Menstruation and Peace-Building: Yes, There is a Link.

A major focus of development efforts here in West Africa is peace-building and security. The West African sub-region has been plagued with a number of violent civil wars including those in Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea. Though Ghana has witnessed four major military coups since its independence in 1957, when compared to the conflicts of its neighbouring countries, Ghana’s post-independence coups appear quite localized and brief with few civilian casualties. 

Indeed, Ghana prides itself on a reputation of peace, steady growth and security - a reputation that shines brightly against the backdrop of an historically unstable West Africa. Ghana is the child in the family who made it through adolescence unscathed, earning scholastic praise form teachers and coaches while its rebellious siblings were stuck in the principal’s office every other week for smoking pot in the schoolyard. Ok - this is an exaggeration but to my credit, much of Ghana’s tourism branding does label it the “golden child of Africa.” (However, if you google the term “the golden child of Africa” apparently the title is generously handed out to nearly every county on the continent).

Because of its peaceful reputation, Ghana has become the home to many West African refugees who are forced out of their native countries because of violence and corruption. As such, Ghana plays a huge role in peace-building efforts and post-conflict rehabilitation even within its own borders. This is evident by the significant number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) here who include peace-building amongst their organizations’ core activities. 

Though these organizations should be lauded for their efforts to help refugees and contribute to peace-building processes, I have found that, at times, it is difficult to identify the precise activities that can be considered “peace-building.” This can be a problem with humanitarian organizations around the globe - their missions and mandates are noble but extremely broad, leaving those outside the organization a little confused as to what strategy the organization is using, if any, to “fight AIDS” or “end child poverty” or “end world hunger.” The problem is not necessarily to do with strategy (though I’m sure in some cases it is) as much as communication. 

Given the breadth of work involved in peace-building and indeed, the broad interpretation of the term “peace-building”, I have found myself becoming increasingly critical of the missions and mandates of NGOs and CSOs that identify peace-building as an area of focus but can’t seem to really articulate how they are carrying out peace-building efforts. At times, it seems like peace-building efforts only manifest themselves within the walls of conferences, forums and academic institutions. Where is the ground work? How are these conversations translating into action?

Well, recently I was introduced to a strategy in peace-building that took me by surprise. 

ABANTU for Development, the organization I work for here in Ghana, recently made a presentation at an NGO Fair for students enrolled in Trent University’s “Trent-in-Ghana” program offered through the University’s Department of International Development Studies. From what I understand, the program is jointly run by Trent and the University of Ghana and enrolls students from both these institutions.

I was invited to help ABANTU with their presentation, an offer which I accepted wholeheartedly. I couldn’t very well pass on the opportunity to mingle with fellow Canadians! Why we could talk incessantly about everything Canadian like ... I don’t know... Stephen Harper? Bagels? The Alberta tar sands? VIA Rail? Tim Horton’s? I guess it’s not that exciting. Based on previous experience, conversations with fellow Canadian expats are always super refreshing until the person brings up sports and then I gradually liquify into a puddle of boredom and disinterest. But I digress...

So we arrive at the NGO Fair and ABANTU makes its presentation, discussing its thematic areas - gender and governance, climate change and, you guessed it, peace-building and security. Now this of course wasn’t a surprise for me as I have been working at the organization for nearly three months now. But I never really investigated what activities fall under ABANTU’s peace-building theme. I know they attend a ton of conferences on the topic and have recently published a research booklet on the subject of women and peace-building. But I was beginning to worry that I actually had no idea what kind of ground work was being done on the issue. 

After all the NGOs made their presentations, we broke out into groups where students, in search of organizations for their volunteer placements, were afforded the opportunity to discuss the NGOs’ work in greater depth.

Eventually the question came to ABANTU, “what sort of work does your organization do under its peace-building theme?” My colleague Gertrude responded that ABANTU is involved with peace-building initiatives on two fronts: through advocacy and on the ground with the women in the Budaburam Liberian Refugee Camp located in Accra. Their advocacy work focuses on implementing UN Resolutions 1325 and 1820 which call for greater inclusion of women in peace-building and security efforts in post-conflict areas (ABANTU does this through policy influencing, research and awareness campaigns). On the ground, ABANTU is involved with capacity-building projects for women in the Budaburam camp. Some of these capacity-building initiatives focus on providing women with the skills and seed money to engage in small businesses, while other initiatives focus on building women’s leadership capacity so they can organize themselves as a political body.

But then my colleague mentioned a third project that really took me aback. She casually added “we also provide sanitary towels for women in the camps.” Confusion took hold of the group. “Like for times when they are menstruating?” Yes, we understood that part... but the part about sanitary pads as a peace-building tool was a little... confusing.

The response was like a blow to the head for me. It had never occurred to me that something so simple, so practical and yet so necessary, could fall under “peace-building efforts.” Until that point, my focus was stuck on the larger picture. Peace-building to me was about finding ways to rebuild nations ravaged by violence to become secure and democratic. It was about finding ways to bring war criminals, terrorists and corrupt politicians to justice. It was about rebuilding infrastructure and social welfare. It was about rehabilitating child soldiers and healing the damaged psyche of a nation. Never had it even crossed my mind that the distribution of sanitary napkins could contribute to peace-building and security.

And yet, somehow I innately understood how this initiative was a peace-building effort. Here I had been problem-solving from a top-down approach - thinking of what it would take to implement and maintain peaceful democracy. But the donation of such a basic sanitary item represented a truly bottom-up approach. The initiative focused on the basic need for human dignity and wellbeing, the need for comfort and control. 

I noticed goosebumps on my arms after Gertrude made mention of this initiative. Though a seemingly small step in an overwhelmingly large post-war strategy, thinking about the donation of sanitary pads to women in the camps dragged me from the theoretical to the personal. From the cerebral to the emotional. Of course peace-building necessitates the political and physical rebuilding of a nation, but this begins with the rebuilding of people. I realized that the women in the Budaburum camp were not only victims of violence and subsequent displacement, they have also been stripped of their basic right to human dignity and wellbeing. Their ability to live a healthy and self-sufficient life was taken from them and no policy or legislation alone could ever return these basic needs. Efforts can be made to develop a nation’s democracy and promote good governance, but at the end of the day, if your people are unable to take care of their basic needs, progress will fall flat.

I guess it is fair to say that this was one of many “ah ha” moments I have experienced while working in Ghana, particularly in the area of international development. It is very difficult to grasp the complexities of the issues facing developing countries until you witness them manifesting in the lives of people right in front of you. I should add that it is just as difficult to fully grasp the issues facing “developed” countries. In fact, in developed countries it can be even more difficult to grasp ugly realities because we seem to have become experts at hiding them. 

For example, Canada has been at war for nearly a decade now and had a camera been documenting my life or the lives of those close to me since 2002, nowhere would you find evidence of a country at war (save for a few protests or class presentations). And yet, when the camera shifts to the life of a fallen soldier Canada experiences its own “ah ha” moment. Suddenly, the goosebumps emerge as the political manifests itself as the personal, shinning light on a harsh reality that was comfortably hidden overseas. 

I guess we have to take these epiphanic moments as reminders that action is urgently needed. But in doing so, we should be mindful that all we can do for now is take the first step, however small that step may be.