FAITH-BASED APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN PEACE SUPPORT OPERATIONS

An examination is conducted to understand how religious systems affect women's involvement in peace support projects. The research evaluates peace support operation female participation through Islamic Christian and African Traditional religious frameworks. The research establishes religious institutions as essential agents that promote women's leadership development during peace processes specifically in Kenya. Qualitative research approaches involving female religious leaders and community mediators reveal ways to enhance women's peacebuilding participation through the combination of religious teachings and cultural values in the research. Social Capital Theory serves as the theoretical framework for this study because it explores the way religious institutions develop community networks and trust as well as social cohesion that enables women to participate actively in peace processes. The application of Feminist Peace Theory helps researchers examine methods to use religious and cultural structures for supporting inclusive gender-based peace support activities. The study making use of these theoretical frameworks determines how to analyze the combined effects of faith alongside gender and conflict resolution. This research utilizes a blended qualitative and quantitative research design where it conducts interviews with 45 female religious leaders who practice Islamic, Christian and African Traditional beliefs in Kenya alongside discussions with eight separate peace initiative participant groups. The primary research data gets additional information through analyzing religious texts and peace committee records. The study conducts quantitative surveys with 60 community members to evaluate the results of women-led religious peace initiatives in addition to conducting comparative case studies which analyze effective faith-based peace support operations. The research confirms how religious organizations act as vital connecting bridges which unite established peace support initiatives with local communities through women's leadership enterprises in peace-building. Through their religious leadership women have improved both female representation in local peace committees and better conflict resolution results. The research investigates particular religious writings together with traditional practices which demonstrate support for inclusive peacebuilding leadership that follows United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 principles.