EU-Funded Project Undertakes Validation of an Assessment Report

Marking the first year of its three-years project cycle, “Practice Peace and Live in Tranquility (PPLT)” held a validation workshop for its assessment report on 12 November 2025 at Caneth Hotel in Adama, about 85 miles southeast of Addis Ababa. Fully funded by the European Union (EU), the PPLT project brought together stakeholders from the Federal Government, as well as the Afar, Oromia and Somali regions, including representatives from each region’s peace and security departments for the half-day validation workshop on “Gender Responsive Peace Building and Resilience”. The findings of this research were presented as inputs to the Coffee for Peace Group, a platform comprised of female peace promoters.

Following the presentations of the key findings and recommendations by the Center of Excellence, an outsourced consulting firm, the main discussion points were identified at the plenary session, which involved officials representing the three regions as well as federal government ministries. In his opening speech, Feyera Assefa, DSW Ethiopia’s Country Director, encouraged the stakeholders to delve into the study and critically evaluate its findings and methodology for any inconsistencies with generally accepted social norms, before validating them. He also addressed questions raised by participants regarding the selection of the three regions as target areas for the project. “Although PPLT was launched in November last year, the EU has had prior discussion and understanding on a bilateral basis with the federal government of Ethiopia that the three bordering regions, with predominately pastoralist populations, would be targeted with specific interventions to address socioeconomic and behavioral factors that prevent conflict and promote peacebuilding efforts,” Feyera explained. “What makes all the differences in every step of the implementation of this project depends on the mutual efforts to maintain very close partnerships with the peace and security affairs departments from the three regions as well as other local government sector offices for creating an enabling environment through which the pastoralist communities take roles in the project with a strong sense of ownership,” Feyera said, outlining the key elements of strategic partnerships between stakeholders. He noted that the local and traditional peacebuilding structure are valuable platforms we can build on, as they are established grassroots organisations with experience in addressing such issues.”

The roles of key stakeholders in peacebuilding also extend to the household level. The study’s assessment focused on identifying elements of gender-responsive resilience in peace-related matters. This included examining who makes decisions about household resources, the extent of women’s participation in socioeconomic activities, and why gender-based biases that limit women’s roles in preventing conflict and promoting peace remain unaddressed. These issues were central to both the study’s presentation and discussion points that followed. Over the past twelve months – the period covered by the study’s assessment – only about 27 percent of the 203 respondents involved in peacebuilding, mediation, or peace discussions were women, according to the study’s findings. Although the level of women’s representation varies slightly from one region or district to another, the overall percentages remain fairly consistent, according to the study. The report also suggests that women’s participation in peace-related and conflict-prevention activities has shown some progress, over the past year, partly due to the project’s mobilization efforts. The validation workshop, which reflected the study’s key findings, encouraged many of the female participants to share their views and experiences. The report also suggests that women’s participation in peace-related and conflict-prevention activities has shown some progress over the past year, partly due to the project’s mobilization efforts.

“He who gets sent by a woman fears nothing to face, come what may,” one of the female participants at the validation workshop was quoted as saying, emphasizing her view that women could make a significant difference in both preventing conflict and building peace, if they were fairly included in such roles.

Irrespective of certain perceived normative barriers – which, according to the findings, continue to hinder gender responsive peacebuilding and resilience efforts engagement efforts – most respondents acknowledged the power relations and inequalities that exist within their communities, as well as the need to address these issues for the greater benefit of the community. In line with these findings, the study has also recommends addressing perceived normative barriers – such as early marriage and the lack of gender mainstreaming from households to community levels – through systematic awareness campaigns and social and behavior change communication strategies. Most notably, the study emphasises pairing resource-linked resilience interventions that center women in socioeconomic activities to enhance their income and empowerment, particularly in areas where their roles in conflict prevention remain minimal. These crosscutting recommendations were highlighted as particularly inspiring by the representative from the Federal Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (FMoWSA). According to an official from the FMoWSA, an initiative was launched in collaboration with UN Women to develop a national framework for women’s roles in peacebuilding. The findings and recommendations from this study could provide valuable input to the initiative, allowing DSW to align its results with the national framework for further collaboration.

Practice Peace and Live in Tranquility (PPLT) is an EU-funded project implemented over the three-year period since November 2024. The intervention targets eight districts across the Afar, Oromia and Somali regions of Ethiopia, where resource scarcity drives food insecurity and the recurring inter-communal conflicts, particularly involving men and young people. DSW Ethiopia, SOS Children’s Villages and the PHE Ethiopia Consortium have combined their expertise and commitment as key implementing partners.