A total of 29 military, police, correction service and civilian personnel are attending a gender in peace support operations course (PSO) at the Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) training facility.

The five-day course is bringing together participants from Rwanda, Kenya and Somalia.

It was organised by the RPA, the Government of Japan (GoJ) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

According to the agenda, the course aims at enhancing the capacity of the participants in understanding the concepts of PSO, how and why conflicts affect men and women differently as well as the significance of having more women participation.

"Japan is pleased to partner with Rwanda in building the capacity of regional security sector actors in peace support operations, focusing on women who are mostly affected during violent conflicts,” said Tahara Kentaro, the Coordinator for Economic Cooperation at the Embassy of Japan in Kigali.

Under the partnership, Japan has offered financial support to enhance the capacities of regional security sector actors in conflict prevention, conflict management, resolution and peacebuilding.

Maxwell Gomera, UNDP Resident Representative reflected on gender in PSO training, and said that "It is critically important and absolutely necessary, to mainstream gender in Peace Support Operations, for effective conflict management and peacebuilding”.

Colonel (Rtd) Jill Rutaremara, the Director of RPA commended Japan’s support citing that it had been instrumental in building the capacity of regional security personnel.

"It has been instrumental…by contributing to the operational readiness of the East Africa Standby Force (EASF) in effectively responding to peace support needs in the region,”

The Rwanda Peace Academy looks forward to a continued partnership, he added.

Since its inception, the facility is mandated to enhance regional and sub-regional capacity for conflict prevention, management, resolution, post-conflict recovery and peacebuilding, by drawing on Rwanda’s experience.