Various researches on Philippine Women, Peace and Security Agenda and their role in conflict resolution and transformation has been conducted.
These studies aim to devise policies and programs for peace. This has also been the highlight of this year’s annual celebration of the National Peace Consciousness Month by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) which started last 2021.
The Second Peace Research Conference’s main theme, “Ending Conflicts: Women’s Role in Building and Sustaining Peace” was held at the Chardonnay by Astoria event center last September 2 to 3, 2022.
“Good representation of women can really benefit the whole process. If we include the gender agenda in the process and take welfare into account, the process would be more structural and inclusive,” Guest Speaker Miriam Coronel Ferrer said. She also concluded that meaningful participation that is inclusive and intersectional is the true essence of expanding spaces for gender responsive peace processes.
Miriam Coronel-Ferrer was the former peace negotiator who signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the Moro Islamic Liberation Font on behalf of the government. She is also the first and only female in the world to sign a major peace agreement.
In addition to this, OPAPRU Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in his speech that the researches will serve as supplementary inputs to the sunset reviews of the third generation National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAPWPS) and recommendations and inputs in the crafting of the fourth generation NAPWPS to be done this year.
OPAPRU, through this conference, encourages civil society members and the national and local governments to conduct research related to peacebuilding that will develop the Government’s peace policies and programs.