Guinea-Bissau has reinforced its national commitment to the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda by hosting a high-level capacity-building workshop led by the ECOWAS Commission. The event, held in Bissau, focused on equipping key national actors with tools to effectively monitor and report on WPS initiatives using a simplified version of the African Union’s Continental Results Framework (CRC), adapted to the West African context.
The three-day workshop was organized by the Directorate of Humanitarian and Social Affairs (DAHS) of ECOWAS in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Family and Social Solidarity of Guinea-Bissau, and supported by the ECOWAS Peace, Security and Governance Project (EPSG), co-financed by the European Union and Germany’s BMZ, and implemented by GIZ.
In her keynote remarks, Minister Maria Inácia Có Mendes Sanhá highlighted the government’s ongoing efforts in gender equality, citing national laws on gender parity, human trafficking, and gender-based violence. She reaffirmed Guinea-Bissau’s commitment to integrating women into peacebuilding and governance.
Participants, including representatives from civil society, academia, the security sector, and media, received intensive training on the use of the CRC monitoring tool and its questionnaire. These tools will be instrumental in tracking national progress in meeting WPS goals under international and regional frameworks such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
Speaking on behalf of ECOWAS, Dr. Aishatu Morido Yanet emphasized that the CRC tool is more than a data instrument—it’s a mechanism for accountability and visibility of women’s roles in peace processes. Mr. Olatunde Olayemi, representing ECOWAS’s Humanitarian Affairs Directorate, added that this workshop marked the ninth CRC rollout across West Africa.
The workshop also saw the official handover of five gender assessment reports, presented to the ECOWAS Resident Representative’s Office and the national ECOWAS office in Guinea-Bissau. The reports include key findings and recommendations to strengthen coordination and institutional responses to the WPS Agenda.
German Embassy representative Mr. Carsten Wille reaffirmed Germany’s support for feminist development cooperation and inclusive peacebuilding, noting Guinea-Bissau’s commitment to advancing gender equity in peace and security governance.
In closing, participants called for sustained training, stronger inter-agency collaboration, and full integration of the CRC tool into national systems, reaffirming their dedication to translating political commitments into measurable impacts for women and girls across Guinea-Bissau and the region.
