MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENCE PEACEKEEPING CENTER

INTERNATIONAL PEACE SUPPORT TRAINING INSTITUTE (IPSTI)

THE ROLE OF WOMEM IN POST CONFLICT PEACEBUILDING IN

KOBO TOWN OF AMEHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

BY

ASEGEDECH GACHENA

AUGUST 2023

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

INTERNATIONAL PEACE SUPPORT TRAINING INSTITUTE (IPSTI)

GRADUATE STUDIES IN PEACE AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN POST CONFLICT PEACE-BUILDING IN

KOBO TOWN OF AMHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

A Thesis Submitted To The Post Graduate Program Of IPSTI In Partial

Fulfilment Of The Requirements For The Degree Of Master Of Arts In Peace
And Conflict Management

By

Asegedech Gachena

Thesis Adviser

Siraw Demas (Dr.)

August 2023

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

INTERNATIONAL PEACE SUPPORT TRAINING INSTITUTE (IPSTI)

GRADUATE STUDIES IN PEACE AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN POST CONFLICT PEACE-BUILDING IN

KOBO AREA OF AMHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

By
Asegedech Gachena

APPROVED BY BOARD OF EXAMINERS

_______________________ ____________ ____________

Chair Person’s Name Signature Date
________________________ ____________ ______________
Internal examiner’s Name Signature Date
_______________________ ___________ _____________
External examiner’s Name Signature Date

i
DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis, entitled The Role of Women in Post Conflict
Peace-Building in Kobo Area of Amhara Regional State, is my original work and has not
been submitted and presented for any degree award or any other purpose in this institute or
any other University. All materials, secondary or primary, used for the study have been
properly cited and acknowledged.

Name Signature Date

Asegedech Gachena ___________ ___________

This thesis is submitted for examination with my approval as an advisor.

Name Signature Date

Siraw Demas (Dr.) ____________ ____________

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study wouldn’t have been completed without the help of Almighty God and a great
many people. First and foremost, I want to give my thanks to Almighty God. I would like to
express my heartfelt and sincere gratitude to my Principal Advisor Siraw Demas (PhD) for
his diligent assistance, important and constructive comments, suggestions and advice, and
dedication of his precious time in reading and correcting this research starting from the
beginning. Then I would like to express my gratitude to Lieutenant General Achalu
Shalame, Head of Ethiopian Defence Human Resource Department, who gave me the
opportunity to continue my masters’ study.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Major General Tiruye Asefe for her support
during fieldwork and I would like to express my gratitude to the community of the
institution, especially Colonel Getachew Jembere. Then My appreciation also goes to my
co-advisor Capitan Melkamu Tadesse for his invaluable support, constructive comments,
suggestions and advices independently.

Finally I am also glad to thank my family and my classmates for their support and advice
from the beginning. In addition, I am happy to give my special thanks to the community of
Kobo Town and Kobo administration for their great role in supplying relevant and up to
date information.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content page No
Approval sheet ….....................................................................................................................i
Declaration…...........................................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................iii
Lists of Table of figures …....................................................................................................vii
Abbreviations and acronyms …............................................................................................viii
Abstract …............................................................................................................................. ix

CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION …...................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the study……………...………………..…………….....….….…… 1
1.2 Statement of the problems………………..…….…………..…….……..……..…… 2
1.3 Objectives of the study…………………..…………….……….……………...…… 4
1.3.1 General objectives……………...……..……….....………….….....…….… 4
1.3.2 Specific objectives……………...…..……...……..………….…..…...….…4
1.4 Research question………………………….………..……...............……....….…… 4
1.5 Significant of the study………………………....….…………..……….….….…… 5
1.6 Scope of the study……………………………......……...……………...….....…… 5
1.7 Limitation of the study……………………………...….…..………………..…..… 6
1.8 Organization of the study………………………….........…………..…………..…. 6

CHAPTER TWO
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE…................................................................ 8
2.1 Introduction……………………………….…...........…………………..………..… 8
2.2 Review of theoretical literature……………………….....…………...………..…… 8
2.2.1 Defining basic concepts and terms……………....……...….……….….….. 8
2.2.2 Importance of peace building from gender perspectives.............................. 9
2.2.3 Women and peace....................................................................................... 10
2.2.4 Feminist perspectives on the role and status of women………..........…… 10
2.2.5 Women contemporary role in peace building………...…..….……...…… 12
2.3 Review of empirical literature and research gap ……………..………...….…..…. 14
2.3.1 Gender and exiting peace building strategies……..…...……….….......…. 15
2.3.2 International legal instruments for women right......................................... 16
2.3.3 International experience of women participation in peace building............17
2.3.4 Sub Saharan experience of women’s participation in peace building......... 17

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2.3.5 Ethiopian experience .................................................................................. 17
2.3.5.1 Policy framework for inclusive security in Ethiopia........................... 17
2.3.5.2 Ethiopian policy limited scope............................................................. 18
2.3.5.3 The status and rights of women in Ethiopia......................................... 19
2.3.5.4 Participation of women in Ethiopia state and peace building.............. 20
2.4 Research gaps........................................................................................................... 21
2.5 Theoretical and Conceptual framework of the study………..…..………….......… 22
2.5.1 General perspectives................................................................................... 22
2.5.2 Relevance of gender perspectives to the study........................................... 24

CHAPTER THREE
3. RESEARCG METHDOLOGY.................................................................................... 27
3.1 Introductions………………………………..…..……………….……..…...….….. 27
3.2 Description of the study setting…………………….…..……….…….……...…… 27
3.3 Research approach and design………………..…..…………..……………......…. 27
3.4 Research method……………………………..……………....………..…….…..... 29
3.4.1 Data source……………………………..………….…….…………….…. 29
3.4.2 Population and sampling……………………….…..……............…….…. 30
3.4.3 Instrument of data collection…………………..…..……….…....…….…. 31
3.4.4 Methods of data analysis……………….……..…….………...…..........… 31
3.5 Mechanism of data quality assurance....................................................................... 32
3.5.1 Validity and credibility…………………….....…………………..…….... 32
3.5.2 Ethical consideration……………..……………...…...............…………... 32

CHAPTER FOUR
4. RESULT AND DICUTIONS........................................................................................ 33
4.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 33
4.2 Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.................................................. 33
4.2.1 Sex profile of the respondents..................................................................... 33
4.2.2 Age distribution of the participants of the study........................................ 34
4.2.3 Educational status of the respondents......................................................... 35
4.3 Women’s role in initiating and escalating conflicts................................................. 35
4.3.1 Women in war participation in the kobo town ………………......…….… 36
4.3.2 Women and fighting in the kobo town…………...………..……………... 36

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4.3.3 Women and war economies in the kobo …………..……….....…………. 37
4.3.4 The role of women during the conflict in kobo town………….....…....…. 38
4.3.5 Who cause the conflict inters of gender women or men? ……..…...….… 39
4.3.6 Who were the most affected men or women in the conflict? …….......….. 41
4.4 Women’s Contribution in Post-conflict Peace-building in kobo town.................... 42
4.5 Opportunities for Women’s Participation in Peace-building................................... 44
4.5.1 What do women consider as sustainable peace in the kobo town…….….. 46
4.6 Challenges for Women’s Participation in Peace-building........................................48
4.6.1 Education..................................................................................................... 51
4.6.2 Cultural barriers.......................................................................................... 51
4.6.3 Economic barriers....................................................................................... 52
4.6.4 Lack of women’s participations in politics................................................. 52
4.7 Ways to incorporate women’s in peace building activities...................................... 53
4.7.1 Organizing women...................................................................................... 53
4.7.2 Giving women responsibility for peace building........................................ 54
4.7.3 Increasing the political economic and social participation of women........ 54
4.7.4 Engaging women in non violent activity.................................................... 55
4.7.5 Encouraging reconciliation/religions practices........................................... 55
4.7.6 Building social capital................................................................................. 56
4.7.7 Strengthening existing women’s network................................................... 57

CHAPTER FIVE
5. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................. 58
5.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 58
5.2 Summary of major findings...................................................................................... 58
5.3 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 60
5.4 Recommendations.....................................................................................................61
REFERENCES………………………….………………………………..............………. 62
ANNEXES.............................................................................................................................66
Annex 1. Interview questions ………………………………………....……….…………… i
Annex 2. FGD questions……………………………………………..…...……….……….. iii
Annex 3: Interview questions in Amharic….......................................................................... iv
Annex 4: Consent Form………………………...………………………….……………….vii

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

List of Tables
Table 4.1. Sex distribution of the respondents …………………………… page 33

Table 4.2. Age profile of the study’s participants ………………………… page 34

Table 4.3. Education status of the study’s participants …………………… page 35

List of Figures
Figure 4.1. Orientation for FGD discussants ……………………………….. Page 39

Figure 4.2. FGD with Selected Women of Kobo Town …………………….. page 46

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

FDRE Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

FGD Focus Group Discussions

NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations

UN United Nations

UNDP United Nations Development Program

USA United States of America

USAID United States Agency for International Development

TDF Tigray Defence Force

BPFA Beijing Platform for Action

UNSC United Nations Security Council

NPW National Policy on Women

TPLF Tigray Peoples Liberation Front

RC Red Cross

MOWA Ministry of Women Affairs

NPA- National Action Plan

GE Gender equality

SACA Support Agency Cooperative Agreement

OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

WID Women in Development

WEF World Economic Forum

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ABSTRACT
It is almost universally recognized by scholars and practitioners alike that the lack of
participation of women in several walks of life is one of the apparent challenges in most
developing countries, including Ethiopia. This thesis was, therefore, intended to examine the
role of women in post-conflict peace-building and the challenges associated with it in the
Kobo Town of Amhara Regional State. To achieve this end, qualitative research approach,
which helps us to explore and analyze women’s status of involvement in peace-building
from the emic (their own) perspectives, and qualitative case study design were employed as
principal guidance for the selection of data sources, data collection tools, sampling
procedures, data analysis and interpretation. Accordingly, in this study, beyond the
secondary data, primary data were collected from a total of 65 respondents through
interviews and FGDs. The data collected through interviews and FGDs were analyzed and
interpreted by using thematic analysis. The findings of the study indicate that although
women have little or no role in conflict initiation and escalation, they were the primary
victims of violence (arbitrary killings, kidnapping and sexual abuse). Another interesting
finding was that although there are some socio-cultural, economic, political and natural
factors that hinder their participation, women in Kobo town have played an important role
in post-conflict peace-building. The major factors that hinder women’s participation in
peace-building were: socio-cultural influences, lack of awareness, poverty, and lack of
genuine representation in politics. Therefore, in order to cope with these challenges and
make women more capable actors in peace-building and related activities in their
communities, the Town Administration and other stakeholders should aggressively engage,
among others, in consistent and successive programs of addressing socio cultural barriers
using civic empowerment works, capacity-building initiatives, promoting and strengthening
girls’ education and training and genuine representation of women in decision making
positions.

Keywords. Genuine representation, Kobo town, peace-building, socio-cultural factors,

women

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

Conflict dates from the beginning of human history and will probably never end (Jeong,
2008). The causes of the conflict were given as competition over land, cattle rustling,
ecological reasons and political differences. Because of this different conflicts arise between
within and between states, ethnic groups, and individuals. Conflicts between ethnic groups
are one of the most destructive and devastating forms of conflict (Arcan, 2014). At the
beginning of the third millennium, the world and humankind are still suffering due to
conflicts between ethnic groups (Arcan, 2014). Generally conflict is unavoidable and hence
it exists everywhere in the world.

McEvoy-Levy (2006) stated that peace building is a crucial and distinct phase in a conflict
when both violence prevention and social reconstruction challenges co-exist and overlap,
and conflict management, conflict resolution and conflict transformation measures are
required in an effort to construct a sustainable peace. Indigenous peace building practices
have the potential to lay the foundation for reconciliation and peace building in the absence
of formal political institutions and a functional judicial system to guide negotiations and
address conflicts. Pavanello (2009) thus, calls for the revitalization of the indigenous peace
building procedures through considering the role of women to effectively address
contemporary challenges.

Ethiopia is an ancient African state with a rich tradition of religious types, mores, and
folkways whose roots are deeply embedded into a history of over two thousand years
(Tigist, 2014). The fact makes the country a mosaic of peoples and cultures at the heart of
the Horn of Africa. Diversified ethnic groups in Ethiopia have experienced many things
together that make them have to cordial inter-ethnic relations such as economic
interdependence through trade, interethnic marriage, common cultural practices, and
narration of a myth of common ancestry (Birhanu, 2018). Since ancient times, the people of
Ethiopia have been in closer interaction.

However, the relationship among the various ethnic, religious and political groups was not
peaceful throughout the history of the country. In the pre-1991 period, Ethiopia had

1
experienced one of the longest civil wars in Africa. Although the years that followed were
more or less stable, very recently, after the 2018 political reform in Ethiopia, on November
2020, a new armed conflict broke out between the Ethiopian Federal Government and the
rebel forces of Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF). In September 2021, residents
reported that the TPLF rebel forces had killed several civilians in and around Kobo Town.
They stated that starting from 9 September 2021, the battle between the Tigray rebel group
and local militia had turned against civilians soon as the TPLF rebel forces soldiers went
door-to-door and killing a number of civilians in retaliation.

Various reports show that women were the most seriously affected social group in the Kobo
Area of Amhara Region by the war between the Federal Government and the rebel TPLF
forces. They were victims of displacement, sexual abuse, killing for retaliation and so on.
However, very recently the two conflicting parties have signed the Pretoria Peace
Agreement intended to end the war and bring lasting peace between the conflicting parties.
In the months that followed, governmental and nongovernmental organization have engaged
in conflict resolution and post conflict peace building activities in the areas gravely affected
by the civil war.

There have been many analyses of the causes of the conflict and of the attempts to resolve it.
But this thesis looks at the violent conflict or war through gendered lenses, specifically
undertaking the analyses of women’s experiences and involvement in the post-conflict peace
building, their relationship to existing formal conflict resolution mechanisms and, based on
field research in the area, a discussion of women’s potential roles in bringing a more
sustainable peace to the town and beyond.

1.2. Statements of the Problem

There have been quite several ethnic conflicts in various parts of Ethiopia and for
generations, violent conflicts have been a serious threat to development and stability in
various communities. Though accurate statistics are hard to come by, various reports and
testimonials in some – though not all – regional states have witnessed frequent violent
conflicts that have claimed the lives of thousands of people and accounted for the
destruction of public properties (Kanani et al, 2005). The rise in violent ethnic conflict in
Ethiopia in recent years can largely be linked to the sharp increase in militant ethnic
nationalism against a backdrop of state and party fragility (Semir, 2019:1). Dozens of

2
people have been killed, many more injured, and over a million people displaced since April
2018 due to rising ethnic violence (Peebles, 2019).

In the area of under study, Kobo Town, different ethnic and religious groups and
communities have lived together for long period of times peacefully. Recently, after the
2018 political reform in Ethiopia, conflicts of different scales or magnitude have begun to
surface in different areas of the country, including Kobo Town. But the November 2020
violent conflict between the rebel TPLF forces and the Federal Government made the
northern part of the Ethiopia, particularly Kobo Town and its environs, to become the most
seriously affected by the conflict for its proximity to the war zone.

According to Hayalnesh (2021), the areas affected by the violent conflict include localities
leading to Weldia, the administrative centre of the North Wello Zone, Weldia town and
Alamata town. In addition to this, the conflict could affect the socio-economic aspects, the
general social security, and the inter-and-intra-ethnic relations of the communities. This
problem provoked the mind of the researcher to examine the nature of inter-and intra-ethnic
and religious relations and the role of women in post-conflict peace-building in the case of
Kobo Town. However, the researcher gave more emphasis on the 2020 conflict.

