processes that women can leverage as entry points for peacebuilding are critical. Peacebuilding actions before, during and after conflict have relevance in elections management, strengthening justice and rule of law systems and laws, security sector governance and in human rights standards.346 The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995 views women as ‘a fundamental force for leadership and conflict resolution’ and gender equality between men and women parallel to peace. Women have legitimate vested interests in participating in peacebuilding processes before, during and after the outbreak of violent conflict. As recognised in the Beijing Declaration, women should be accorded equal access to decision-making and power structures. The gendered differences evident in the impact of conflict on men and women call for the different gender perspectives to be integrated into peace building processes, in order to improve the chances of a fair, inclusive and sustainable peace. Recommendations The following section provides recommendations on areas of gender, peacebuilding and governance that require strengthening. Continental Level Given the coherence between the mandates of AGA, APSA and APRM, the collaboration platform recommended by the AU Heads of State and Government is strategic to link the regional level peacebuilding efforts with the national level measures. Strengthening common objectives and identifying priority actions of the respective mandates of AGA, APSA and APRM will help to build convergence towards gender, peacebuilding and democratic governance synergistically. The APRM has a diagnostic value and it’s reports or engagement processes at country level can feed into the agenda setting and monitoring work of AGA and APSA in their various activities. The APRM’s strength lies in the voluntary assumption of a cohort of the willing. As such, member states commit to APRM values and to adopt appropriate policy and 346 McCarthy, M K ‘Women's Participation in Peacebuilding: A Missing Piece of the Puzzle?’ 08 April 2011. CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania. Available at http://repository.upenn.edu/curej/132 109