The year 2014 marked 20 years of Isis-WICCE move from Geneva to Uganda and 40 years globally. We are very proud of our achievements over the years and we have geared up for the emerging challenges and realities in the world today.

Over the past twenty years, Isis-WICCE has emerged as a leader in the feminist discourse on peace and security. We have a wealth of data and knowledge collected over the long years of research and advocacy in Africa and Asia. We have managed to influence the mainstream discussion and understanding of conflict by ensuring that States and other stakeholders in peace and security understand human security beyond geographical dimensions of territorial integrity but rather the personal balance of body, mind and spirit, a perspective that has been ignored by mainstream actors. Since its birth, Isis-WICCE has grown rapidly and innovatively but for this growth to be maintained, and for us to optimize on the current opportunities and build on our achievements, there is need for more focus, optimization and scaling up our approaches to work. In order to maintain our feminist competitive edge and to keep striving for excellence, we need to continue renewing ourselves by stopping, reflecting and planning.

The year 2013 meant a new journey for Isis-WICCE. We began implementing our new strategic plan after series of sessions involving reflections, critiques and strategizing for the future.

We developed our new strategic plan after series of sessions involving reflections, critiques and strategizing for the future. In line with the goals and objectives of the strategic plan, we have amplified voices, we ignited women’s agency to re(create) peace as defined by women. Oftentimes development approaches involve planning on behalf of communities. The implementation of those plans tends to perpetuate inequalities and disenfranchise women.

Our approach to work recognizes and respects the voices of women, girls, men, and boys in armed and post conflict countries. We challenged governments to deliver on policy promises and commitments made at national, regional and international levels through our documentations that reveal gaps in policy implementation particularly for countries where we worked. We provided healing to women; we believe that peace building cannot be sustained without healing the body, mind and spirit of women survivors. Over time, we observed that quantifying this type of work is very difficult, however we have used women’s stories to capture the changes in their lives, we have developed a monitoring framework to help us track the work we do and the difficulties that arise from the nature of our work. We are consoled that when we heal one woman, when we shift one woman’s life, it will impact on her wellbeing and also impact on the socio economic status of her family and the community at large.