Transforming Women’s Cultural Roles into Bridges for Peacebuilding: Recounting the Journey of Mrs Ariet Philip in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia

Sep 3, 2024 | Peace Direct
View Original

Located in Southwest Ethiopia, Gambella is a region with multiple layers of conflicts, including the protracted Anywa-Nuer conflict. Competition over resources such as water and land have been a major cause of conflicts between the two communities: the Nuer, traditionally pastoralists and the Anywa, traditionally farmers.

But with introduction of ethnic federalism in 1991 in Ethiopia and transformation of Gambella into a regional state, competition over resources was transformed into competition over dominance for the regional state politics. Moreover, the influx of South Sudanese refugees to Gambella since the outbreak of the second Sudanese civil war in 1983 has added fuel to an already burning fire in the region.

Impacts of conflicts on women

Mrs Ariet Philip is one of the first educated women from the indigenous peoples in Gambella. Her passion has always been to work on grassroots women empowerment. Hence, she left her prestigious position as gender equality advisory to the regional council to work with faith-based organisations where she can interact with grassroots women groups on daily basis.