Since Malam Darfur Peace and Development (MDPD) launched the Peace and Development Project in 2011, women have played a key role in peacebuilding, reconciliation and recovery in Al-Malam community, which has been war-ridden and divided by the conflict that broke out in Darfur in 2003.
At this stage, women led peacebuilding initiatives and development by encouraging all the sectors of society to establish bodies to achieve this goal. Women have worked tirelessly to achieve peace through various means, including working at the grassroots level to address the shadows of war that have divided the community. Women set up an ambitious program to lead a broad peace and reconciliation campaign that included internally displaced communities, as well as those who remain in their hometowns. One of the important goals was repatriation of displaced people to their villages to begin the recovery and reconstruction process.
Since then and for two years, women’s efforts have continued within the framework of Malam Darfur Peace and Development Organization. Due to its effective in ushering peace and reconciliation, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) agreed to fund the Women Peace Ambassadors project in October 2014. Women Peace Ambassadors was a pilot project aimed at selecting 20 women representing the major four villages in Al-Malam locality north of South Darfur State (Al-Malam, Kaila, Tarba and Om Dashu). The selected women were trained for a full year before becoming peace ambassadors. Upon assuming their jobs, women ambassadors engaged in serious dialogue with all the local forces of the community emphasizing the urgent need to achieve peace, to start the efforts of recovery and reconstruction, and to recognize the important role played by women in the community and at the State level.
The 20 Women Peace Ambassadors received extensive training that included topics on the role of women in peacebuilding and development, creating an environment suitable for IDPs resettlement, economy recovery, improving girls’ education, raising women’s awareness, promoting women participation in politics and to have equal access to leadership.
After the training, the 20 Women Peace Ambassadors traveled between the four Locality villages extensively holding conferences, meetings, and open Town Halls discussions. They also visited IDP camps in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, where most of Al-Malam’s residents sought refuge from the war.
These efforts opened many doors that remained closed because of the 13-years’ war. It opened the way for reconciliation as the society began to recover from the war by accepting peace and moving on to recovery and reconstruction.
Because of that historic achievement of the Women Peace Ambassadors in Al-Malam, the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded the Peace Committee project for the three northern localities of South Darfur: Al-Malam, East Jebel Marra and Mershing. In October 2015, four Women Peace Ambassadors were selected as members of the Higher Committee for Peace where they excelled in advancing the Peace Committee’s efforts. The Peace Committee succeed in achieving MDPD’s key goal: the voluntary return of the IDPs communities to their original villages. IDPs from Kaila’s returned to their village in February 2017; Toruba’s IDPs returned in December 2017; and Magboula and Shawaysa’s IDPs in April 2018.
The 20 Women Peace Ambassadors continued to play a leading role after the return of the displaced communities to their villages. They worked on addressing the obstacles and challenges faced by the returnees, especially in bringing those communities to life after many years of displacement, as well as addressing women’s issues. The Women Peace Ambassadors carried out the Women’s Empowerment Project, within the framework of MDPD’s High Committee for Peace in 2019, to ensure women attain their economic and political rights.