International, regional and national legal regimes (provisions) recognize and strongly
recommend the active participation of women in conflict resolution and post-conflict peace-
building initiatives. Ethiopia also strongly recognizes and appreciates that the role that
women play in different areas, including in conflict resolution and peace building. Conflicts
were traditionally resolved in the past. In practice, however, partly influenced by socio-
cultural factors, women have still been neglected from taking part in resolving conflict and
building peace while they are the ones suffering most from the unexpected consequences of
violent conflict.

The study was conducted to identify role of women in post-conflict building peace before,
during and after conflict in the contexts of Kobo town. It focused on the importance of
women’s involving in the peace building process in the town. The peace building process in
other areas of the country has focused on male dominance and subordination that
undermines women's efforts, and thus women's contributions have been under-researched.
Regardless of several policies, constitutional and institutional mandates, the country still
faces challenges in implementing institutional and constitutional provisions for the

3
participation of women in conflict resolution and peace-building. The government
accommodate only a small percentage of women in different positions and women's
empowerment directly affects their influence, which directly affects their role in post-
conflict peace building. This may create some gaps in the role that women can play in post-
conflict peace-building in the study area. Accordingly, this thesis attempted to investigate
the role of women in post-conflict peace-building by taking the case of Kobo Town as a
focus of analysis.

1.3. Objectives of the Study

1.3.1. General Objective of the Study

The general objective of the study was to identify the role of women in post-conflict peace
building and their search for peace after the 2020 conflict in the contexts of Kobo Town.
The research has particularly focused on how women promote sustainable peace in the
town. It sought to to understand the gender dynamics of peace building in the study area and
identify women’s role in post conflict peace building.

1.3.2. Specific Objectives

Based on the above main objective, this study has the following specific objectives:

a) To analyze the conflict through gendered lenses, paying attention to women’s

complex involvement in the conflict;
b) To identify the level of women’s involvement in peace-building activities and their
potential contribution to sustainable peace;
c) To identify the major factors affecting the involvement of women in post-conflict
peace-building in the study area; and
d) To explore ways for women’s participation in peace-building processes so as to
bring sustainable peace in the study area and beyond/

1.4. Research Questions

In order to achieve the general and specific objectives stated above, the thesis has attempted
to address the following basic research questions:
1) From a gender perspective, who often initiate and escalate conflicts in the study area and
who were most affected by these conflicts? How?

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2) Have women engaged in activities that could contribute to post conflict peace
building in the conflict area? If so, how?
3) What are the major factors hindering women from participating in post conflict
peace building?
4) How can women be incorporated into post-conflict peace-building efforts so as to
contribute their part in bringing sustainable peace in the study area?
1.5. Significance of the Study
Women are the victims of violence who often subjected to forced displacement and sexual
violence. They cover half of the population of Ethiopia but the role played by them in
stabilizing and stopping conflicts in any form is limited. So examining the role women can
play and the obstacles they continue to face in conflict resolution and post-conflict peace
building may have a number of contributions to practitioners and scholars as well.
Generally, by exploring the role of women in post conflict peace building in Kobo Town,
this study might have the following significance or contributions:
Primarily, the study could help to get a full understanding about the role of women in post
conflict peace building in the Amhara Region particularly in Kobo Town and this may add
some knowledge to the field of conflict management. Secondly, the issue of conflict is a
critical issue and it is the current problem for overall affairs of the state; and hence this study
could help to influence the policies and decisions of local, regional and federal governments
existing orientations towards the participation of women in post conflict peace building.
Thirdly, this study might serve as a steppingstone for further researchers related to the issue
of women’s participation, conflict and conflict management in the study area.

1.6. Scope of the Study

The scope of this study was delimited to examine the role of women in post conflict peace
building in Kobo Town of the Amhara Regional State. so, geographically the study was
delimited to Kobo Town Alone. The rationale for this position was that the Town was one
of the most seriously affected by the recent violent conflict between the TPLF forces and the
Federal Government and post-conflict peace-building has been underway in the Town at the
time of the research.

In terms of subject matter, the thesis has tried to assess the contributions of women in the
process of post conflict peace-building efforts only. In short, the thematic focus of the study
was on post-conflict peace-building. Regarding time, women’s involvement in the post-

5
conflict peace building was analyzed in reference to the Pretoria peace agreement between
the Federal Government and the TPLF leaders and the post-conflict peace building activities
that followed.

1.7. Limitations of the Study

The findings of this study could give a better picture of the opportunities and challenges of
women involvement in post-conflict peace-building as a whole if it draws a representative
sample from a significant number, though not all, of women from all areas of the Amhara
region. But, due to financial limitations and time constraints, the research has drawn data
from one area in the regional state purposefully selected by the researcher. This limitation
prohibits generalization in the research process.

The other challenges were as the area was under conflict it was difficult to go there and
collect data timely. The other limitation the researcher encountered in the course of the
study was that mainly due to the poor culture to admit and to learn from one's own
limitations and failures, some of the interviewees who hold leadership positions had lower
interest to participate in the study and unwilling for their responses to be audio and video
recorded. As much as possible, the researcher minimized this challenges or limitations
through extensive engagement in the field, clarifying the objective of the study as merely
used for academic purposes and ensuring absolute confidentiality of their responses.

1.8. Organization of the Study

This thesis was organized in five chapters. The first chapter broadly analysed the historical,
political and theoretical context under which the research was conducted. Accordingly, it
justified the need to studying women participation in post-conflict peace-building within the
broader context of gender equality in Ethiopia and it puts the study within the broad
framework of contemporary understanding of gender and conflict studies. The chapter also
identified some of the gaps left open by previous research and it shows how the study would
contribute to existing scholarship and provide some inputs to policy or improving practice
by filling some of these gaps.

The second chapter was largely a theoretical contribution through the process of thesis,
antithesis and synthesis vis-a-vis existing gender and conflict literatures. The review of
existing scholarship would also help to examine empirical and theoretical literatures in the

6
area and subsequently to derive the theoretical and conceptual framework of the study which
would guide the direction of analysis.

The third chapter has presented and justified the preferred methodological issues and
research design elements which would be used in the research process, including study
population, sampling, data sources and data collection tools, data analysis, research ethics
and data quality assurance. The fourth chapter mainly presented the analysis of data,
interpretations and discussion of findings; and finally the summary, conclusion and
recommendations of the study were treated under the final fifth chapter of the thesis.

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CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITRETURE

2.1. Introduction

This chapter presented the conceptual clarifications and theoretical perspectives of post-
conflict and the role of women in post-conflict peace building. The first part of the chapter
presents the conceptual clarification of the study. The second section discusses the
theoretical perspectives that are linked to conflict and conflict resolution. The third section
discusses on review of empirical literature and research gap, then the forth section discusses
on the conceptual framework of the study.

2.2. Review of Theoretical Literature

A theoretical literature review is a review of existing literature that is focused on

understanding the theoretical frameworks and concepts that are relevant to a specific
research topic. The main goal of a theoretical literature review is to identify the key theories,
concepts, and frameworks that are relevant to the research topic and to understand how they
have been used and applied in previous research. Theoretical literature reviews typically
involve a comprehensive search of relevant literature, including academic journals, books,
and conference proceedings. It can help to identify gaps in the existing literature and to
provide a foundation for the development of a new research study and an important step in
the research process to identify the key concepts and frameworks that will be used in the
study.
2.2.1. Definition of Basic Concepts and Terms
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is the maintenance of international peace and security by the arrangement of
military forces in a particular area, the maintenance of peace, especially the prevention of
further fighting between hostile or enemy forces in an area. Peacekeeping has assured to be
one of the most effective tools to assist host or hospitable countries navigate the difficult
path from conflict to peace. Peacekeeping has unique strength, including legitimacy, burden
sharing and ability to deeply and sustain troops and police from around the globe,
integrating them with civilian peace keepers to advance multidimensional mandates.
Peacekeeping entails a third party acting in the capacity of an impartial referee to assist in
the settlement of a dispute between two or more disputants.

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Peacemaking
Peacemaking is described as the negotiation procedures between different stakeholders
aiming for truce or agreement, peace agreement, or peace resolution towards specific
conflicts. Peacemaking seeks to achieve full reconciliation among adversaries or disputants
and new mutual understanding among parties and stakeholders. Peacemaking is the several
types of mediation, usually between two parties and involving a third, a facilitator or
mediator. /Douglas Noll/states that peacemaking is a complicated concept because peace
can be defined in so many different ways. For our purposes peacemaking is not a process of
passive acceptance of mistreatment, a turning of the other cheek in the face of clear injustice or
abuse or other weak images of meekness or nonresistance. Instead, peacemaking is a vibrant,
powerful concept. At its best, peacemaking creates relational and structural justice that allows
for social and personal wellbeing. This is an ideal objective, perhaps not attainable in all
conflicts.

Peace-building
Peace-building usually involves restoring stability, improving people’s security and
reducing levels of violence. It helps to heal the wounds and restore societal relations in
societies previously affected by violent conflict. In the longer term, peace-building aims to
improve fair access to livelihoods, justice, well-being, and improve governance and social
cohesion. Therefore, peace-building is the foundation for building public institutions and
state legitimacy.

2.2.2. Importance of Peace-building from a Gender Perspective

Peace building from a gender perspective is the ability of women, men, girls and boys to
promote the conditions of non violence, equality, justice and human rights, to build
democratic institutions and to sustain a peaceful environment. It also involves aiming to
change social structures which contribute to the inequality in society (Mazuranna & Mckay,
1999, p. 9). In defining peace from a gendered perspective, most studies accept that in
conflict men are the perpetrators of violence and women are the victims, but the reality is
that men and women experience conflict in different ways (El-Bushra & Piza-Lopez 1993).
These studies are gender blind, they are either neutral or take only a male centric approach
(Caproli, 2005, p. 162). Thus, authors such as Cockburn (2004) and Caproli (2005) stated
that a gender perspective on peace building that considers the perspectives of women
separately from those of men is the key to understanding peace building processes. A gender

9
lens is used to examine the different roles men and women play, and the ways in which their
identities are constructed (Harris, 2011).

2.2.3. Women and Peace

Galtung’s (1985) conception of ‘negative peace’ refers to the most commonly understood
definition of peace as ‘the end or absence of widespread violent conflict associated with
war’. An example of this could be when there is a cease fire. Yet, peace means different
things to different people. Peace Studies theorists have two main categories for peace as
originally defined by Johan Galtung (1985). According to Galtung, any conception of peace
portraying the absence of direct war and violence between states is negative peace; though
not fully peaceful it is better than violence. However, while this is the form of peace
generally accepted by governments and international agencies, it may include social and
structural violence, including gender violence and inequalities against women (Pankhurst
2000).

Positive peace in contrast requires that violence be minimal or non-existent, this means that
major conflicts of interest underpinning conflict and their manifestation need to be resolved.
Positive peace requires the absence of indirect structural violence such as gender inequality
(Duncan, winter, 2001; Christie 2011). Positive peace presents a more lasting solution to
ending armed conflict (MacGinty, 2006). It aims to end the social, economic and political
roots of conflict and can be achieved through peace building. Although women have played
a significant role in building and sustaining positive peace, violence against women has still
persisted and this violence is largely structural in nature.

2.2.4. Feminist Perspectives on the Role and Status of Women

There are multiple feminist theories. One of the common grounds for all feminist theories is
to highlight the gender roles. Gender roles are the basic way of how society is symbolically
divided. Gender can be explained as how the society reproduces the individuals raised to be
masculine or feminine. In different countries, what is feminine and what is masculine can be
different from one another and thus one explanation is not universal for all societies.
However, the understanding that femininity is constructed from masculinity, to where the
two are opposites, the woman is what the man is not, does a basic understanding for how the
gender roles are constructed. For example, if the man is active, the woman is passive; if the

10
man is rational the woman is emotional (Hjälmeskog, 1999). Feminist theories can help to
identify these roles and question these by the consequences they may arise.

Pateman & Grosz’s (2013) understanding of the feminist theory, namely of the patriarchal
society will help to analyze the findings in this research. The authors argue that in the
existing society, only people with male attributes can engage in masculine activities. A
woman, who does not have the male attribute can thus not engage in the same activities and
never as an equal. This since the patriarchal society does not have the place for women in
the normative role of women. Powell (1885) cites Sir Henry Maine’s work from 1861,
where he argues that the eldest male in the family were the supreme power over the rest of
the family. Judith Butler (1988) considers the difference between sex and gender and the
psychological explanation to women’s social existence.

Feminist theories have been used in many different types of research, from how children are
taught gender in pre-school, (Bronwyn, 2003) to El-Bushras (2007) research on women’s
peace activism and if women and men actually follow their assigned gender roles in peace
building. El-Bushra means that the roles women take in peace building does not simply
follow one structure where women only work in professions that are stereotypical for their
gender roles. Women and women’s organization, El-Bushra means, engage in all types of
work in the societies and understanding the feminist theory on war as gendered can help to
understand the norms in which war and conflict are seen as masculine when it in reality
engage and affects all people in the society. To be able to explore women’s role in peace
building and in which areas they are included a feminist theory is applied.

The gender roles present in the societies in the cases examined help in the analysis to outline
the underlying reasons for why women are not represented in peace process at the same
level as men. By applying the feminist theory on gender roles and the assumption that
conflict and violence are masculine attributes this will seek to explain the findings of why
women are excluded from formal peace processes but take large part in the peace building
work since the peaceful work is considered to be a role that fall under the female gender. By
trying to understand women’s gender roles, this will help to understand what women can
actually do and to what extent they are recognized.

The concept of agency and the feminist theory of gender roles will be used in this research
as complimentary to each other, since the research will follow two aspects to study women

11
and the role they have in the peace building process and if the roles follows normative roles
that exist in the society. These two aspects will help to understand if women are only
participating in the areas by which they are placed in for the peace agreement or if women
are participating in more areas and if these are limited to areas that are normative to
women’s roles in society. These two aspects will in the analysis chapter be compared and
discussed through a feminist theory and the concept of agency to understand if women are
seen as agents in the peace agreements, if they act as agents in the peace building process,
with the work they take upon themselves and if they are trapped in gender roles that limit
them in their work.

2.2.5. Women’s Contemporary Role in Peace Building

According to Nzorijana (2001) the perception of women as victims of violent conflicts not
only obscures their role as peacemakers but also limits their ability to engage in various
peace activities. It also creates a stereotype that women should not be allowed to voice their
concerns during peace talks and negotiations. Although they have not been fully allowed to
use their ability as peacemakers, women have been working at the grassroots level to create
and sustain peace in their families and communities. Therefore, it is necessary to research on
their potential role to building sustainable peace. Of all the social groups and individuals
that support peace in Africa, women, have the most to gain from a transformation from war
to peaceful conditions in Africa (Campbell 2002).

Women should therefore own the transformation process that leads to peace since they are
aware of the needs of their society after keeping communities together and caring for
enlarged families during conflicts. Documenting the experiences of women in conflict and
post conflict situations is therefore a step towards acknowledging women as agents of peace
(Swan 2003). This study was meant to highlight the contributions of women to peace
building efforts in kobo town. Consequently, it provided information on how to strengthen
their role in peace building within the family and community levels for the effective
promotion of peace.

During conflicts, women gain access to public spaces previously denied them as patriarchal
gender relations become transformed. In the absence of men women are forced to take on
roles previously performed by men and may achieve a degree of economic independence or
emerge as leaders in the process (Turshen 2001).

12
The Arta Peace Conference held in Arta, Djibouti, was the fourteenth attempt since 1991 to
find a peaceful solution to the civil war in Somalia. Delegates at the peacemaking
conference were representatives of four major clans and a coalition of minor ones. Women
broke out of the clan based allegiances and formed the sixth clan, which was a coalition of
women from all the clans. In doing this, women were aware that peace could only be
achieved through cross clan reconciliation and not official negotiations between warlords.
After intense lobbying, women helped form a National charter that protected the human
rights of civilians and guaranteed women twenty-five seats in the two hundred and forty five
member Transitional National Assembly (Rehn and Sirleaf 2002).

