Kinshasa, December 7th, 2025 (CPA). – Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo were equipped to conduct effective advocacy, promoting peace building and women’s political participation, during a workshop held Saturday in Kinshasa. “After today’s presentations, the insights gained from this workshop should lead us to engage in in-depth discussions and make resolutions on ways and means to conduct effective advocacy to support women’s involvement in peace mechanisms at various levels,” said Grâce Lula, executive director of the Permanent Framework for Consultation of Congolese Women (CAFCO). “We will get involved to support and contribute to the debates and discussions on current issues and challenges that influence women’s political participation, such as inclusive electoral reforms and others,” added Ms. Grâce Lula. According to this social activist, “our proactivity as women leaders will help us to not continually suffer events, but to anticipate them and seek appropriate solutions.” She then announced that the workshop for cross-party exchanges and support for the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agendas aimed to promote and support active collaboration between women and young leaders around the WPS and YPS agendas. Peace and Security, FPS and Youth, Peace and Security, JPS agendas aimed to promote and support active collaboration between women and young leaders around the FPS and JPS agendas and current issues, in order to carry out ongoing advocacy actions promoting peace building and women’s political participation.
Given that this workshop is a follow-up to last October’s workshop on gender-responsive budgeting, its main objective is to strengthen the capacity of women and girls to reflect on budgeting while taking into account the specific needs of women and girls, as well as the National Action Plan of Resolution 1325 and Resolution 2250. This capacity building should then enable beneficiaries to monitor the implementation of the National Action Plan as citizens, she recalled. Organized by CAFCO, this workshop, which is part of the project entitled “Strengthening Local Leadership in FPS and JPS in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations,” was supported by the Global Network of Women Peace builders (GNWP).