🌍 Strengthening young women’s voices in Africa’s water and sanitation agenda The #8GIMACRECs Strategic Meeting was preceded by the 16th GIMAC Young Women Advocacy Training, held on 27 September 2026 under the theme: “Young Women in Policy Advocacy for Gender-Responsive Water and Sanitation in Africa.” The training aimed to strengthen the leadership, advocacy, and policy engagement capacities of young African women to influence gender-responsive and climate-resilient #WASH governance at community, national, regional, and continental levels. The sessions connected young women’s advocacy to the wider continental policy landscape, including the African Union’s 2026 Theme of the Year on water and sanitation, the Africa Water Vision 2063 and Policy, Agenda 2063, and key African gender and women’s rights frameworks. Participants explored what these commitments mean for women and girls and, importantly, how young women can engage with them as advocates. Key highlights. ✅️ Through an intergenerational Living Library, young advocates also engaged directly with experienced leaders and practitioners, drawing on their experiences of leadership, advocacy, and policy engagement. ✅️ The training then moved from understanding policy to practical advocacy skills. Young women worked on turning their experiences and stories into clear advocacy messages and specific asks, while exploring opportunities for fellowships, mentorship, grants, innovation and engagement with @_AfricanUnion and #REC processes. ✅️ The training culminated in a Young Women’s Statement and pledge, reinforcing the importance of collective young women’s leadership in advancing gender-responsive WASH governance. This was important because Africa’s water future cannot be shaped through policy processes that leave young women at the margins. Young women are already contributing to community resilience, climate action, WASH advocacy and accountability. Creating the skills, networks, and platforms for them to influence policy is therefore essential to translating continental commitments into action that responds to women’s and girls’ lived realities. Water justice is gender justice. And young women must be part of shaping both✊️ #16GIMACYouth #GenderResponsiveWASH #WaterJustice #YoungWomenLead @IPPFAR @unwomenuganda @ACCORD_online @amwaafrika @_AfricanUnion @AU_WGYD @WILDAFAO 📸 Photo Courtesy: @GimacNetwork

🔎 So, what does early warning look like at community level? During the training, women leaders and local actors shared early warning signs they already observe when conditions in their communities begin to change. These included; 🔴 Cracks appearing in the soil and heavy rainfall on hillsides 🔴 Silt appearing in water 🔴 Changes in water colour—from clear to brown or green 🔴 Water becoming muddy or carrying a dusty smell This is knowledge already held within communities—shaped by people’s experience of living with floods, landslides and other disasters. The training was important because this knowledge needs to be recognised, shared and strengthened so that more people can identify warning signs early, communicate them through the right channels and know how to respond. By bringing women leaders and local actors together, the training created space to connect community experience with practical early warning and disaster response approaches—turning what people already know into knowledge that can be shared and acted on.

💭What does it take to move WPS and YPS commitments from policy to meaningful action at the local level? At the #Pre-RIMC Consultative Forum and Great Lakes Women's Round Table for Peace in Nairobi, our country coordinator from the DRC, @BRubango joined a panel on localizing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas across the Great Lakes Region. Drawing on experiences from Uganda, DRC, Burundi and South Sudan, he highlighted the need to bridge global, regional, national and local commitments and ensure they translate into meaningful action, calling for a holistic, people-centred approach to peacebuilding that places women, young people and conflict-affected communities at the centre of peace negotiations and peace agreements. Key challenges include persistent conflict, limited financing for #NAPs and #LAPs, incomplete implementation of peace agreements, and the exclusion of marginalized groups. Our recommendation: *⃣Peace processes must be inclusive, adequately resourced and responsive to the realities of communities most affected by conflict. #WPS #YPS #GreatLakesRegion #Peacebuilding

📍This Week in Nairobi, We're pleased to join the Pre- Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee (Pre-RIMC) Consultative Forum and the Great Lakes Women's Round Table for Peace, in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme: "Strengthening the Contribution of Women, Youth and Civil Society to Regional Peace Processes, Ceasefire Monitoring and RIMC Deliberations." Convened by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region( @_ICGLR_ ), the three-day forum brings together representatives of the Regional Women’s Forum, Regional Multifunctional Youth Forum, Civil Society Forum, Parliamentarian Forum and Private Sector Forum, alongside key stakeholders and partners. The consultations provide an important space for regional actors to examine emerging peace and security developments across the Great Lakes Region and develop concrete recommendations to inform the upcoming High-Level Meeting and Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee (RIMC) deliberations. As @TheWIPCentre , we're contributing to these discussions by sharing perspectives and evidence on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agendas across Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Uganda. Our contribution will draw attention to the progress, persistent gaps and opportunities for strengthening the meaningful participation and leadership of women and young people in peace processes, conflict prevention and regional decision-making. 📌Follow us for more updates. #WomenPeaceSecurity #YouthPeaceSecurity #GreatLakesRegion #Peacebuilding #WPS #YPS #ICGLR #RegionalPeace #WomenInPeacebuilding

📍Kinshasa, DRC 🇨🇩 Yesterday, we joined the celebration of the International Day of Women in Diplomacy under the theme: Women, Peace and Security: Towards a Common Women's Agenda for Peace in the DRC, convened by the Ministry of Gender, Family and Children. The event also featured a report-back on the recent high-level meeting of the Consultative Committee (Advisory Board) on Women, Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region, highlighting key regional commitments and recommendations to strengthen women's leadership in peace processes and advance a common agenda for peace in the DRC and the wider Great Lakes Region. #InvestinPeacebuilding #PeacebuildingWeek. @UNPeacebuilding @AU_ECOSOCC @AUC_PAPS @Interpeace_Org @Sandra_Oder

📍 Mediation for Community Peacebuilding Ayilo Refugee Settlement | Adjumani District 🇺🇬 As part of #PeacebuildingWeek, we're strengthening peacebuilding at the local level through community mediation—one of the most effective ways communities resolve conflicts directly before they escalate—led by trained peace mediator networks working across refugee and host communities. In a community grappling with increasing youth gangs, theft, food insecurity, land disputes, GBV, inadequate housing for persons with special needs, and limited access to water, mediation offers a critical space for dialogue and action. This session brought together refugee and host community members to engage constructively and agree on practical steps, including: 🔶 Improving food-sharing practices 🔶 Engaging authorities on youth involved in gangs 🔶Following up on land-related grievances with landlords. 🔶 Identifying and supporting persons with special needs and linking them to relevant authorities 🔶 Strengthening parenting and shared responsibility 🔶 Rebuilding relationships between refugee and host communities through cooperation and dialogue This is what peacebuilding looks like when it is rooted in communities—as a continuous process of listening, mediating, and acting together. As we continue #PeacebuildingWeek, we are calling for more intentional investment in community-led mediation spaces, because when people are supported to resolve their own conflicts, peace becomes more sustainable and more real. #InvestInPeacebuilding #WomenPeaceSecurity @UNPeacebuilding @unwomenuganda @UNDP @AU_ECOSOCC @Interpeace_Org @IGADsecretariat @Sandra_Oder @UrgentAct