Launch of The Nigeria Women Mediators Collaborative Initiative (NWMCI)
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF Nigeria) hosted the official National Launch of The Nigeria Women Mediators Collaborative Initiative (NWMCI) on Friday 20th September 2019 at the Rockview Hotel (Royale) Abuja.
The Nigeria Women Mediators Collaborative Network (NWMCI) is the Nigerian women’s attempt to address the significant gap of women’s participation in mediation and peace processes and enhance women’s capacity and opportunity to mediate in conflicts using Tracks 1, 2 and 3. The idea for the NWMCI came following a two-day dialogue organised by The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Nigeria in December 2018 that brought together women mediators working for peace across different levels in Africa as well as the activities of the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office’ funded Women Mediators Across the Commonwealth (WMC).
The other objectives of the NWMCI are the establishment of a national alliance of women mediators networks at all level with a mandate for early response within communities; building strategic linkages with regional and international women networks and; to bridge the intergenerational gap between formal and informal women mediators thereby ensuring that women mediators of all age groups are actively engaged. The members of the NWMCI are drawn from all 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT comprising women mediators working in conflict-affected communities bringing and elevating the experiences and expertise of both informal and formal women mediators into the network.