiaries will broadly fall into the following groups:

• Participation: Women in PSO, mediation and negotiation, government etc.
• Protection: Women in Security Agencies and Government
• Prevention: Women in Civil Society Organisations, Community Based Organisations, Government etc.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

1. An applicant must be a citizen and resident in an African country at the time of application;
2. An applicant should have at least two years of working experience in the peace and security field in a middle level management position at the time of applying for the course;
3. Applicant must show potential for leadership in their field of work;
4. Applicant must show ability to apply themselves and undertake the full rigours of the programme;
5. Women working with grassroots community-based organisation are strongly encouraged to apply;

PROGRAMME APPROACH

The first phase of the programme will span the duration of the KAIPTC five-year strategic plan. This will consist of the following:

a. A two-week in-house training program: This will focus on developing specific capacities among the scheme beneficiaries. The training programme will cover four broad modules, namely:

• The Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda
• Inspiring Women Leaders
• The Elective Courses
• Project Design

As part of the programme, participants will present leadership challenges relating to specific projects they are working on. The training programme will help participants to identify strategies to address these leadership challenges and fine tune the project proposal they present for the course.

b. Coaching and mentoring sessions: Participants will have access to mentors and coaches during and after the training programme who will support them to fine tune and implement their proposed projects.

c. Post-engagement Activities:

• Forming of a network of women leaders in Peace and Security;
• Ongoing mentorship for participants;
• Experience sharing workshop for participants;
• Webinars, Skype calls, Facilitation and other activities;
• Participants becoming facilitators for subsequent programmes

FACILITATION AND METHODOLOGY

The group size will be kept to a maximum of 15 participants. This is to ensure that sufficient time is allocated to each participant to be able to deliver and receive adequate interaction time with facilitators and coaches. The methodology will include sessions, group works, presentations and other forms of knowledge exchange (webinars). There will be exchange with senior women from various fields to engage with the participants and share their experiences with the participants. There will be sessions of image enhancement with skills on public speaking and pitching offered to the participants. The overall objective in delivering the activities in this scheme is to make it interactive and hand-on with limited knowledge transfer

The course will be conducted in English. Applicants must have advanced proficiency in oral and spoken English.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants are requested to kindly fill and submit an online application form.

Contact at KAIPTC 

	For course content issues
Mrs Marylyn Agblor Training Coordination Officer Tel.  00 233 (0) 302 718200 Ext. 1012 Fax. 00 233 (0) 302 718201 Email: marylyn.agblor@kaiptc.org	Mrs. Joana Osei-Tutu Course Director Tel.: +233 (0) 302 718200 Ext 1085 Email: joana.osei-tutu@kaiptc.org; Email: joanaoseitutu.kaiptc@gmail.com