Civil society challenged to ensure women’s participation in national dialogue

Maputo, 20 Jun (AIM) – The chairperson of the Mozambican goverment’s Commission on Inclusive National Dialogue, Edson Macuacua, has challenged civil society organizations to define mechanisms aimed at ensuring effective participation of women in all stages of the national reflection.

At the moment the Commission consists entirely of representatives of political parties, but three seats are reserved for civil society bodies – although exactly how those seats are to be filled remains unclear.

The areas covered by the Commission’s various working groups will be: electoral matters; fiscal matters; the economy; the justice system; natural resources; unity and national reconciliation; defence and security; decentralisation and deconcentration; public administration, and the depoliticization of the State.

According to Macuacua, who was speaking on Thursday at a round table discussion with civil society organizations, there is a need to ensure that women are an important and active part of the national dialogue, “where they will have their say and we hope that they also take ownership of this process.”

“The dialogue will never be a success without the participation of women, because women are the majority of the Mozambican population. Women have psychic and acute sensitivities to certain issues. That’s why they can advise us better, as well as bringing their own experiences to the table for us to take into account”, he said.

During the meeting, Macuacua also shared the current stage of the process of selecting personalities from civil society to take seats on the Commission.

“The process is under way, and the information on how many candidates we have will be shared after 30 June, for the sake of transparency. If we start opening it up now, we could be tempted to influence the process”, he said.

(AIM)

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