Women and men are both endowed with the human gifts of brain, speech and language.
However, women and men are neither identical, biological beings nor are they incomplete
contradicting separates but are people with different identities that complement each other
(Mugo 1978). However, Campbell (2002) rightly argues that the skills, talents and
experiences of women as agents of peace and development have not been fully exploited in
Africa. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of social, economic, religious and political security, gender
inequality, and the limited participation of women in the democratization process are the
underlying causes of women’s marginalization in Africa. “Women are great entry points to
peace building. Their position as wives and mothers is very critical in peace building”
(Kathina 2000: 39-^13). As bearers of the human race, women are at the centre of the
society’s existence. As mothers, women are concerned about the future of their children.
They are the bridges between the father and the children (Mugo 1978) and the glue that
socially binds people across generational, ethnic, racial and other socio-cultural divides.

They socialize the children, nurse the old and the sick and are endowed with the attributes of
caring, sharing, flexibility, tolerance and above all, abhorrence of violence as a means of
resolving conflict (Lives under threat 1995) Women are perceived to be more
compassionate, less insistent on status, less willing to employ force or confrontation rather
than conciliation, more willing to listen and learn though not always and less egocentric
than men. Women’s inner strength and cheerful disposition is the result of their endless
struggle to care for their families while coping with social injustice on the one hand and a
disadvantaged position in society on the other (United Nations Chromide 1997). Kathina
(2000) adds that women’s ability to establish unspoken solidarity is driven by the desire to
protect each other’s interests. This is because they and their children are the main victims of

13
the conflicts they often do not start. Thus, women are in a better position to contribute to an
environment of stability which fosters the peace process (United Nations Chromide 1997).

In practice women remain the most underutilized resources although they make up the bulk
of the population and therefore the bulk of the national workforce particularly in the
informal sector (Swan2003). Women’s softness, patience, persistence, creativity,
resourcefulness and ability to perform multiple tasks should be tapped for building
sustainable peace (Ibrahim 2001). This study was intended to identify the strengths of
women in peace building with a view to suggesting ways of integrating women’s
underutilized strengths into peace building efforts.

2.3. Review of Empirical Literature

Gender here refers to socially constructed norms and practices of masculinity and femininity
which are fundamental to the organization of societies and shape power relations within
them. Positive peace is understood to mean a peace which is more than the absence of the
direct violence of war but involves the creation of conditions of social justice and human
flourishing (Galtung, 1985). Several authors are of the view that understanding the complex
roles, responsibilities and interest of women and men in armed conflict is a key to peace
building. Moser (2001) in her work explores the experience and perspectives of women in
violent conflict, arguing that women have the capacity to build relationships and transform
inter group conflicts especially in post conflict situations.

Pankhurst (2005) on the other hand acknowledges that most approaches to peace building
have marginalized or ignored issues of gender and women. Women consistently remain a
minority of participants in peace building projects and gender analysis rarely informs peace
building policies. She calls for strong adherence to policies and recommendation that would
tackle issues relating to women, supporting her view with the theory that women have a
stronger commitment to maintain long term peace than men. NìAolàin et al, (2011) brings a
different dimension arguing that it is not just enough to integrate women into post conflict
processes but also gender analysis should be integrated into all aspects of the newly
developing or rehabilitating state.

This research builds on these points in the organizing why women should be involved in
peace building in the conflict area and how their perspectives can contribute to sustainable
peace in the town kobo. In the next sub-sections, some of this conceptual thinking about

14
women, positive peace and the relationship between them will be explained in more depth
and the themes identified here will be referred to throughout the chapters of this thesis.

2.3.1. Gender and Existing Peace-building Strategies

Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (1985) notes that peace is not only the
absence of war, violence and hostilities but also includes ideas such as social and economic
justice, equality, human rights and fundamental freedoms in society which must be
enhanced and protected. This positive and comprehensive definition of peace highlights the
implications of peace for women namely, the absence of structural violence including
economic and social inequality, protection of basic human rights, enjoyment of
fundamental freedoms in society and lack of exploitation of large sectors of the population.

More importantly, the Forward Looking Strategies posit that violence at the personal level is
inextricably linked to violence at the international level and therefore questions of women
and peace cannot be separated from the question of relationships between women and men
in the family and in all spheres of life. According to Cockbum (2001), a gender perspective
makes a difference not only to what is seen of war and peace but also to what can be done
about it. Gender consciousness highlights how women and men are positioned differently,
have different needs, strengths, experiences and skills and how these differences are
expressed in different cultures.

It also brings into sharp focus how oppression and exploitation work through gender power
relations, which intersect with relations 0f class and ethnicity. Finally, gender consciousness
focuses on how gender power relations shape institutions like the family, the military and
the state. Rehn and Sirleaf (2002) assert that women’s concerns come from their experiences
of war as well as their rootedness in their communities. Women represent those in need of
education, of land, of healthcare and of jobs. The nature of dialogue therefore changes when
women are given a chance at the peace table. Nzorijana (2001) confirms this notion by
outlining some of Burundi women’s recommendations at the Arusha peace conference.

Nevertheless the women made history in their countries by convincing the negotiators at the
peace conferences to listen to them leading to the laying of gender sensitive frameworks for
rebuilding their states (Elmi 2001, Nzorijana 2001). Anderlini (2000) notes that women’s
direct participation at the peace table has caused changes in perceptions and entrenched
attitudes about women’s leadership and decision making abilities. This is a critical step in

15
the struggle for gender equality and the process of building more inclusive societies. He
notes that women are now seeking to change the culture of silence and acceptance that has
prevailed in the past and some men are beginning to see their point.

Nonetheless, others still try to oppose gender equality. The study was intended to document
the outcome of women’s role in peace building in Kobo Town as a way of overcoming the
invisibility of their efforts and promoting recognition and support of their efforts by
stakeholders involved in peace building in the region.

2.3.2. International Legal Instruments for Women's Rights

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) that emerged from the fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing, China, marks an important milestone in the international
community’s evolving recognition of women’s rights and roles in peace and security. The
BPFA states in pertinent part that “full participation of women in decision-making, conflict
prevention and resolution and all other peace initiatives are essential to the realisation of
lasting peace.

In October 2000, United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted unanimously resolution
1325 that recognized gender equality as an integral component of peace and security. UNSC
1325, being the first solemn recognition of the role of women in the hitherto male
dominated ‘high politics’ of peace and security marks a watershed. This resolution is the
most important commitment made by the international community with regard to women’s
participation in the maintenance of national and international peace and security.

The resolution spells out actions needed by all actors, including governments and the UN, to
ensure the participation of women in peace processes and improve the protection of women
in conflict zones. It calls upon the Security Council, the UN Secretary General, member
states and all other parties to take action in four interrelated areas:

1) The participation of women in decision making and peace processes;

2) Integration of gender perspectives and training in peacekeeping;
3) The protection of women; and
4) Gender mainstreaming in UN reporting systems and programmes.

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2.3.3. International Experiences of Women’s Participation in Peace-
building
The international experience on the, “participation of women’s organizations makes a peace
agreement 64% less likely to fail” Nilsson D. (2012) cited in (O'Reilly, Súilleabháin &
Paffenholz, 2015) and “When women participate in peace processes, the resulting agreement
is 35% more likely to last at least 15 years” (O'Reilly, Súilleabháin & Paffenholz, 2015).
According to Caprioli M. (2003) cited in (O'Reilly, Súilleabháin & Paffenholz, 2015)
“Higher levels of gender equality are associated with a lower propensity for conflict, both
between and within states”. It is resulted from the equal chance than women contributed for
the society from leading and participating security sector leadership. As a result, women
have better opportunity to “gather intelligence about potential security risks” (Louise Olsson
& Johan Tejpar (eds.), 2009)”. Despite women’s critical contributions to security, their
representation in peace processes has lagged behind.

2.3.4. Sub-Saharan Experience of Women’s Participation in Peace-

building
In sub Saharan countries where violence has a long history and costs many lives, women’s
role in peace Despite gender mainstreaming projects and agendas of Africa, the participation
of women’s in decision making and peace building processes are limited, if not none. The
sub-Sahara African countries report indicated, there was a difference in women’s
participation. The achievements of sustainable peace were linked with the participation of
women in the process. Therefore, the difference in women participation between the two
countries contributed to the differences in realizing peace in each country (UN Women,
2012). Building process has also be ignored. Reports on major peace process of some
countries mentioned below shows that the voices of women are repressed from being heard
and not represented in the peace policy formulation of the countries (Open data, 2016).

2.3.5. Ethiopian Experiences

2.3.5.1. Policy Framework for Inclusive Security in Ethiopia
The EPRDF-led Government has declared its commitment to gender equality first with the
issuance of the National Policy on Women (NPW) in 1993, later with the promulgation of
the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) in 1995, and
finally with the formulation of a five year National Action Plan for Gender Equality (NAP-

17
GE) in 2006 in keeping with the FDRE Constitution and the 1995 Beijing Platform for
Action (BPA). Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees all persons equality before the law,
and prohibits any discrimination on grounds of gender. Besides, Article 35 of same
elaborates on the rights of women, conferring on them equal rights as men across the board,
including equal rights in inheritance and marriage as well as rights to land and property.
Moreover, women are entitled to affirmative action in order to heed them “special attention”
and “so as to enable them to compete and participate on the basis of equality with men in
political, social and economic life as well as in public and private institutions.

A Women’s Affairs Office with the rank of minister without portfolio within the Office of
the Prime Minister was also established in 1992 with mandate to coordinate and facilitate
conditions to promote gender equality and to formulate and follow up a gender equality
policy. It was charged with responsibilities to oversee and coordinate activities leading to
the effective implementation of the policy. Since 2005, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs
(MOWA) with the rank of minister with portfolio has been established by virtue of
Proclamation No. 471/2005. The NPW acknowledges that “the discriminatory political,
economic and social rules and regulations prevailing in Ethiopia have barred women from
enjoying the fruits of their labour”. The first priorities of the government are thus: to
improve the level of income of women by facilitating opportunities and women-friendly
conditions in the work-place; to improve the health and nutrition of mothers and their
children; and to upgrade and improve their education.

2.3.5.2. Ethiopian Policy Limited Scope

Although the National Policy on Women has been in place since 1993, the National Action
Plan for Gender Equality (NAP-GE) had to wait until 2006. Even if gender equality has
been constitutionally guaranteed since 1995, equality did not materialize, as it does not
come by mere constitutional enshrinement. Besides, a constitutional scheme of affirmative
action, aiming at reversing the effects of a history of gender injustice, can never realize its
goals, insofar as it is far from being self-executing, until it is accompanied by elaborate
statutes and action plans detailing quota, activities, strategies, time-line, and specific
situations for implementation in all sectors, private or public. Moreover, the policy itself is
not free of problems. The NAP-GE, with its unprecedented emphasis on development and
economic empowerment of women, again overlooks the recognition accorded to gender
parity in the arenas of peace and security by UNSC 1325.

18
Hence, Ethiopia’s failure to draw up a national action plan to implement UNSC 1325 has
sidelined the rights and roles of women in peace and security. The NAP-GE (2006-2010)
attributes this gloomy reality to the following factors, to wit: No indication that a well-
thought-ought policy, programme or action, to increase the number of women at decision-
making and leadership positions exist; the constitutional commitment of the government to
grant Affirmative Action has not been translated into concrete action at all levels; the
number of elected women representatives is still low; more and more women are engaged in
formal employment, but are underrepresented in middle and higher management positions;
the number of women leaders and decision makers at the various level of the decentralized
government structure is still very low; and the election law and electoral process is not
gender friendly.

2.3.5.3. The Status and Rights of Women in Ethiopia

Following the first national and regional elections in 1995, out of 548 seats, in the House of
Peoples Representatives 2.3% was occupied by women. The House of Federation, which
had a woman as its speaker, consisted of 7 women among its 128 members. At the Woreda
councils, the number of women in office reached 8%. The goals set for the second national
and regional elections in 2000 were to reach 15% at the federal and 20% at regional level.

According to the 2000 Election Commission Report, there were only 7.7% women
parliamentarians in the House of People’s Representative, 6% in the House of Federation,
12.9% in the Regional State Councils, 7.1% in the Woreda councils, and 13.9% in the
Kebele Councils. Although the number of women in the national legislature has increased
slightly, but had been below the expected 30%.

The third national and regional elections of May 2005 in Ethiopia brought about a dramatic
increase in the number of women parliamentarians in the House of People’s Representatives
and Regional State Councils. The proportion of women has risen to 21.2% in the House of
People’s Representatives, 50% in Tigray Regional State Council, 44% in Amhara Regional
State Council, 38% in Oromia Regional State Council, and 33% in SNNP Regional State
Council. The point I am trying to make here is that EPRDF, qua government, failed to
achieve the 30% target that it, qua party, set in the 2005 elections, except Tigray, Amhara,
Oromia, and SNNPR).

19
Notwithstanding a National Security Council (NSC), pursuant to Proclamation No.
257/2001 and a white paper, officially known as Foreign Affairs and National Security
Policy and Strategy (FANSPS), were constructed in 2003, neither the NSC involved a
woman nor did the FANSPS recognize salience of the gender dimension of foreign and
security policy.

With respect to the involvement of women in the foreign affairs establishment Ethiopia saw
very few women peacemakers, apart from a handful of women diplomats such as
Ambassadors Sahlework Zewde, director general of the African Affairs Directorate at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who has recently been appointed as Special Representative of
the United Nations Secretary. General heading the United Nations Integrated Peace Building
Office (BINUCA) in Central African Republic (CAR), Konjit Sinegiorgis, Halima
Mohammed, and Guenet Zewdie, a Cabinet-minister-turned-diplomat.

2.3.5.4. Participation of Women in Ethiopia in State-building and Peace-

building
Historically, Ethiopia is the state marked by significant women’s in the history of the
country. Women’s countless role in the country has been done being a queen as well as
servants position. Lucy (Dinknesh) literally “you are lovely” is the pioneer women in the
history of Ethiopia and archeological achievements. She an international audiences to
Ethiopian as a cradle land as well as the socioeconomic benefit at current times (Pankhrust
R., nd). A rebel leader, Youdit Gudit, Queen at around 10th C. A.D, reigned over a kingdom
and destroys Axumite civilization and rush Ethiopia with a “zeal for revenge” with her
legacy of destroying ancient Ethiopian civilization and churches, it is undeniable that she
was “resourceful in leveraging military” for her administration as a queen (SALA, 2020).

Empress Taytu Betul, late 1800C. A.D, “a military strategist and pioneering motherland
mogul”, she played a significant role in defending Italy’s first invasion of Ethiopia (Ibid).
She served her king Minillik II as military counselor and decisive strategist and decision
maker in defending war from invader Italy. Besides, her contribution in diversifying
business in the country and sociocultural development was paramount in the history of
modern Ethiopia (Ibid).

Among different women’s in Ethiopia, a sisterly fighters named Senedu and Yewubdar
Gebru‘s A.D, contributed for their country peace and development and sovereignty. Senedu
20
and Yewubdar serve their country to maintain sustainable peace as “freedom fighter and
vice president of the parliament” and “freedom fighter lately virtuoso pianist” respectively.
As a womens their contribution to the evacuation of Fascist Italy from their country
Ethiopia, during Italy’s second invasion.

Politically, few women’s were a change maker in the history of Ethiopia. Queen Sheba and
queen Zewditu’s contribution was significant in the making and building of ancient as well
as modern Ethiopia (Bahiru Zewde, 2002). However, the historical accounts and documents
say a lot about few women’s and their role over their country. Previously, women’s
engagement in different national and international affairs was not as like as what men has
been doing. Their engagement and role improvement are still in need of detail examination.
As part of this examination, this thesis addresses the changes and dynamics of women’s role
in their community and country in peace-building process, its challenges and opportunities
as well through the lens of the women of Kobo Town.

