National Workshop: For a better involvement and an effective participation of women in the national process for the reform of the security sector in Mali

Since July 2019, FES PSCC has been implementing the "Security for All" project, co-funded by the European Union Delegation in Dakar, which aims to promote inclusive security and democratic governance through the participation of civil society organisations in Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon and the ECOWAS region. One of the main components of this project is the establishment of a regional women's platform for security sector reform and governance.  The operationalisation activities of this platform were started respectively with an expert meeting and a regional conference for the launch followed by virtual sessions for capacity building of civil society actors (in SSR, advocacy, lobbying and communication) and cohesion between the Defence and Security Forces as well as discussions on better involvement of women and consideration of their needs in this area.  Since then, nearly fifteen Malian civil society organisations have joined the regional platform in accordance with the provisions discussed at previous meetings.

It is to follow up on this momentum of mobilization for the operationalization of the platform at the national level and for capacity building of civil society organizations, that the Competence Centre for Peace and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa of the FES Regional Office in Dakar, in collaboration with the FES Bamako, organized a national workshop in Bamako from 24 to 25 June 2021.

This meeting was an opportunity for participants to highlight the lack of implementation of Law L052, even though it exists.  The participants expressed the need to make a strong plea for this law to be popularised and applied effectively, given that it could be an important strategy for the involvement of women in SSR and in other areas.  To do this, a great deal of political will is needed as a sine qua non for its application.  Other speakers indicated their preference for a law on parity, as was done in Senegal.

An action plan including activities to strengthen the involvement of women and civil society organisations in the implementation of efforts related to security sector reform and governance was developed by the participants. Similarly, a coordination framework for the Malian women's platform was composed by consensus and should be put in place after its validation at the regional conference of the women's platform scheduled for October 2021 in Dakar.