“Women are not just passive victims of conflict and disaster” – How women peacebuilders are transforming Uganda

Twenty-six years after UN Resolution 1325 affirmed the critical role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflict, Robinah Rubimbwa reflects on the ongoing work of women peacebuilders. Ms. Rubimbwa is the founder and executive director of the Coalition for Action on 1325 (COACT), a peacebuilding alliance of more than 60 organizations working in Uganda. 

She is a member of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership, spearheaded by the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN).

What is the Women, Peace and Security agenda and why is it important to you and your work?

The Women, Peace and Security agenda is about wellbeing in its totality. Resolution 1325 was passed on 31 October 2000, but I think it should have come 20 years earlier. That was the time that the UN finally acknowledged that war, disaster and other forms of conflict affect women differently from the way they affect men. But they also acknowledged that women are not just passive victims in a conflict. They are very active.

In any conflict or disaster, women are instruments of change: they are transformative and they are leaders. The agenda promotes women's participation in leadership, in decision-making and in peacemaking. It also promotes women's participation in the prevention of conflict and in the prevention of gender-based violence.

What does security mean to you and the people you work with?

I used to imagine that security only referred to physical security but my peacebuilding work has actually shown me that security is not just about physical security. It is about food security, that I'm able to afford a meal when I need one. It is about economic security, that I can pay my bills, meet my needs, take care of my family. It's about environmental security. That the air I breathe and the water I drink are safe. So my awareness of security has broadened as a result of the work that I do.

But it also means spiritual security and physical safety. That I can walk on my street without being attacked by a gang of bandits or by a state agency. That me and my property are safe. A woman that is battered by an intimate partner does not experience security.

I would say that the circle of security includes the environment, governance and the economy —  all these things coming together to make me feel prosperous and happy and fulfilled. 

What do you wish more people understood about peacebuilding work?

I wish people understood that peacebuilding is not a project, it is the work of a lifetime. My organization has been involved with the localization of the Women, Peace and Security agenda since we were founded and what we do is remarkable and high-impact.

When we go to a new district in Uganda, we engage with the local authorities. We explain the Women, Peace and Security agenda. We bring into the room multisectoral leaders and we usually ask one question: What issues in this community keep people awake at night? Because we believe that whatever keeps you awake at night takes away your security.

This local action plan becomes the framework for gender equality in the local authority. Our role is to help establish the infrastructure that they need to implement the local action plan.

So we will train all the lowest rank of the public servants. Then we identify a local women-led organization in the district. We go to the local level and identify women that are held in high esteem, and we train them so they are able to mediate conflicts early before they become violent, before escalation. And they are doing incredible and impactful work on the ground.

But this is not just about women. It's about the prosperity of the community.

How does Women, Peace and Security work intersect with ending gender-based violence in Uganda?

Uganda is a very patriarchal society and we have suffered for a long time from these social and traditional norms that undermine the rights of women and girls. But we have also had to train women so that they can change their mindset and understand that they have a right to certain spaces, to positions of leadership.

When we worked with women affected by the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, many of them were living in IDP [internally displaced persons] camps and they developed entrepreneurial schemes out of difficulty because they needed to feed their family.

You cannot postpone motherhood because it's a time of war. You can't postpone motherhood because you're in an IDP camp. You have to feed your children. So these women had found a way of going out to look for food, bringing a few things for sale. As soon as the camps were disbanded and the women returned home, they went with new skills into their villages.

So we started looking out for such women and training them in leadership. Women should take up leadership, whether for peace and security, politics and governance, environmental management. When you have a woman with leadership skills who is able to gain an income, she protects her home, she will send her girls and boys to school, she will fight for them. And that is development.