2.4. Research Gaps

The study providing concrete evidence on the role and experience of women in conflict
resolution and peace building efforts is timely and crucial to practically engage women in
the process, protect them from the consequences of violent conflict, and empower them to
contribute to quality and durable peace building efforts in the country. The study will
conducted to identify role of women in resolving conflict and building peace before, during
and after conflict. The peace building process is focused on male dominance and
subordination that undermines women's efforts, and thus women's contributions have been
under-researched.

Regardless of several policy constitutional and institutional mandates, the country still faces
challenges in implementing institutional and constitutional requirements, as government
institutions accommodate only few percent of women as an independent commission. This
creates a gap on the role of women play in establishing peace in the society. Accordingly
this study attempts to investigate the influence of Women in post conflict Peace building
and also fills the gap in the literature and knowledge regarding the Role of Women in post
conflict Peace building reconciliations in the community. Furthermore, this paper will
contribute to the discipline of conflict resolution in the study area.

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2.5. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of the Study
The conceptual framework of this study deals on the women involvement in peace building.
In this peace building process, the women perception towards peace building, actual practice
of peace building, challenges in peace building, and opportunities in peace building are
essential because they are the bases of women peace building involvement. The women
perception towards peace building is an initial point to the actual practice of women peace
building. At the same time, while the women practice their peace building, there are
obviously challenges that affect the peace building, and opportunities which facilitate the
peace building process. The theoretical and conceptual framework of the study is based on
gender perspectives of peace-building. The essence and relevance of such perspective to
conceptualize women’s participation in peace-building and to make a theory backed
assessment of the issue, the gender perspective is discussed in details below.

2.5.1. Gender Perspective

Gender perspective is a conceptual framework that articulates the social construction of
relationships in society. It views the roles of men and women as socially defined without
any bearing to their biological differences. The theory is different from feminism, which
views women as victims of patriarchal oppression but shares a lot of ideas with the feminists
as far as feminine consciousness is concerned (Hooks 1984). The gender perspective denies
the common feminist approach which views women as living under oppressive conditions,
which also undermine their power and position in society. Instead, it is more concerned with
women as actors in the development process and not as victims. Thus, it looks at women as
agents of change.

A gender perspective also introduces the relational approach, which looks into the
relationship between men and women and the roles they play in society (Hooks 1989).
Gender relations are at the same time relations of cooperation, connection and mutual
support, of conflict, separation and competition, and of difference and inequality. Gender
relations are concerned about how power is distributed between the sexes and define the
way in which responsibilities and claims are allocated and the way in which each is given a
value. Hence, they create and reproduce systemic differences in men’s and women’s
positions in a given society.

Gender relations vary according to time and place and between different groups of people.
They also vary according to other social relations such as class, race, ethnicity, disability

22
and so on. Hence a gender analysis explores and highlights the relationships of women and
men in societies and the inequalities in those relationships (Candida et al. 1999).

A gender analysis is transformational. It is concerned with understanding the practical

situation under which men and women perform their roles with the aim of promoting gender
equality. Therefore, the gender perspective advocates for the recognition and reward of
women’s reproductive and productive roles without any discrimination (Hooks 1989). Such
an analysis assists women in challenging unequal gender power relations and contributes to
women’s empowerment (Candida et al. 1999).

A gender mainstreaming strategy involves bringing a gender analysis into all initiatives, not
just developing an isolated sub-component. While gender mainstreaming does not preclude
specific initiatives that are either targeted at women or at narrowing gender inequalities, it
goes beyond increasing women’s participation to bringing the experience, knowledge and
interests of women and men to bear on the development agenda. Hence, a gender analysis is
holistic. It may require changes in goals, strategies, and actions to enable women and men to
influence, participate in and benefit from development processes (UNDP 2002).

The Harvard Analytical Framework also referred to as the Gender Roles Framework was
developed at the Harvard Institute for International Development in the USA in
collaboration with the WID office of USAID and is based on the WID ‘efficiency
approach.’ It was designed to demonstrate that there is an economic case for allocating
resources to women and men.

The framework consists of a matrix for collecting data at the micro (community and
household) level. It has four interrelated components: a) the activity profile which identifies
all relevant productive and reproductive tasks and answers the question, "who does what?"
including gender, age, time spent and location of the activity. b) The access and control
profile which identifies the resources used to carry out the work identified in the activity
profile, and access to and control over their use, by gender. c) The analysis of influencing
factors which charts factors that influence gender differences in the above two profiles. d)
The project cycle analysis which examines a project or intervention in light of gender
disaggregated information. The framework also contains a series of checklists consisting of
key questions to ask at each stage of the project cycle: identification, design,
implementation, and evaluation (Overholt et al. 1984).

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2.5.2. Relevance of Gender Perspective to the Study
Gender is an important concept in peace building as it deals with the social construction of
relationships which lead to differentiated treatment of males and females in terms of
allocation of goods and services, productive resources and benefits accruing from resources
thus bringing about differential impacts of development to men and women. To avoid
continued tension and achieve a fair and just process of development it is important to
address gender differences during reconstruction.

Gender mainstreaming should be the overall tool and strategy in peace building because the
experiences and perspectives of women, men, boys and girls before, during and after wars
are shaped differently by their gendered social roles (International Alert 2002). Moser
(1993) asserts that the gender division of labour assigns women the responsibility of
domestic work involving child rearing, provision of food and health services for the family
and community managing roles, which include management of housing, basic services and
the capacity to earn income through productive work.

After conflict, women continued to build peace informally by supporting needy people in
the community including the sick, orphans and the poor, providing pastoral counselling,
providing food for the family by cultivating hired land, engaging in small scale income
generating activities to supplement their husbands’ income and participating in community
development projects such as construction of water tanks. However, women are largely
underrepresented in formal peace building initiatives and development committees.

Although some women have access to formal peace building initiatives, they lack control
over decisions made as the final decisions are made by men. On the other hand, men do not
do reproductive work. They engage in economic activities although not always to support
their families, and are the main actors in decision making in the family and in formal peace
building initiatives. Thus, women and men are assigned interdependent roles but women are
overburdened by reproductive roles in the domestic sphere. Thus, the study revealed that
women and men build peace within their socially accepted roles.

The Harvard analytical framework is relevant in understanding the differential roles of

women and men in peace building and the resources they need to participate in these
processes. The burden of women’s work in the family and community limits the time they
can dedicate to formal peace building initiatives. Hence, the gender division of labour

24
undermines women’s capacities and contributes to their marginalization in formal peace
processes.

There is need to address obstacles to women’s participation in decision making about peace
as well as their practical gender needs which are often unmet in conflict situations. Moser
(1998) asserts that it is important not only to address women’s practical needs in conflict
situations such as the need for water, shelter, food, healthcare and resources for child care
but also their strategic needs including participation in leadership and peace building at
decision making levels, reducing the burden of women’s work, legal rights to land and
property ownership, access to credit facilities and skill training in peace building and
protection from gender violence.

The question of women and peace cannot be separated from the question of relationships
between women and men in all spheres of life (United Nations 1991). Dalak (2002) notes
that formal mechanisms of peace building have failed because issues of gender inequality
have not been considered as important and the needs, rights and concerns of women in
conflict situations have been ignored. In a similar note, Kathina (2000) asserts that
conventional methods of peace building do not fully recognize the informal efforts women
make in nurturing and sustaining peace.

However, women’s interests are determined not only by their biological similarities as
women, but also by their class, position, ethnic identity, specific socio- economic contexts
and religious structures of individual societies (Moser 1993). Moser (1998) posits that
socialist theorists widened the narrow focus of nineteenth century theorists on productivity
to include reproductive concerns, which was conceived not merely in physical terms but
also in terms of sustaining household labour and child rearing usually on unpaid terms.
Women offer cheap labour in the paid labour force while their unpaid labour in the home
sustains the family and enables men to be more productive.

Socialist theorists argue that women’s work whether paid or unpaid is generally undervalued
though deriving benefits to husbands, employers and the government which relegates
responsibility for child care and volunteerism to women. Similarly peace activities by
women such as caring for enlarged families, income generating activities, nursing the sick
are undervalued because they are considered as an extension of their gender roles. The

25
gender perspective has highlighted the actual and potential roles of women in peace building
and calls for equal recognition and support of women and men’s peace building efforts.

26
CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHDOLOGY
3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the methodological procedures that guide the overall process of the
research work, including description of the study area, research approach, research design,
sampling, and methods of data collection, data analysis, and ethical considerations.

3.2 Description of the Study Setting

The study was asses the role of women in post conflict peace building the case of Amahar
regional state of kobo town. Kobo is a very small town in northern Ethiopia, the Amhara
Region, ‘Semien Wollo Zone’. It has a long and interesting history starting from the middle
age. The distance between Addis Ababa to Kobo is 552 Km. has a longitude and latitude of
12°09′N 39°38′E with an elevation of 1468 meters above sea level. It is the administrative
centre of Kobo woreda. The city enjoys a very favourable location, between the lowlands
and highlands of the country. Kobo has a fame of the country's cotton industry capital. The
town is situated to the east of Lalibela, to the south of Alamata, and to the north of Weldiya.

The 1994 census reported the town had a total population of 20,788 of whom 9,761 were
male and 11,027 female. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Kobo were
the Amhara (94.54%), and the Tigrayan (4.94%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.52% of
the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 95.55%, and Tigrinya was
spoken by 4.03%; the remaining 0.42% spoke all other primary languages reported. The
majority of the population practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with 87.15% reporting
to profess this belief, while 12.34% of the population said they were Muslim.

3.3 Research Approach and Design

This research applied a qualitative research approach. Qualitative research seeks to

understand a given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it
involves. Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific
information about the values, opinions, behaviours, and social contexts of particular
populations. It provides information about the human side of an issue that is, the often-
contradictory behaviours, beliefs, opinions, emotions, and relationships of individuals. It
also effective in identify intangible factors, such as social norms, socioeconomic status,
27
gender roles, ethnicity, and religion. Qualitative research can help us to interpret and better
understand the complex reality of a given situation (Mack et al., 2005).

This approach is common whenever people are the focus of the study, particularly small
groups or individuals (Walliman, 2006). It is an approach for exploring and understanding
the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem (Creswell, 2014).
According to Hancock et al. (2007), qualitative research helps us to understand the social
world in which we live and why things are the way they are, and it seeks to answer
questions about why people behave the way they do, how people are affected by the events
that go on around them, how and why cultures and practices have developed in the way they
have. Accordingly, qualitative research was employed in this research to investigate the role
of women in post conflict peace building systems of Amhara regional state the case of kobo
town.

To achieve the objectives of the research, as well as answering the research questions, the
researcher employed a qualitative case study research design. The case study is a qualitative
research design in which the researcher explores in depth a program, event, activity, process,
or one or more individuals. The cases are bounded by time and activity, and researchers
collect detailed information using a variety of data collection procedures over a sustained
time (Creswell, 2014). The strength of this design is its ability to discover a wide variety of
social, cultural, and political factors potentially related to the phenomenon of interest that
may not be known in advance (Bhattacherjee, 2012).

The case study method is a very popular form of qualitative study and involves a careful and
complete observation of a social unit, be that unit a person, a family, an institution, a
cultural group, or even the entire community (Kothari, 1990). In most cases, a case study
method selects a small geographical area or a very limited number of individuals as the
subjects of study. Case studies, in their true essence, explore and investigate contemporary
real-life phenomena through detailed contextual analysis of a limited number of events or
conditions, and their relationships (Zainal, 2007). The researcher employed a qualitative
case study research design because; the researcher used various sources of information for
data triangulation such as interviews, FGD, and observation. Therefore, a case study design
was desirable for this study.

28
In line with a case study, the study was a kind of interpretive case study. Through an
interpretive case study, the researcher aims to interpret the data by developing conceptual
categories, supporting or challenging the assumptions made regarding them (McDonough,
1997 cited in Zainal, 2007). The researcher would arrive at an interpretation of a
phenomenon by developing (subjective) meanings of social events or actions. Interpretive
research helps us to achieve an understanding of the actions of people in social
circumstances and situations. Interpretive studies require the researcher to go beyond simply
describing or explaining what a phenomenon is, to also interpret the phenomenon for the
reader. The basic aim of the interpretive model is to develop a more complete understanding
of social relationships (McNabb, 2015).

3.4 Research Methods

Research methods refer to the tools that one uses to do research. It is the strategies,
processes or techniques utilized in the collection of data or evidence for analysis in order to
uncover new information or create better understanding of a topic. For this thesis,
qualitative research method is employed. According to Creswell (2009), qualitative research
is a form of interpretive inquiry in which researchers interpret what they see, hear, and
understand. The researcher inculcated the feelings, opinions, and ideas of the participants
and will provide interpretation and evaluation for it. The qualitative method deploys a wide
range of interpretive methods to understand the worlds of participants surrounding them.
The researcher used this strategy to understand the issues under investigation from the
perspective of the members of the two ethnic communities. Hence, as the researcher aimed
to conduct an in-depth and interpretive understanding of the role of women in post-conflict
peace building, the views, opinions, and perspectives of the participants on what they
understand and how they explain an overall participation of women in Kobo Town were
examined.

3.4.1 Data Sources

The researcher collected qualitative data from different sources that would be analyzed
qualitatively in the text. The researcher used both primary and secondary data sources. In
this research, basically the primary data source was employed to gather first-hand
information to achieve the objectives of the research. For this purpose, primary data was
collected from key informants and focus group discussants from the communities of Kobo

29
town. The researcher also used secondary sources of data such as books, journal articles,
theses, dissertations, reports and other materials.

3.4.2 Population and Sampling

It is not necessary to collect data from everyone in a community to get valid findings. In
qualitative research, only a sample (that is, a subset) of a population is selected for any
given study (Mack et al., 2005). The researcher selected key informants and FGD
participants from the communities of Kobo town. The participants were selected from
different key sections of the community purposely. Sample participants for the fieldwork
parts of this research were selected based on nonprobability sampling, particularly purposive
sampling and snowball sampling techniques. The idea behind qualitative research is to
purposefully select participants or sites (or documents or material) that will best help the
researcher understand the problem and the research question (Creswell, 2014). Key
informants, including from local elders (YehagerShimaglie), government officials from
Woreda officials such administrators, security officers, and communication officers;
religious leaders, academicians, and field assistants were selected by purposive sampling
technique.

Besides, focus group discussants were selected by purposive sampling from some selected
sections of the community of the town. The researcher selected FGD discussants from
teachers, merchants, youths, women groups, and students. While selecting sample
participants, the researcher considered their ethnic group, knowledge, academic status and
their position in the society. For getting the interview the researcher also selected key
informants from the communities of Kobo town through employing a snowball sampling
technique because some of those relevant persons who can provide in-depth information
were well known by the community than the researcher.

According to Bhattacherjee (2012), in snowball sampling, you start by identifying a few

respondents that match the criteria for inclusion in your study and then ask them to
recommend others they know who also meet your selection criteria. The researcher mainly
some elders as key informants through the snowball sampling technique to get the relevant
data related to the role of women in post conflict peace building in the study area.

30
3.4.3 Instruments of data collection
To conduct this study, the researcher employed a qualitative data collection method. The
researcher collected primary data through the semi-structured interview from key
informants, focus group discussants, and personal observation. The researcher also collected
secondary data from written and unwritten materials which are supportive of primary data.
The researcher discussed the methods applied to collect data as follows.

Interview
The researcher used a semi-structured interview to collect primary data from key
informants. According to Hancock et al. (2007), in a semi-structured interview, the
interviewer has the freedom to probe the interviewee to elaborate on an original response or
to follow a line of inquiry introduced by the interviewee. The semi-structured interview is
possibly the most common qualitative research data gathering method. Accordingly, 29
interviews were made with purposefully selected key informants.

Focus Group Discussions

The researcher used the FGD method to collect detailed data about the issue under study.
Focus groups are a qualitative data collection method effective in helping researchers learn
the social norms of a community or sub groups, as well as the range of perspectives that
exist within that community or subgroup (Mack et al., 2005). This technique helped to learn
about commonly shared values, experiences, norms, and attitudes towards others and self
(Abreham, 2015). In this thesis, three FGD sessions having 12 persons each were held with
some purposefully selected study participants.

