18.11.19
15th November, Brussels - The 3rd MMM ESPERAS Peace Lab brought together two keynote speakers Professor Christina Bache and women’s rights activist Passy Mubalama who through their expertise offered two complementary examples - academic and grassroots - of the important role of women and mothers in peace.
Professor Christina Bache, author of the 2019 EU commissioned study: ‘Women’s role in peace Process’ is a visiting fellow from London’s LSE Ideas. She lives in Brussels where she is also adjunct professor at Vesalius College.
She underlined the necessity for the inclusion of women throughout the peace process. “People are failing their communities if this is not taken into consideration,” she said. “Women should be negotiators, observers and even signatories.”
From left to right: Laurence van Abeele, President of MMM Belgium and partner of Esperas, with Leen van Waes from Esperas, and students
She explained that women are active in grassroots organizations and as such, their voices are critical, because they represent the diversity within their communities. They have a role to play: they are engaged in dialogue, as community leaders.
And as mothers, they have above all else, a crucial responsibility to educate their children in a non-violent way.
Passy Mubalama, who lives in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provided the grassroots perspective. She was in Belgium to receive her ‘Changemaker’ award from the 11.11.11 coalition of NGOs, unions, movements and various solidarity groups in Flanders (Dutch-speaking Northern part of Belgium) who work together to achieve one common goal: a fair world without poverty.
Passy passionately believes that women should not be seen as victims but rather, as agents of change.
To facilitate her work, she set up Aidprofen, an organization that promotes education for women in her country and calls for more of them to actively participate in politics.
See also another article on Esperas and its projects here
Passy Mubalama, founder of Aidprofen in DRC, with Myriam Mitu, a volunteer for Esperas
03.07.21
UN New York / HLPF - Register now to join us virtually at this year’s High Level Political Forum side-event.
21.09.21
August 15th saw the collapse of the Afghan government and a return to power by the Taliban. At MMM, like much of the rest of the world, we were shocked
19.07.21
UN New York / HLPF - A look back at our side-event to the UN High Level Political Forum
21.06.22
The ongoing conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the mental and physical health of mothers and their children, on both those who have fled and those who have sta
18.06.22
UN Geneva - On the occasion of a consultation on Racism and the Right to Health, MMM denounces the systemic racism against mothers in childbirth, prevalent in developed countries, with two key indicators: women
30.05.22
International Labour conference, Geneva – To redress the economic injustice suffered by many mothers as a result of their caring responsibilities, MMM has called for a new approach to employment: a human-cent
18.05.22
In these unprecedented times, when Europe is navigating a global pandemic, when political tensions are boiling over threatening to destabilize the global order, it is vital to reflect on the people who hold the
15.05.22
MMM is delighted to publish a report written by Emma Levrau, a student in Global Health and Social Justice (Master of Science) at Kings College London on the unpaid and invisible cognitive and emotional work th
11.05.22
Our contribution to the EU Commission's Call for evidence: “Access to affordable and high-quality long-term care” The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to strengthen the European care economy. To e