Giving Compass' Take:

· In a community where men dominate all leaderships positions, it can be hard to change the narrative and allow women a position at the table. Here, News Deeply speaks with Rasha El Fangry, coordinator of the Collaborative for Peace of Sudan, about her work getting women involved in Sudan's peacebuilding efforts.

· Why is it important to get women involved in these efforts? What perspective do they bring in? 

· Learn how peace can help the ongoing violence and famine happening in South Sudan. 

When Rasha El Fangry first tried to convince local community leaders in an area of South Kordofan, Sudan, to include women in peace negotiations and conflict resolution mediation, a local imam told her, “In the Quran, [it says] women should stay at their homes.”

As a Sudanese Muslim involved in peacebuilding efforts herself, El Fangry disagreed.

“Who interpreted the Quran for you?” she said she asked the imam in return. “There is nothing like that in the Quran.”

El Fangry is the coordinator of the Collaborative for Peace of Sudan, a local organization that creates “peace committees,” in partnership with Peace Direct. These small groups of community members tasked with pinpointing the drivers of conflict, carrying out mediation between tribes and communities and sustaining local peace agreements. Part of her work, she said, is to convince local community leaders to include women in these committees.

Read the full article about sustaining peace in Sudan by Alessandria Masi at News Deeply.