Observation
Observing participants in situations was more valid. It was helful to see how they behave.
Observation can also produce data for verifying or nullifying information provided in face
to face encounters (Hancock et al., 2007).

3.4.4 Methods of data analysis

Data analysis in qualitative research was preceding hand-in-hand with other parts of
developing the qualitative study, namely, the data collection and the write-up of findings
(Creswell, 2014). For this study, the researcher employed a thematic analysis. Thematic
analysis (TA) is an accessible, flexible, and increasingly popular method of qualitative data

31
analysis. TA is a method for systematically identifying, organizing, and offering insight
into, patterns of meaning (themes) across a dataset. Through focusing on meaning across a
dataset, TA allows the researcher to see and make sense of collective or shared meanings
and experiences (Braun & Clarke, 2012).

The data collected from both the primary and secondary sources analyzed thematically
based on the objectives and questions of the study. The qualitative data collected from
interviewees through semi-structured interviews, FGD, observation, and documents were
structured in to themes and patterns and analyzed through careful interpretation of meanings
and contents to have a clear analysis based on the established objectives and questions. So,
the researcher employed thematic analysis methods of data analysis.

3.5 Mechanisms of data quality assurance

3.5.1 Validity and credibility
To assure the validity of instruments for data collection, expertise opinions were solicited
from different professionals and documents regarding developing of the interview and
FGDs guidelines. To maintain reliability, due emphasis has been given to make guidelines
standard. Structuring and restructuring of the materials by using expert opinions has been
done prior to the data collection. In order to assure reliability cross checking has been done
in order to reduce the error and clear and simple guidelines has been prepared according to
the peace building practice of the respondents.

3.5.2 Ethical considerations

The researcher should be guided by research ethics which is universally accepted. Hence,
the researcher has respected the dignity of all research participants. To confirm this ethical
principle, the researcher relayed on the principle of informed consent by informing the
purpose of the study. Since the issue is to some extent sensitive, the researcher was
confidential to the informants for whatever information they provide. Added to this, the
researcher used codes instead of using the name of the participants to secure their privacy.
Secondary sources data used in this study were properly cited and acknowledged to avoid
plagiarism. Besides, an effort was made to avoid bias and to become objective as possible.

32
CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the analysis and discussion of the data gathered through the
participants’ interview, focus group discussion and field observation. The data obtained
through these data collection tools were supported by the analysis of some relevant
documents. Accordingly, the data collected have been organized and analysed by using the
such thematic categories as the participants’ background information, women’s role on
conflict imitation and escalation, women’s role peace building, actual practice of women in
peace building, challenges of women involvement in peace building process, and
opportunities of women involvement in peace building process, and other related issues
required to answer the basic research questions of the study and achieve its objectives.

4.2 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

This sub section mainly focuses to discuss the research participants’ background
information including their sex, age, and level of education. The total participants of the
study were 65 individuals who were selected from different kebeles of Kobo Town.

4.2.1. Sex Profile of the Respondents

The issue of gender is not limited to women. Men can play an important role for achieving
the equality and productivity of women in society. In this study, among a total of 65 persons
who participated in the study 69 percent of them were female and the remaining 31 percent
were male persons. This implies that the great majority of the participants of the study were
males. The percentage distribution of female and male respondents of the study is depicted
in Table 4.1 below.

Table 4.1. Sex distribution of the respondents

Sex Frequency Percent
Female 45 69.2
Male 20 30.8
Total 65 100
Source: Own Fieldwork, April 2023

33
As shown in Table 4.1 above, among the total number of the participants of the study the
great majority were females. This could be justified by the fact that although men also have
a role in gender equality and in ensuring the active participation of women in the economic,
social and political life of the society, the primary actors and the victims of inequality and
misrepresentation are women themselves. Therefore, a relatively larger percentage of
women participants in the study could help the researcher to understand and interpret the
practices and challenges associated with their participation in post-conflict peace-building
by using the perspectives taken from the horse’s mouth.

4.2.2. Age Distribution of the Participants of the Study

Age or (physical and mental) maturity is one of the most critical factors to consider in
conducting scientific research. The physical, psychological and emotional readiness to
participate in the study, to provide adequate information and to take responsibility for what
they said or at least to understand the consequences of what they shared with the researcher,
among other things, depends on age or maturity level of the participants of the study.

With this premise, the age distribution of some selected women and men who participated in
the study was collected and analysed. Figure 4.2 below shows the age distribution of the
women and men in Kobo Town who participated in the interviews and FGDs sessions
organized by the researcher.

Table 4.2. Age profile of the study’s participants

Age group Frequency Percent
18 – 25 10 15.4
26 – 35 24 36.2
Above 35 31 48.4
Total 65 100.0
Source: Own Fieldwork, April 2023

As clearly shown in Table 4.2 above, almost 85 percent of the women and men who
participated in the interviews and FGDs were over 25 years old. Only the remaining very
small proportion (15 percent) of the participants of the interviews and FGDs has been found
at the age of 35 years and below. From this information we can understand that most of the

34
participants were mature adolescents and adults who can provide pertinent information
about the issue under treatment.

4.2.3. Educational Status of the Respondents

Educational status can serve an important role in the determination of the quality and
dependability of information provided by the participants of the study. With increasing level
of educational attainment, individuals can provide relatively valid and dependable
information. With this mind-set, the educational status of the participants of the study in the
Kobo Town was analysed and presented in Figure 4.3 below.

Table 4.3. Education status of the study’s participants

Age group Frequency Percent
Illiterate 5 6.9
Certificate 29 44.6
Diploma 21 33.1
Degree 7 10.8
Masters 3 4.6
Total 65 100.0
Source: Own Fieldwork, April 2023

As shown in Table 4.3 above, the participants of the FGD and interviews have different
level of education. Among the total number of the participants, the majority (55 percent) of
them have an educational status of diploma and above. Only a very small proportion (7
percent) of them was illiterate (unable to read and write). This indicates that the great
majority (93 percent) of the participants of the study has had the required minimum level of
education to critically assess the level of participation of women in post-conflict peace-
building in Kobo Town and the challenges associated with it.

4.3. Women’s Role in Initiating and Escalating Conflicts

The literature shows that women in different societies have different experiences, either as
war fighters (combatants) or as war victims, workers, community leaders and other roles.
Women’s experiences might not often be a battlefield account of war, but they are frontline
accounts (frontline accounts here are first-hand account of war experiences). This means
that though many women do not physically carry weapons to fight, their experiences of

35
these conflicts, especially in non-combatant roles or as victims, reveal frontline accounts of
war. These frontline accounts reveal the everyday life of violence that women go through
during conflict and it also shows how these violence manifests even after there was a
ceasefire.

In this thesis, the role of women in Kobo Town in conflict initiation and escalation was
explored and examined by organizing the data under the following sub-themes or categories:
women in war preparation, women and war fighting, women and war economies, and
women in post-conflict peace-building. Each of these themes is examined as follows:

4.3.1 Women in War Preparation in the Kobo Town

As explained before, women of the Kobo Town are primarily subsistence farmers
maintaining households but excluded from public decision-making. Yet, there were
evidence that women had played several roles alongside men during the conflict. For
instance, women worked in military camps, prepare foods and spied on state security for the
militants. Many women were involved in supporting positions that led to violence, through
their political engagement with the situation in the Kobo Town. The details of this shall be
found in the analyses presented hereunder.

4.3.2 Women and fighting in the Kobo Town

As one respondent said women in the Kobo Town sometimes played war making roles
during the war in Northern Ethiopia. Women and girls were active participants in militant
activities as well as working in camps as cooks and engaging in menial jobs. The women
also acted as spies for the militants, spying on state security apparatus. They stated that
some girls had carried out army attacks on the farmland area they were subject to fewer
security checks by the soldiers in the region. Though not much was reported about female
militants or fighters in the conflict, evidence suggest that they were highly involved in non-
combatant roles.

As repeatedly stated by the participants of the interviews and FGDs, those women and girls
of Tigre origin who were born and grew up in Kobo Town had directly participated in the
War between TPLF and the Federal Government by supporting the former. The same idea
was also reflected about the involvement of these girls and women in the fighting by the
leadership of the Town. However, it is important to admit that the researcher was unable to

36
hear the perspectives of these women and girls because they have left the Town and moved
to Tigray Region by fearing retaliation from the victims of the violence.

4.3.3 Women and War Economies in the Kobo

The political economy of war shows that one of the most affected areas during war is the
livelihood system (Amusan, 2013). The livelihood system according to Amusan, refers to
the ways in which people earn a living in rural communities; this includes raring animals,
trading and farming. This livelihood can either be heavily damaged by the conflict or a
target of “deliberate destruction.” The economic effect of conflict is severely felt by the
rural people as they lack the skill for crisis management especially in Africa. This leads to a
situation whereby the formal economies are being eroded by the conflict and alternative
economy starts springing up, which ranges from trade by barter to the black-market
economy and other illegal business (Amusan, 2013).

The findings from in-depth interviews conducted with the residents if Kobo Town indicated
that the conflict in Northern Ethiopia in general and in Kobo Town in particular had resulted
in lots of scarcity of basic needs such as food, water, health and educational facilities and
those affected the most were girls, women and their children. One interviewee stated that
“During the war, our men were not available here as they were either wounded or fighting
against the invading TPLF forces and this has led to a change of gender role where women
were forced to be the heads of the family in terms of the provision of basic needs and
others.” This change in gender role could result in women taking on even more than usual
the need to care for their family.

This change in household power relations in the Kobo Town reflects the wider literature that
suggests wars and conflicts reshape gender relations and can lead to women becoming more
responsible for household survival during conflicts. However, whether this is empowering
in the short or long term for women is questionable, as women in the Kobo Town continue
to struggle with the burdens of providing subsistence for families in a context of structural
violence and environmental destruction. This lack of continuing empowerment through
changed gender roles during conflict was also confirmed by women’s lack of consideration
or involvement in post-conflict peace building. This issue shall be discussed in significant
details latter.

37
4.3.4 The Role of Women in Kobo Town During the Conflict

As Kobo Town is located on the border of Tigray and Amara region, in the conflict between
the TPLF and the federal government of Ethiopia, it was repeatedly damaged three times by
the invading force of the TPLF. As the FGD participants said, the community was severely
affected in this invasion. In the words of one participant: “The property of the Town was
destroyed, looted, burned, and above all, precious human lives were lost by the TPLF
forces. Particularly, the war causes many problems on women and gils in the Town.” The
other FGD participant stated that “Mothers, sisters and children were seriously injured in the
war against the TPLF forces.”

Moreover, as one community elder of the town said: “women, sisters were beaten like
animals in front of their husbands and families by the TPLF forces regrettably under the
guidance of those children (of Tigre origin) they raised and robbed their property and
money.” Since the scale of the conflict was so intense, the psychological pressure and moral
failure it has caused on women and girls has been reiterated by both the interview and FGD
participants of the study.

According to one participant of the focus group discussion, the children (both boys and girls
of Tigre origin) they brought up had beaten them to their knees and as a result, most of the
women in Kobo Town are now heartbroken. The town has faced many problems, which can
be categorized as political, economic and social problems. As one interviewee said, due to
the political problem, the society has lost faith on the government. Economically, they faced
a high cost of living, food is very expensive because of the war, farmers are not producing
any crops and aid has not reached to theirs.

From the participants of the FGD and interview, we can understand that the community in
Kobo Town is now in serious trouble. The worst thing is that the two communities (Amhara
and Tigre) who live together peacefully for centuries are now seen each other as enemies. In
general, the respondents said that the extent of the conflict and “the suffering cannot be
explained in such a simple way.” Innocent human beings were made to suffer by the war
and now to overcome the problems and challenges without any kind of support.

38
Figure 4.1. Orientation for FGD Discussants (Source: Own Field Work, April 2023)

4.3.5 Who Cause the Conflict in Terms of Gender, Women or Men?

The focus group discussion participants and selected women interviewees reiteratively
stated that the conflict between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray Regional
State (mainly TPLF) was initiated by “the men’s aggressive behaviour.” One of the
interviewees stated that there was a desire to hold power and maintain their status. She
further stated that “Women did not contribute anything to initiate the war.” Almost all the
participants of the study stated that the war was instigated by men.

Since women are more aware of the benefits of peace and will be the first victims of
conflict, they did not expect that women of Tigre origin who were born and grew up in
Kobo Town could participate in instigating and supporting the conflict. In the words of one
interviewee: “There were specially two Tigre mothers [their names mentioned but kept for
ethical reasons] who caused the conflict to start in Kobo Town.” The interviewee further
stated that during the war these two mothers have provided their children with large
amounts of money, moral support, and false propaganda. Their husbands and their brothers
were saying that it was impossible to live with the people of Tigray peacefully again and
that Tigray would not be defeated.

In the war between the TPLF and the Federal Government in the Northern Amhara Region
in general and in Kobo Town in particular, it was the women of Tigre origin who played the
major role in triggering and worsening the conflict. In particular, in Kobo Town the women

39
of Tigre origin were actively campaigning for the fighting forces of TPLF often called
Tigray Militia, Tigray Special Forces, Tigray Defense Force and for the Tigray people at
large to join the war and to kill what they considered as their enemies. As a result,
particularly those women and girls of Kobo Town who could not leave the town before the
arrival of the invading forces of TPLF had sacrificed their life.

The biggest confusing method they used to stir up the conflict was arrogance, and this is the
story of the son of Tigray who won the war but never lost. According to the information
provided by the witnesses who participated in the focus group discussion, it was the women
of Tigre origin who played the biggest role in instigating and spreading the war. In fact,
their children who were born and grew up in Kobo Town understood that the war against
their neighbours and friends was unnecessary and when they replied that they would not
fight, the women even went so far as to say, "You are not my son." Finally, they accepted
and participated in the war to a great extent. It was the women of Tigre origin who took
responsibility for the crisis related to the war.

Moreover, they were the women of Tigre origin who were born and lived in Kobo Town for
many years made themselves prostitutes, contacted various leaders and collected
intelligence information to help the TPLF forces win the war. As one interviewee stated:

It was the women who made the enemy's army move forward by
shaking the army, and they were the women who instigated the civil
war between the federal government and the TPLF and made the war
continue to escalate. The fighting forces of TPLF would not retreat in
any way unless they sacrificed their life to show their bravery for the
women. In fact, the saying that a man who was sent by a woman does
not fear death has been fulfilled against them.

Especially the women who were engaged in the war, if they saw an army retreating back,
they would mercilessly order it to be taken to the same camp. Inciting and aggravating the
conflict by the women could lead to the worst massacre. Despite this, on the other hand, in
the accounts of the of the eye witnesses who participated in the interviewees and FGD
sessions, women in the Amhara Region of Northern Ethiopia, especially in the Town of
Kobo, have made great efforts to bring peace to the region and the area.

40
In general, the findings of the FGDs and interviewees indicate that the women of Tigre
origin who live in Kobo Town had greatly involved in initiating and worsening the conflict
between the Federal Government and the TPLF forces while the residents of Kobo Town of
other ethnic origins had no role in initiating and escalating the conflict. From this, we may
understand that women in Kobo Town have a role not only in initiating and aggravating the
conflict but also in conflict prevention and resolution.

4.3.6 Who were the Most Affected by the Conflict? Men or Women?
The available literature suggests that those vulnerable groups such as women, girls and old
age people are mostly the primary victims of violent conflict. But this does not mean that
men cannot be injured and killed in the course of violent conflict. Women have a lot of
family responsibilities at home so they could not run away alone when violent conflict
arises. Moreover, most of the women might have physically weak and dependant families,
be pregnant or gave birth and breastfeeding to their new-born babies and their husbands and
male children left them behind to join the fighting or escaping the fighting.

