National workshop in Mali of the programme "Women, Youth, Defence and Security"

This national workshop is a follow-up to the regional seminar held from 18 to 20 September 2018 in Dakar and follows the Senegal national workshop. Such a perspective is based, first and foremost, on a brief review of the situation in order to identify Mali's own defence and security challenges. The main objective of this national workshop is to contribute to bridging the gaps between women, youth and defence and security forces (DSF) in building peace and security in Africa through training. It is planned to build and/or consolidate new synergies that foster understanding and mutual trust between these three actors of society. This activity, with a training component, involved DSFs, members of women's and youth networks and organizations, and security experts in order to have a multiplier effect.

The recommendations of the regional workshop were taken into account in order to respond as much as possible to the specific needs of the country and taking into account its situation and realities.

The four days of the workshop provided an opportunity to provide training so that it could be multiplied as much as possible, to reflect on the creation of bridges between women, young people and the SDF. Role-playing has been integrated into the program. This allowed some to put themselves in each other's shoes and understand the feelings. The group work through mixed compositions allowed everyone to compare their ideas, to dialogue and to reach consensual solutions. The presentations and debates allowed for an appropriation of the issues and concepts.

At the end of the workshop, a collective commitment of everyone was naturally made to the appropriation and multiplication of the knowledge acquired during the activity. This will be facilitated by the training manual that will be written at the end of the national workshops and shared with the participants.