The fact is that a man cannot get pregnant, does not breastfeed and he would not face these
distinct natural pressures of a family role during a conflict. Therefore, when a conflict arises,
it will be the woman who becomes the primary victim in any way. The in-depth
interviewees and FGDs conducted with some selected women and men of Kobo Town
indicate that this fact was also clearly observed in the Town during the war between the
Federal Government of Ethiopia and the TPLF forces. When the conflict gets intensified and
the TPLF forces occupied Northern Wollo Zone, including kobo Town, most of the women
and girls could not run away or defend themselves like men. At the times of the occupation
of Kobo Town by the TPLF forces, women and girls were the primary victims of killing,
kidnapping and sexual violence.

One of the interviewees states that when the advancing TPLF forces occupied Kobo Town
and its environs, most of the women who were the victims of the violence were at home
along with their children and old age families. Most of their men had joined the war to
defend themselves, their families and the town against the aspirant south-advancing forces
of the TPLF. The interviewee further stated that her husband was able to save himself and
ultimately helped to liberate the town. But, unfortunately, he could not protect his family
(wife and daughter) from suffering in the hands of the TPLF forces.

41
Generally, the findings from the in-depth interviews and FGDs with some selected residents
and eye witnesses of the violent conflict between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and
the TPLF forces indicate that although women have little role in initiating and escalating the
conflict, unfortunately they were the ones greatly suffered from arbitrary killings for
retaliation, kidnapping and sexual violence during the occupation of Kobo Town by the
TPLF forces. This finding supports the position held in the available literature that women
have little or no role in initiating and escalating conflicts but they are the primary victims of
violence.

4.4. Women’s Contribution in Post-conflict Peace-building in Kobo Town

Though women were victims of violence, however, they were active in job creation, armies
and peacemakers. Thus, women serve the community by providing the socioeconomic
support for their members affected by conflict (Jestino et al., 2018). In conflict affected
areas, women labour works engagement are increasing in different countries (for instance,
Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Tajikistan and Colombia) (Ibid), Mostly, they engaged in the
low skilled works in the informal sector. Women also provide health, education, training,
psychological support in refugee camps, hospitals, charities and other local organizations.

Such role makes women important in conflict resolution and peace building initiatives and
processes. Women’s in providing such roles it provides them good visibility and presence in
post conflict situations to contribute their share in peace building processes (Buvinic et al.,
2012). It helps women to contribute for peace building efforts as well as raise their
representation in peace-making and political deals supported by different international
organization. For example, after the genocide in Rwanda men are either killed or in prison
or flee out of the country and 70percent of the population were female that sustain the
community by serving as head of households, shouldering the economic survival and
reconstructing the community (Ramuts, 2006).

Similar to this case, the Somali Women led civil societies organizations achieved much in
the past two decades. The Somali women have helped to disempower local warlords and
made progress in political participation. Though clan based politics in Somali typically
exclude in peace talk (since clan affiliation is unpredictable that they may choose either their
mothers’ or fathers, or daughters clan), it gives them structural role, multiple clan affiliation

42
in serving as conduit of dialogue between conflicting clans and pressurize the war lords to
put in to peace talk (Justino et al, 2018).

However, research findings revealed that, though women’s role are increasing during
conflict and in peace building process, still gender inequality persists and women’s
disadvantage continues (Justino et al, 2018). According to Justino and eta al (2018), such
disadvantage caused exclusion of women from large scale peace process beyond the local
(family and community) engagement. As evidenced from literature, women’s formal role in
conflict resolution and peace building process has been limited (Justino et al., 2013),
whereas their informal role has a paramount relevance in supporting the democratic
government and its culture by mobilizing informal women’s group, organizing peace
demonstration and rallies and local intermediaries between the conflicting groups.

This argument illustrated the Ethiopian’s women’s role in conflict resolution and peace
building efforts. Mekuanint (2015) argued that women in shimglina are considered as
plaintiff and defendant, but rarely as moderator. According to him in some districts of this
part of the country plaintiff and defendant women appeared with/through their male
relatives. He asserted that women’s non/low participation in shimglina has adverse effect on
its success. Though women rarely appear in shimglina and they are playing an important
role in educating peace for the villagers and family members. In addition they initiate
conflict resolution (Erfomereba/Duberties in North Wollo) and assisted the effectiveness of
shimgilina by forcing and sectioning the conflicting parties to resolve conflicts in a peaceful
ways. Women may deter violence by passing deterrent words to their relatives.

It was known that there was frequent conflict in the Town of Kobo in the Amhara Region of
Northern Ethiopia. In this study, the data collected through interviews and FGDs shows that
the contribution of women in peace-building initiatives after the conflict was high. After the
liberation of Kobo Town from the TPLF forces and specifically up on the signing the
Pretoria Agreement between the Federal Government and The TPLF leaders, the women of
Kobo town have been struggling to rebuild political, economic and social relations.

Most of the Kobo community was scattered during the war, so the women’s first task was to
bring together the surviving scattered families, especially children and the elderly, because
they have not left the Town during the war. After the conflict, there was a severe shortage of
food in the area so that it could not be bought with small money. They contributed much

43
more than men; especially during the war in Kobo town, many weapons were scattered in
the area, and the work of collecting and handing this work together with the local
community was done by the women of the city to a great extent. As one witness said, the
women also played a significant role in making the area free from the threat of the ‘enemy.’

On the other hand, a lot of work has been done by women to stabilize the peace of the area
and to establish lasting peace, especially in continuing the community peaceful life in the
town. The traditional mediation system, which was accepted by the community above the
law, was carried out by both female and male, so the women has a great contribution to
peace-building and establishing peace in the area.

As the participants of the FGD and interviewees said, after the war the women and the
religious leaders have a great role to maintain the security of the community in order to
stabilize the peace in the area. In particular, the reconciliation and mediation system called
‘Zawold’ in the Town of Kobo has been an important mechanism to bring lasting peace.
After the conflict, women's contribution to the peace-building has been central, and as
repeatedly echoed by many FGD participants, almost fifty percent of the peace in the Town
has been made possible by women and the Town is recently considered as relatively better
peaceful than other areas.

In Kobo Town, women have played almost an equal role with men in order to plan and
implement the peace-building properly. In the words of one interviewee, “women did a job
that history would not forget.” Even though the TPLF forces repeatedly invaded Kobo
Town, they did not succeed because the community in Kobo city strives to maintain peace,
regardless of whether men or women. Women have been teaching their husbands, brothers
and sons not to offend by and retaliate what the men, women, sons and daughters of Tigre
origin did. By so doing, they have tried to reinstitute the smooth brotherly relationship with
the communities of Tigre origin living in the Town and beyond. This indicates that in Kobo
Town women are active participants of the peace-building efforts after the end of war and
the cessation of hostilities between the two fighting forces.

4.5 Opportunities for Women’s Participation in Peace-building

In order to increase the participation of women in the implementation of peace-building in

Kobo Town, there are 19 organizations consisting of 50-60 women each. Through this

44
organization, the women of Kobo have made great efforts to implement peace-building after
the conflict. Each Kobo woman has been the opportunity to carrying out any work for
peace-building according to the instructions given by these organizations. Because women
know very well, they were the ones who make efforts to take action before anyone else for
peace-building. For this, the women's organization was playing a major role in bringing
back those who were displaced by the war, reunites the families that have been destroyed,
works together with men whose houses have been destroyed, helps the needy by gathering
aid, and exposes infiltrators.

Together with the elders of the area, they implemented the reconciliation system for the
practicality of sustainable peace, especially by joining the ‘Zeweld’ mediation and remote
mediation method, which is highly accepted by the community of Kobo Town, and they are
contributing their part to the practicality of peace building, especially those who are early in
the organization, such as Hayat, and Fiqre Salam. The number one and number two
messengers the organizations called ``Enader'', are examples to be mentioned.

The focus group participants also provided that the opportunities of women's participation in
peace-building were high. Especially since the TPLF army repeatedly raided Kobo Town,
the role of women in carrying out peace-building and stabilizing and maintaining peace in
the area was high. They are fortunate to be organized in various organizations for this
support. Their efforts should be set as an example for other areas. Although the peace in
Kobo Town is not stable until the end, the role of women in the town is high for peace to
prevail both temporarily and permanently. One interviewee from the Town administration
stated: “Their contribution to peace-building is very good and they have started the process
of fulfilling their national responsibility.”

The women in Kobo Town have not only given an opportunity for peace-building through
their organization, their organization has also made a great contribution to their economic
and social relations by availing coffee, coffeepots and other materials to help them sell hot
drinks (coffee and tea) in coffee houses, and the money will be used for the benefit of the
association's women and women’s need. The benefit of the organization is not only this. It
also has great political importance. The local community and the city administration meet
together in the form of drinking coffee ceremony and this helps women and the community
at large to live in harmony after the conflict.

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Figure 4.2. FGD with Selected Women of Kobo Town (Source: Own Field Work, April
2023)

4.5.1 What do Women Consider as Sustainable Peace in the Kobo Town?

The literature on women and peace which was referred to at the literature review chapter of
this thesis, offers a range of perspectives. As recounted in the theoretical framework in
chapter two, some writers suggest women are more inclined to peace by virtue of their
biological or mothering roles, others base arguments on women’s perspectives which
emerge from the experiences of conflict. One argument this fieldwork does seem to support
is that peace means different things to men and women.

Justino et al (2012) argue that women’s wider participation in peace-building beyond their
family or immediate community is dependent on their understanding of what peace means.
Men’s understanding of peace emphasize predominantly the absence of violence and armed
conflict in the community (which correlates to Galtung’s idea of ‘negative peace’), while
women’s understanding of peace is at a personal and community level which includes
access to basic needs for their families such as food and shelter, absence of violence in the
home, the children’s ability to attend school and unity in communities and families.

As officially reported by the Federal Government, one of the reasons for the war between
the TPLF and the Federal Government of Ethiopia was originally for enforcing rule of law
and make sustainable peace. It was also reported that the TPLF leaders have taken a detour
from this objective and instead chose fighting for personal interest advancement, financial
compensation and political objectives. On the other hand, the women’s involvement in the
conflict or even during protest has shown commitment for community development instead

46
of personal grievances. For instance, as one of the FGDs in town had the following to say
when asked what peace meant to them:

Peace for us is happiness. In our communities we need empowerment

because we are sitting on top of the resource and yet we are
suffering.” Both the male and female children should be empowered
to learn money making skills like hairdressing, sewing, etc. so that
they can be responsible. When the young ones are empowered, they
will not be nuisance in the community or join cults or gangs and this
contributes to peace in the society or to live a happy life.

The field work shows that women are more empathetic towards the needs of the community.
Another respondent says that “because they are mothers, they are sympathetic with the
needs of their children and the needs of the children are also the need of the community.”
This supports the available literature which states that the demands of the women are
connected to issues of unemployment for the men, poverty and environmental problems, and
the neglect of corporate social responsibility by the government bodies Ikelegbe (2006).
Their demands in these directions can be understood as in line with the idea of ‘positive
peace’. Galtung’s idea of positive peace (Galtung, 1985) claims that peace is more than the
absence of violence and should encompass the social and economic conditions that allow for
a flourishing life.

From the findings in Kobo Town it is clear that women in the communities do have a
broader understanding of peace than men do. It was also clear from the findings that women
often understand their gendered roles in the communities as making them more inclined for
peace than men. Women have shown themselves to be active peace agents by embracing
peace and adopting cooperative methods of engagement. This role is often linked to
something that could be understood as what Gilligan (1982) called women’s ‘ethic of care.’
For example, two of the women leaders in the Kobo Town Administration stated that
women work towards peace because by their nature they are calm, and they are sometimes
more patient than men in issues of conflict. They further stated that the costs of war to them
as mothers and their wider families was also a major reason for engaging in peace.

Another respondent during an interview stated that since the injured or dead during conflict
are their sons and husbands, or brothers, they would rather embrace peace. The major tools

47
that women used for advocacy as peace agents in the Kobo Town include suggestions to
stakeholders for dialogue and persuasion of their husbands, sons and the local community
leaders to embrace peace. Most of the women agreed that they could do this by standing on
their moral authority from their gendered roles as mothers or wives. The women in the Kobo
Town start to operate from the private family level using moral persuasion to convince their
husbands, sons and daughters not to be harsh in their approach to dealing with conflict.
Then they gradually start to convince elders and leaders at different levels.

This means that the women have been able to deploy their gendered roles and perceived
agency using their status as mothers to play roles in advocating for peace. This grassroots
role of women in mobilizing for community development and social justice could offer an
important dimension for peace building in the kobo and a significant development for
sustainable peace.

The findings of the in-depth interview and FGDs clearly indicate that formal conflict
resolution processes in the Kobo Town to date have not engaged women despite their
perspectives on sustainable peace and their potential as peace builders. Women were not
consulted, their perspectives on community development were not addressed and their
concerns were not heard. Rather the amnesty process was entirely focused on compensating
male combatants in return for an end to direct violence. Women’s peace building activities
have still not been incorporated into official post-conflict efforts and, as many participants
of the study said, this cannot lead to peaceful communities.

However, this does not mean that women are not engaged in peace-building activities at the
grassroots level. In relation to this question, using thematic analysis from the literature
review and field work, several major themes emerged which reveal women as agents of
change and potential as peace builders in the Kobo Town. Yet the findings also indicate that
there are barriers for their participation in peace-building. These issues and the way forward
by the study’s participants shall be discussed in the following sub-sections.

4.6 Challenges for Women’s Participation in Peace-building

It is firmly established in the available literature that socio-cultural barriers are among the
structural barriers that limits women’s from their success in peace building. Cultural
influence, social norms and patriarchal values discourage women that put them at home

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rather than outside like men (Agbajobi, 2010; Justino, 2018). As a result, women are not in a
position that can handle conflict, because traditionally “war is the work of gentlemen” and at
the same time, it has been practiced for long that peacemaking is also the role of men, not
women.

Agbajobi and Justino further stated that in some situations when women engage in
peacemaking process, they may not have skill, knowledge or both on how to manage public
dialogue, discussion, negotiation (perception and real as challenges and barriers), etc. due to
inexperience for such issues. The socio-cultural barriers resulted in women’s mostly
dependent on resources, education and training. Such dependencies have critical influence
for women’s being active in decision-making and facilitation role in the society to maintain
peace. Scholars suggest that this perception of women as they have no skill and knowledge
in managing conflict and bring peace in post conflict period need to be changed.

According to World Economic Forum (2015), changing the perception requires a mind shift
by the conflicting parties, the government officials and the community at large by how they
see women’s role. This thesis has identified a major gap between the policy (institutional
premise and the actual practice as well as the socio-cultural and economic barriers that limit
women’s participation in peace-making activities. In current Ethiopia’s political transition,
women are victim and it is a sign of the failure of the projects which has been implemented
for long towards women empowerment and gender equality. In the current Government
where women have constituted half of the ministerial cabinet, such victimization of girls and
women’s shows the continuation of violence against women and the failure of the peace-
making effort at large.

According to the focus group discussion, in Kobo Town, there are various challenges that
prevent women from taking responsibility for peace-building. These include:

 There is a lot of psychological damage on women’s due to the conflict and the
weight of administrative pressure on women, absence of transparency of government
procedures.
 As a result of the war, pressure on women, displacement from their home villages,
disintegration of families.
 Economic dependence: destruction of property, robbery, lack of food. The scar left
by the war is women's inability to move in the dark.

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 It is difficult for women who were raped during the war to calm down and return to
their previous life
 The sound of the gunshots. The scars left on the children, especially the girls'
inability to control their urine when they hear the gunshots, causing great stress to
their parents.
 Seeing the jobs that women do as profit and forced, especially not recognizing that
the position given to them by the leading body is less.
 The fact that women give themselves less space in the work of peace building. And
falling under the cultural influence of the local community
 Due to the problem caused by the war, the stress of the parents is increasing day by
day due to the children not going to school completely.
 Children being separated from their parents and not being able to go to the field to
play. These and similar problems have become a major obstacle for women in Kobo
Town to participate in peace-building to their full potential.

Anderlini (2007) describes the role of women in peace building as two parallel universes at
play. She points out that on a grassroots, civil society level, women are very active and
present but at the same time they are invisible because they are given limited roles in the
management of power and in directing their own lives. This situation is serious given the
argument that that sustainable peace can only be reached if both women and men can make
themselves heard in the peace process (UNIFEM, 2005).

The section above bears out Anderlini’s point about the two spheres. Women in Kobo Town
are active in grassroots networks and they do engage in activities like non-violent protests
and networking through religious activities etc. Yet they remain largely invisible in terms of
the management of power and political attempts at conflict resolution. There is a large gap
between rhetoric and women’s everyday living conditions and these are conditions that are
affecting women’s ability to participate in peace building.

The findings of the FGD and interviews reveal that women are faced with several challenges
to peace building which include problems from the cultural practices that relegate women to
the domestic sphere or customary norms, poor health care, domestic violence and lack of
education. These cultural practices may obstruct women from breaking away from domestic
roles, and also hinder their development and empowerment. Generally, the major factors

50
hinder women from participating in post conflict peace building include: education, cultural
barriers, economic barriers, and lack of representation in politics,

4.6.1 Education

Women face inequality in accessing education, this makes them less literate and as a result,
they are being insufficiently trained to participate in peace-building. Furthermore, social
norms and attitudes support restrictive gender roles that traditionally complicate women’s
participation. Respondents from the interviews in the Kobo Town stated that a lack of
education is an obstacle to women’s participation in decision-making. Most of the time, the
women are not even aware of their rights. In this regard, scholars suggest that adult
education for the women is important to teach them about the functions of the political
system, civic rights and the meaning of document such as the UNSCR 1325.

4.6.2 Cultural Barriers

There are harmful cultural and social norms and patriarchal values that discourage women
from participating in political decision-making (Duvvury, 2003). In the Kobo Town,
women’s roles are culturally assigned to home duties. The women are discouraged from
participating in political decision-making in the community. From the interviews and focus
group discussions, it emerged that women are limited to cooking and taking care of the
family. They are not allowed to speak in public meetings. Cultural practices, stereotypical
gender roles and patriarchal tendencies that regard women to be suited only for domestic
responsibilities and nurturing are major obstacles to women’s participation in public affairs
and politics.

Women have been confined and prevented from participating in public life, in conformity
with dictates of tradition, culture and religion. This also extends to conflict resolution and
peace-building processes. This is because most formal conflict resolution and peace-
building processes occur far away from the original abode of the women and sometimes last
for weeks or even months. The particular function of women as mothers and home
managers further jeopardizes their involvement in conflict resolution and peace-building
processes, as their reproductive role is used to undermine their potential public and political
roles. Entrenched traditional gender norms also meant that female respondents in all
communities of Kobo Town showed a lack of awareness of the potential roles they could

51
play in society. Key informants mentioned that organizations advocating for women’s
involvement face great challenges when explaining to women about their rights.

4.6.3 Economic Barriers

Most of the women carrying out peace-building activities reported to the focus group
discussions that there is limited access to appropriate levels of funding and resources to
carry out their peace-building activities. For instance, one of the women’s groups (Hayat
Production Group) in Kobo Town stated that “To mobilize women in the communities takes
a lot of work; it involves giving some money for transport and other logistics. Also, if the
women leave their trade, which is their daily earnings, we have to be able to give them
something in return for some sort of support but we do not have the resources.” The leader
lamented that most of the women would not want to join the group voluntarily as their loss
of daily earnings cannot be compensated. Furthermore, the women cannot take active roles
in peace-building in the community because of poverty and economic inequality.

Most of the time, women take a double burden regarding income generation for the family
and this hinders their participation in peace-building efforts. Overall, women in all the
communities (and independently of NGO presence) reported limited access to appropriate
levels of funding, resources and support for peace-building work, which generally, requires
intensive community engagement over long periods of time. In addition, transport and
logistical costs, and loss of daily earnings, often prevented women from becoming involved
in voluntary groups.

4.6.4 Lack of Women’s Representation in Politics

In Ethiopia and its constituent parts, there is a mandate for equal gender representation at
least on paper. Yet in most instances, some women may be seated when decisions are
carried out, but do not have the right and the courage to speak. Moreover, there is a gap
between national and local communities. The Federal government does not contribute to
local level peace where women play an important role. On the other hand, the women
themselves do not view their own skills as relevant and do not see the links between their
peace-building activities at the community level and peace decision-making process at the
federal level.

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As stated by one women’s group leader, despite the limits of what has been achieved
regarding women’s empowerment and political inclusion, women’s participation in such
local community groups does provide them with organizing experience, networking
opportunities and a sense of empowerment, all of which are necessary for challenging
gender inequalities and achieving sustainable peace. She further stated that as is made
persuasively clear from the opinions of the women, peace building needs to be inclusive and
relevant to the development needs and aspiration of the people. This means that peace-
building work should target the needs and perspectives of various group participants, such
as community development that benefits families, educates children and prevents young
men from turning to violence.

4.7 Ways to Incorporate Women in Peace-building Activities

According to the data collected from focus group discussants and the interviewees, the
efforts of women to build peace and reconciliation after the conflict were great, especially
the work of women’s during returning the communities to their areas was great. In the work
of reuniting the families that were destroyed, they participate in rebuilding the areas
destroyed during the war.

In support the communities who have nothing to eat and collecting food and materials
especially in supporting children not to suffer, not to be disturbed by various rumours. they
making them available, taking them to medical care, collecting food support, going to the
front, being a “degen” for the army, collecting food and materials from different angles.
Generally, the following are reported by FGD and interview participants as the major ways
which could help to incorporate women in Kobo Town to peace-building initiatives:

4.7.1 Organizing Women

The literature suggests that for sustainable peace-building, women must be included in
various ways. If sustainable peace is to be properly implemented, women's participation in
peace-building must be centralized. For this, women's organization should be considered as
the main strategic plan. Through this organization, women can be engaged in various peace
building activities. As the participants of the interviews and FGDs said women in Kobo
Town can do any peace-building or development activities through their women's
organizations. Women living in Kobo Town have more than 19 women's organizations.
Their mottos are “Women for peace”. As reiterated by the participants of the study, the

53
institutional bases of these organizations should be strengthened through the active
involvement and ownership of women themselves.

4.7.2 Giving Women Responsibility for Peace-building

The findings from FGDs and interviews indicate that women do not face problems in
fulfilling their assigned responsibilities; their domestic work is not limited by time; they
have not given a place. Women are highly gifted to fulfil their responsibilities against the
pressure of nature and their society. One interviewee stated that “There is no reason for
women to hesitate to sacrifice their lives for the work they believe in.”

Another interviewee also added that “In particular, women's inclusiveness in building peace
will benefit her more. It is the woman who benefits more than the man and it is the woman
who is the most victimized during the conflict.” She further stated that “Although it is not
said that men and women equally benefit from peace, it is a recent memory that when we
start from the history of war, women are the most affected by the war.” Therefore, it can be
said that if given the responsibility to carry out peace-building activities, women will bring
better results in building sustainable peace in their community.

4.7.3 Increasing the Political, Economic and Social Participation Women

Those residents of Kobo Town who participated in the FGDs and interviews have made the
following reflections on the issues of economic and social inclusion of women. They posited
that if women's political consciousness is developed, they will not be involved in any kind
of confusion. If women are economically well developed, they can fulfil their
responsibilities without asking anyone's goodwill for the development of the country or for
peace building. Especially, if women are economically developed, their families will not be
involved in various conflict processes. They give little value because they expect to get
something from the conflict, but they are not seen in the destruction caused by the conflict.
Therefore, above all, if women grow economically, their families will also be partners in
peace and development in the same region.

Both the interviewees and FGD discussants believe that if women's social relations are
developed, community and local peace will be protected. The reason is that if women are
accepted by the society and given responsibility, their activities for peace-building will be
strong. In Ethiopia, in various areas, including in the northern part of the country, conflicts

54
occurred between 2020-2022, resulting in the destruction of many human lives and property,
as a result of which the country has paid high price on the civil war. Thus, although there are
few women participating in the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Commission, due to
the large number of women and the number of women in the conflict, the participation of
women is very small. The negligible participation of women indicates that women's
participation in the peace-building process was considered by men as less important.

4.7.4 Engaging Women in Non-Violent Activities

Due to gender role differences in the Kobo communities, women are not as likely as men to
resort to armed violence. As the earlier sections of this thesis showed, during the armed
conflict, many women were involved in supporting men in the conflict but were not fighters
themselves. However, this does not mean that the women in the Kobo Town were passive
about the conflict situation they live in. Through non-violent protest women have shown
themselves to be successful negotiators. The women’s protests are always peaceful and non-
destructive. This finding was confirmed in the fieldwork, with women still engaging in non-
violent protest.

For instance, the interviewees from the Women for Environmental Justice Network in Kobo
Town said that one of the agendas of the group is campaigning for a clean environment
through demonstrations. They stated that they have meetings with the representatives of the
companies on issues relating to the destruction of the environment. Though this is ongoing,
it is a significant development in contributing to sustainable peace, as the environmental
issue in the Kobo Town is one of the major issues of conflict in the Region.

4.7.5 Encouraging Reconciliation/Religious Practices

Porter (2001) noted that women often exhibit the ability to “dialogue across differences”. In
the aftermath of conflict, women are more likely to form inter-ethnic associations to deal
with difficulties. One such association, as found in the field in the Kobo Town is the
establishment of cross community prayer groups. It was a system where women pray in
groups while relaxing together. During the interviews, the women agreed that one of the
ways they engage in peace-building is by holding weekly prayer meetings on Friday which
are known as ‘’Efomerba’’. These weakly prayer meetings cut across different ethnic
communities in this Region. The women believe that the prayers they hold have contributed
to peace-building in the community. According to these women, since they started the

55
weakly prayer meetings they have seen changes in the lives of their youth and they are more
willing to listen than resorting to violence.

In this case, the women see the weekly prayer meeting as a medium of transformation for
the community. The women agreed that because they all have reverence for God, they can
share amongst themselves or talk amongst themselves because they feel they are before a
superior being. For instance, one respondent said that weakly ‘efomerba’ prayer meeting
forum is a place where they can communicate in trust because they must pray in unity.

While conducting the FGD, all women discussants agreed that the prayer meeting is very
important. Apart from prayers, they talk about their experiences of conflict and how to move
the community forward. One FGD participant stated that: “It is in this prayer meeting that
we are able to stand and support each other especially women who lost their loved ones
during the conflict.” By listening to testimonies or the experience of each other, they create
a shared space for women from different backgrounds to contribute to the healing process.
This leads to an atmosphere for reconciliation, which is a part of peace building and the
women help to relieve victims of emotional burdens that could potentially lead to hostility.

For those who have been victims of the conflict, their experiences of the conflict must be
voiced to facilitate forgiveness. In addition, based on their religious conviction in the Town,
which is mostly Christianity, the women could appeal to the moral conscience of those
involved in the conflict, they could persuade the men and the youths that the use of weapons
or violence is going against their religious beliefs. The impact of this in the Kobo Town
signifies that religion offers spiritual, moral and social assets that when built upon can result
in transformation and reconciliation in the community.

4.7.6 Building Social Capital

Another way in which women activities have fostered peace is around community
development and enhancing social capital in line with the idea above of nurturing ‘positive
peace’. Many of the women argue that since their farm lands have been destroyed by war,
some of the women, using the help of civil society organization like SACA, NNCF, Read
Cross have been able to look for alternative sources of livelihood with the help of an NGO
like SACA, OCHA. The women have been able to form a local cooperative where loans can
be given to women to do petty trading.

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In the Kobo Town, the women are engaged in petty trading which they use in supporting
their households. It is known that when there is hunger, people can do anything to survive.
If the women can provide for the family and sometimes send the children to school, it goes a
long way to deter the young ones from getting involved in the conflict. Although many of
the women in the communities of the town do not have formal learning, they have been able
to keep the community together and uphold the local culture which could prove significant
for sustainable peace.

For instance, in and around Kobo Town the women stated that they have local women
associations where they pick a leader who can represent their interests and speak on their
behalf every two years. The “women leader” as she is called works with five other women
who are elected by the community. These leaders resolve all kinds of issues that the women
face in the community. It is also the responsibility of that leader to speak to bring important
issues affecting the community to the community heads, which are men.

4.7.7 Strengthening Existing Women’s Networks

As was also clear from the findings, some of the women have been able to form small
networking groups. With this network, the women can educate other women like themselves
about their rights in the community. A very good example is the (Hayat Yelmat budne, in
English Hayat Development Cluster). The Kobo women also formed a network called the
“Zeweld”. These women state that apart from educating other women about their rights,
they also carry out advocacy activities, one of which is speaking up about the environmental
damage in the communities. With this network, they can educate other women about what
they should do if they encounter spillage on their environment and the appropriate
authorities to call. Through the network women learn how to deal with these kinds of
challenges in ways which preserve their livelihoods and so protect their families and
communities.

From the fieldwork or the FGDs and interviews, it became clear that women have engaged
in building grassroots networks, community support, dialogue and prayer and rights
promotion. However, the fact that these initiatives limited scope to the grassroots arena was
also clear.

57
CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

The earlier chapters of this thesis show that women often have complex relationships to
armed conflict and share the burden that conflict places on communities. Moreover, the
literature shows that they are marginalised in post-conflict reconstruction and transformation
processes. As the fieldwork has shown, women in the Kobo town have been impacted by the
political, social, environmental and economic situation which underpins the conflict. They
are responsible for the maintenance of families through farming, cattle rearing, trading and
all of these have been impacted badly by the conflict. As the fieldwork revealed they are
also concerned for the impact of the context on family life, particularly the lack of job
opportunities and the likelihood of joining in violent armed conflict which their male
children especially are susceptible to.

Although their lives have been impacted by the conflict and its legacies, this research is
chiefly concerned with examining the role of women in post-conflict peace-building in the
Kobo Town. This closing chapter therefore offers conclusion and recommendations on the
basis of the findings from the field work in the Kobo Town in the light of the research
questions, drawing out analysis of the themes which emerged most strongly in the course of
the fieldwork. This chapter discusses the summary of the findings, conclusion, and provided
recommendations based on the findings of the study.

5.2 Summary of Major Findings

The general objective of this study was to examine the role of women in post-conflict peace
building and the challenges associated with it in the Kobo Town of North Wollo Zone in the
Amhara Regional State. To achieve this objective, primary data and secondary data were
collected and integrated in the analysis chapter of the thesis so as provide answers for the
basic research questions of the study. Accordingly, there were a total of 65 residents (male
and female) of Kobo Town who participated in the interview and focus group discussion
sessions. This brief summary of the major findings of the thesis has been made mainly on
the basis of the thematic analysis of their responses in line with the specific objectives and
basic research questions of the study.

58
Therefore, the study was first set to explore and identify whether women have actually
involved in initiating, escalating and de-escalating conflicts by taking the residents of Kobo
Town as the focus of the analysis. Accordingly, the participants of the FGDs and interviews
reiterated that the overall participation of women across the ranges of conflicts was very
much limited except those few women and girls brainwashed by ethnic sentiments and false
propaganda. It was the men in both sides who have a great role in initiation, escalation and
de-escalation of the violent conflict between the Federal government and the TPLF Forces.
The respondents stated that it was the men’s competition for power and other privileges that
led them to violent conflict. The interviewees and FGD discussants also indicated that
although the overwhelming majority of women in Kobo Town have little or no role in
conflict initiation and escalation, they were unfortunately victims of arbitrary killings,
kidnapping, sexual violence, and other evils.

The other important issue that the thesis sought to critically assess was whether women in
the Kobo Town have actually engaged in activities that could contribute to post-conflict
peace-building. The data gathered through interviews and FGDs shows that by struggling
with major socio-cultural, economic, political and environmental challenges women have
played significant roles in post-conflict peace-building activities particularly through their
traditional belief systems such as ‘Zawold’ and ‘Erfomereba or Duberties,’ and local women
organizations. The presence of these traditional belief systems along with the 19
organizations consisting of 50 to 60 women each could create a good opportunity to develop
women peace activism and increase their participation in peace-building and related roles in
Kobo Town and beyond.

The third issue explored by the thesis was related to the factors that hinder women from
effectively participating in post conflict peace building. Accordingly, lack of education and
training, socio-cultural factors, economic factors, and lack of representation in politics were
reported by the participants of the study as the major barriers for women’s participation in
peace-building and related matters. The fourth and final issue sought by the thesis was to
explore the means to incorporate women into post-conflict peace-building efforts so as to
contribute their part in bringing sustainable peace in the study area and beyond.
Accordingly, the participants of the FGDs and interviews identified and recommended
seven ways that could help to include women in Kobo Town in peace-building and other
relevant initiatives. These include: organizing women, giving women responsibility for

59
peace-building, increasing the political, economic and social participation of women,
engaging women in non-violent activities, encouraging religious or reconciliation activities,
building social capital and strengthening existing women’s networks.

5.3. Conclusions

On the basis of the major findings of the study, the following conclusions were made.
Accordingly, one major conclusion of the study was that although the women in Kobo
Town have had little or no role in initiating and escalating the conflict between the Federal
Government and TPLF, they were the primary victims of violence (arbitrary killings,
kidnapping and sexual abuse). This conclusion is consistent with the widely established
thought that women are naturally less violent than men and hence rarely engage in imitating
and escalating violent conflicts.

The other major conclusion of the study was that even in the context of deep-rooted socio-
cultural, economic, political and natural challenges that could constrain their roles and
status, women in Kobo Town have played important roles in post-conflict peace-building
activities in the town. Their strong attachments with the traditional belief systems and the
presence of a number of local women’s organizations have helped them to develop common
interest, understanding and vision to increase their role as peace-builders in their
communities and beyond.

Another major conclusion of the study was that women in Kobo town have made such an
important role in post-conflict peace-building under a number of challenges and limitations.
The major challenges and limitations that hinder women in Kobo town to fully contribute to
post-conflict peace-building efforts were deeply embedded socio-cultural influences, lack of
awareness or education and training, chronic poverty, and lack of genuine representation in
politics or decision-making roles. Although women in Kobo Town have a role in traditional
peace-building, they are at the same time invisible in formal processes of peace-building and
other initiatives mainly because of the limited roles of decision-making power given to them
in directing their own affairs or dealing with issues that affect them.

60
5.4. Recommendations

Based on the findings and subsequent conclusions of the study, the following
recommendations could help to solve or at least minimize the barriers and increase women’s
participation in peace-building and related initiatives affecting their life and the life of their
community:

1. Women’s marginalization from the formal peace-building process should be improved

by maintaining significant and genuine inclusion and meaningful participation in peace
process using the following models: direct participation at all negotiation table, observer
participant status, participation in consultations, inclusion in commissions, problem-
solving workshop, public decision making and mass action.
2. Addressing women’s gaps and genuine empowerment; knowledge, skills and attitudes
gap in peace-building process should be addressed using training and education.
Relevant capacity building projects should be implemented to focus on comprehensive
civic empowerment and development of women in practice.
3. Promoting and strengthening genuine representation of women decision-making roles in
governmental and non-governmental institutions, and other peace initiatives. This could
help any decision affecting their life and the life of their communities as well as
initiatives of peace processes to benefit from diverse interests and various voices.
4. Maintaining rule of law or peace and order. Women are primary victims of conflicts in
Kobo and in Ethiopia at large whereas their voices and roles are marginalized in most
conflict resolution and peace-building process. Therefore, the local authorities in Kobo
town, the Regional Government and the Federal Government should aggressively work
to maintain law and order to at least minimize the victimization of women from repeated
violent conflicts.

61
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Annexes

66
Annex 1: Interview Questions

The purpose of this in-depth interview was to collect data from key informants in order to
examine the role women practically play in post-conflict peace-building in the Kobo Town
of Amhara Regional State.

B. Semi-structured Interview Questions for Selected Women in Kobo Town

1) Can you please briefly describe the scale of the conflict and the damages (including
human sufferings) caused by the conflict?
2) From a gender perspective, whom do you think triggered this conflict? Women or
men? How?
3) From men and women, who was most affected by the conflict? How?
4) How do you evaluate the participation of women in post-conflict peace-building in
Kobo Town? Justify it with tangible evidences.
5) Do you think that women should participate in post-conflict peace-building activities
in equal terms as men? If yes, how? If not, why?
6) Is there any mechanism in Kobo Town to increase women’s participation in peace-
building activities? If so, please tell me.
7) What do you think are the main challenges hindering women in Kobo town (and
beyond) to participate in peace-building activities?
7.1. Legal and institutional factors or challenges
7.2. Societal factors or challenges
7.3. Factors or challenges related to women’s themselves
8) What mechanisms or solutions do you suggest to increase women participation in
peace-building endeavours in Kobo Town and beyond?

C. Semi-structured interview questions for the organizations/NGO and community

leaders and women activists in the study area
1. What communities do you work with?
2. Describe gender relations in the communities you work with.
3. Since the Amnesty in 2022, do you consider that there is peace in Kobo area? If not,
why?
4. Describe your peace-building activities in the Town? (What approach and why)
 Are there existing structures in the community that your organization works
with for peace-building?

i
5. Are women involved in these activities?
6. Does your organization specifically seek to engage women in peace-building
activities? How is this done?
7. Why do you think that women should be involved in peace-building?
 (Prompt: gender equality, maternal perspectives, women's skills, grassroots
connections etc.)
8. Do you think that women's needs are being considered by policy makers engaged in
formal peace-building?
9. What are the barriers to women’s participation in peace-building activities in Kobo
Town?
10. How can women be incorporated into post-conflict peace-building efforts in your
locality and beyond?

ii
Annex 2: FGDs Questions
The purpose of this focus group discussion was to collect data from key informants in order
to examine the role women practically play in post-conflict peace-building in the Kobo
Town of Amhara Regional State.

Questions for Focus Group Discussion

A. Women and the Conflict in Kobo area
1. To what extent was this community affected by the 2020 - 2022 conflict?
 In what way and how?
2. Did the conflict affect men and women differently?
 If yes, how?
B. The gender dynamics of the amnesty process in Kobo Town
1. Who was involved in negotiating the amnesty?
2. Were women included in the process?
3. Do you think that the needs of women were considered during this process?
C. Peace-building in Kobo Town since Amnesty/ Ceasefire agreement of 2022.
1. Did the amnesty/ceasefire in 2022 bring peace to the community?
2. What does peace mean to you as women?
3. Do you think men and women have different ideas about peace?
D. Peace-building activities in Kobo Town
1. Are there peace-building activities in this community led by women?
2. How do you think that this activity contributes to sustainable peace?
3. Do you think that the voice of women with regard to peace-building has been heard
by the government and community leaders?
E. Obstacles hindering women’s involvement in the post conflict peace building in Kobo
Town
1. Are there obstacles hindering women’s peace building activities in this community?
What are these obstacles?
2. What needs to change for women to be included in peace-building? Or how can
women be incorporated into post-conflict peace-building efforts in your locality and
beyond?

iii
Annex 3: Interview Questions in Amharic

የቃለ መጠይቅ ጥያቄዎች

የዚህ ጥልቅ ቃለ-ምልልስ አላማ በአማራ ክልል ቆቦ ከተማ ከግጭት በኋላ ሰላምን ለማስፈን ሴቶች
የሚጫወቱትን ሚና በተግባር ለመፈተሽ ከዋና መረጃ ሰጪዎች መረጃ ለመሰብሰብ ነው።
ሀ. በከፊል የተዋቀረ የቃለ መጠይቅ ጥያቄዎች በቆቦ ከተማ ለተመረጡ ሴቶች
1) እባካችሁ የግጭቱን መጠን እና በግጭቱ ያስከተለውን ጉዳት (የሰው ልጅ ስቃይ ጨምሮ) ባጭሩ
መግለፅ
ይችላሉ?
2) ከስርዓተ-ፆታ አንፃር ይህንን ግጭት የቀሰቀሰው ማን ይመስልሃል? ሴቶች ወይስ ወንዶች? እንዴት?
3) ከወንዶች እና ከሴቶች በግጭቱ በጣም የተጎዱት እነማን ናቸው? እንዴት?
4) ከግጭት በኋላ በቆቦ ከተማ ሰላምን ለማስፈን የሴቶችን ተሳትፎ እንዴት ይገመግማሉ? በተጨባጭ
ማስረጃዎች አረጋግጠው።
5) ሴቶች ከግጭት በኋላ የሰላም ግንባታ ስራዎች ከወንዶች እኩል መሳተፍ አለባቸው ብለው ያስባሉ?
አዎ ከሆነ፣
እንዴት? ካልሆነ ለምን?
6) በቆቦ ከተማ በሰላም ግንባታ ተግባራት የሴቶችን ተሳትፎ ለማሳደግ የሚያስችል አሰራር አለ ወይ?
ከሆነ,
እባክዎን ንገሩኝ.
7) በቆቦ ከተማ (እና ከዛም በላይ) ሴቶች በሰላም ግንባታ ስራዎች ላይ እንዳይሳተፉ የሚያደናቅፉ ዋና
ዋና
ፈተናዎች ምንድናቸው ብለው ያስባሉ?
7.1. ህጋዊ እና ተቋማዊ ሁኔታዎች ወይም ተግዳሮቶች
7.2. ማህበራዊ ሁኔታዎች ወይም ተግዳሮቶች
7.3. ከሴቶች ራሳቸው ጋር የተያያዙ ምክንያቶች ወይም ተግዳሮቶች
8) በቆቦ ከተማ እና ከዚያም በላይ በሚደረጉ የሰላም ግንባታ ስራዎች የሴቶችን ተሳትፎ ለማሳደግ ምን
አይነት
ዘዴዎችን ወይም መፍትሄዎችን ትጠቁማላችሁ?

ለ. በከፊል የተዋቀረ የቃለ መጠይቅ ጥያቄዎች ለድርጅቶች/መንግሥታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች እና

የማህበረሰብ
መሪዎች እና ሴት አክቲቪስቶች በጥናት አካባቢ
1. ከየትኞቹ ማህበረሰቦች ጋር ነው የሚሰሩት?
2. እርስዎ በሚሰሩት ማህበረሰቦች ውስጥ የፆታ ግንኙነትን ይግለጹ.

iv
3. ከ 2022 የምህረት አዋጅ ጀምሮ በቆቦ አካባቢ ሰላም አለ ብለው ያስባሉ? ካልሆነ ለምን?
4. በከተማው ውስጥ ያላችሁን የሰላም ግንባታ እንቅስቃሴ ይግለጹ? (የምን አቀራረብ እና ለምን)
 ድርጅቶቻችሁ ለሰላም ግንባታ የሚያገለግሉ መዋቅሮች በህብረተሰቡ ውስጥ አሉ?
5. ሴቶች በእነዚህ ተግባራት ውስጥ ይሳተፋሉ?
6. ድርጅትዎ ሴቶችን በሰላም ግንባታ ተግባራት ላይ ለማሳተፍ ይፈልጋል? ይህ እንዴት ነው የሚደረገው?
7. ሴቶች በሰላም ግንባታ ውስጥ መሳተፍ ያለባቸው ለምን ይመስላችኋል?

 (ፈጣን፡ የፆታ እኩልነት፣ የእናቶች አመለካከት፣ የሴቶች ክህሎት፣ መሰረታዊ ግንኙነቶች ወዘተ.)
8. የሴቶች ፍላጎት በመደበኛ ሰላም ግንባታ ላይ በተሰማሩ ፖሊሲ አውጪዎች እየታሰበ ነው ብለው
ያስባሉ?
9. በቆቦ ከተማ ሰላምን ለማስፈን በሚደረገው እንቅስቃሴ የሴቶች ተሳትፎ እንቅፋት የሆኑት ምንድን
ናቸው?
10. ሴቶች ከግጭት በኋላ ሰላምን ለማስፈን በሚደረገው ጥረት በአካባቢያችሁ እና ከዚያም በላይ
እንዴት
ሊካተቱ ይችላሉ?
አባሪ 2፡ የ FGDs ጥያቄዎች
የዚህ የትኩረት ቡድን ውይይት ዓላማ በአማራ ክልል ቆቦ ከተማ ከ ግጭት በኋላ የሠላም ግንባታ ላይ
ሴቶች
የሚጫወቱትን ሚና በተግባር ለመፈተሽ ከዋና መረጃ ሰጪዎች መረጃ መሰብሰብ ነው።
የትኩረት ቡድን ውይይት ጥያቄዎች
ሀ/ ሴቶች እና በቆቦ አካባቢ የተፈጠረው ግጭት
1. ይህ ማህበረሰብ በ 2020 - 2022 ግጭት ምን ያህል ተጎድቷል?
 በምን መንገድ እና እንዴት?
2. ግጭቱ በወንዶችና በሴቶች ላይ የተለያየ ነው?
 አዎ ከሆነ፣ እንዴት?
ለ. በቆቦ ከተማ የምህረት አሰጣጥ ሂደት የስርዓተ-ፆታ ተለዋዋጭነት
1. የምህረት አዋጁን ለመደራደር የተሳተፈው ማን ነው?
2. ሴቶች በሂደቱ ውስጥ ተካተዋል?
3. በዚህ ሂደት የሴቶች ፍላጎት ግምት ውስጥ ያስገባ ይመስልዎታል?
ሐ. በቆቦ ከተማ የሰላም ግንባታ ከምህረት/የተኩስ አቁም ስምምነት 2022 ጀምሮ።
1. እ.ኤ.አ. በ 2022 የተካሄደው የምህረት/የተኩስ አቁም በህብረተሰቡ ላይ ሰላምን አምጥቷል?
2. እንደ ሴት ሰላም ለእናንተ ምን ማለት ነው?
3. ወንዶችና ሴቶች ስለ ሰላም የተለያየ አመለካከት ያላቸው ይመስላችኋል?
መ.በቆቦ ከተማ የሰላም ግንባታ ተግባራት

v
1. በዚህ ማህበረሰብ ውስጥ በሴቶች የሚመራ የሰላም ግንባታ ተግባራት አሉ?
2. ይህ ተግባር ለዘላቂ ሰላም አስተዋጽኦ የሚያደርገው እንዴት ይመስልሃል?
3. የሰላም ግንባታን በተመለከተ የሴቶች ድምፅ በመንግስት እና በማህበረሰብ መሪዎች የተሰማ
ይመስልዎታል?
ሠ. በቆቦ ከተማ ከግጭት በኋላ ሰላም ግንባታ ላይ የሴቶችን ተሳትፎ የሚያደናቅፉ እንቅፋቶች
1. በዚህ ማህበረሰብ ውስጥ የሴቶችን የሰላም ግንባታ ስራዎች የሚያደናቅፉ መሰናክሎች አሉ? እነዚህ
እንቅፋቶች ምንድን ናቸው?
2. ሴቶች በሰላም ግንባታ ውስጥ እንዲካተቱ ምን ለውጥ ያስፈልጋል? ወይም ሴቶች ከግጭት በኋላ ወደ
ሰላም
ግንባታ በሚደረጉ ጥረቶች በአካባቢያችሁ እና ከዚያም በላይ እንዴት ሊካተቱ ይችላሉ?

Annex 4: Consent Form

Your participation in this interview or FGD is fully on your consent. You are not obligated

to respond to any questions if you do not wish to do so or feel comfortable to reply. You can

leave the interview or FGD at any time. You are not obligated to share your personal

experiences, if you do not wish, so you can skip the question. Your personal identification is

confidential and all the information disclosed to this interview or FGD will apply to this and

only this research.

Do you have any question regarding the study? ...............................................................

Are you willing to participate in the interview? 1. Yes 2. No

Thank you so much for your willingness to take part in the interview or FGD.

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