Women’s participation in peace processes is critical for sustaining peace. Notwithstanding, women face several barriers that limit their effective representation and influence in peace processes. Research shows that the political participation and leadership of women in fragile environments, particularly during democratic transitions, is critical to sustaining lasting
democratic institutions.
A study carried out in Juba, South Sudan by the Women International Peace Centre shows that sustainable peace in South Sudan depends on empowering women and tackling obstacles to their participation in peace processes. The research was carried out to examine opportunities, constraints and the extent to which women are taking part in implementing the peace agreement in South Sudan.
This Policy Brief highlights the barriers to women’s participation in peace processes and shares recommendations.
This discussion paper brings together three regional essays commissioned to explore what needs to happen. What needs to happen to ‘transform power’ to women and communities most affected by crises and conflict so that they shape the decisions that affect their lives? What would a feminist peace and security agenda look like? The essays illustrate how transformative change rarely comes from within the system; rather, it often comes from outside: from disruption by protest, and from women’s, youth, local and grassroots movements.
Between January and June Women’s International Peace Centre with and partners International Center for Transitional Justice-Uganda, African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET), Refugee Law Project (RLP), The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda) partnered with TRAC FM to collect real-time data from citizens using polls on the themes of the transitional justice policy. Through an interactive radio campaign, citizens discussed their conflict experiences, the lingering impact of human rights violations, efforts of government and other actors and appropriate measures for recovery, reconciliation and redress for victims and war-affected communities moving forward.
The purpose of this report is to share data and present citizens’ views and recommendations related to transitional justice to inform action by all stakeholders including government institutions, traditional and religious institutions and civil society.
COVID-19 has introduced different ways of working, connecting, relating and being. How do we adjust to this new world order and still enjoy the work that we do? How do we avoid burning out caused by isolation and overload of social media? COVID-19 has made us realise that we need to build a new sense of practice.
This guide provides selected nuggets which encompass both personal and organisational healing practices. The nuggets aim at supporting women human rights defenders and the women they support so that they can apprehend wholeness, be whole, and create wholeness.
In June, The Peace Centre concluded a 5-year project in partnership with Akwenyutu People Living with HIV/AIDS (APHAS) in conflict-affected North-eastern Uganda. The project aimed to build the resilience of women and enable them transfer the acquired skills and competences in livelihood boosting and peace building to the community.
This reflective report titled ‘Women Changing the Face of HIV&AIDS and Building Peace’ highlights the project impact, lessons learnt and the future plans for the group.
Local women-led organisations (WLO) and women’s rights organisations (WRO) play critically important roles in crisis response, but their efforts often lack both political and financial support. On 16th July, the UN launched an updated Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) for COVID-19. Women’s International Peace Centre took part in this survey led by CAFOD, CARE International UK, ActionAid, Danish Church Aid and Oxfam who partnered with local WLO and WRO partners in Lebanon, Jordan, Bangladesh, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories and South Sudan to gather a snap-shot of the Covid19 response to date in terms of access to funding, partnerships and decision-making for WLO/WROs.
The joint policy brief summarises findings and recommendations on direct funding to these groups, indirect funding via international intermediary organisations (including UN agencies and INGOs), their participation in humanitarian coordination processes and post-COVID19 recovery.
A resource by Women for Women International on ensuring the inclusion of marginalised women in fragile and conflict states in COVID-19 prevention, response and recovery.
‘Unheard. Unseen.’ identifies five priority action areas and provides analysis and recommendations on the important policy changes that are so urgently needed for marginalised women affected by conflict. The report, also outlines how important it is to create space for marginalised women in conflict-affected countries to share their experiences and influence change.
Global Fund for Women and the Women’s International Peace Centre convened women human rights activists and organizations from Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda working to build peace, end sexual and gender-based violence, and combat the negative impact of the extractive industry on peace and women’s rights.
In the space, we assessed the progress and gaps in the women, peace, and security agenda in the region and defined a creative common vision and agenda for feminist peacebuilding.
This report highlights the discussions during the Regional Convening on Women’s Leadership in Peacebuilding in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
The work of The Peace Centre is founded on the progressive principles of feminism acknowledging that the feminist movement has been in existence for long.
The Peace Centre subscribes and its work is guided by the Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists which ring true to the work of amplifying women voices; and belief that anyone labelled as a second-class citizen must be protected without labelling.
As a feminist organization that is committed to the intentional integration of wellness into the ways and practices of organizing for transformational leadership, we developed a training model, “Harnessing Our Power with Soul: Bespoke curriculum for Transformational Leadership and Wellness” with the support of Womankind Worldwide through the “Women’s Advocacy for Voice and Empowerment through inclusive platforms in Uganda” project.
The Bespoke Curriculum contains some practical activities in an attempt to meet the needs of diverse groups at different stages of organizational growth and their varied approaches to learning and ways of sharing knowledge. This allows activists to visualize the experiences of others doing similar work to their own and to see themselves in these experiences.
Through this edition of Women’s World, we contribute to the body of feminist knowledge on the experiences and agency of women affected by forced displacement as a result of conflict, political turmoil or insecurity in Africa. This focus aligns with the African Union’s theme for the year 2019, as the Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa: Towards a Durable Solution to Forced Displacement. As Africa seeks to address the challenges associated with a growing number of refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons, it is even more critical that we ensure women and girls, and their priorities, are at the centre of any solutions. In the absence of truly gender-responsive solutions (backed by political will and accountability), efforts, partnerships and structures tackling forced displacement will not achieve the desired results.
As we embark on a transformational journey in our new Strategic Plan 2019-2022, The Centre seeks to ensure that women not only powerfully contribute to peace building processes and results, but also transform these spaces to be more gender inclusive and gender responsive.
This report looks back into the year and describes what we have accomplished with our Partners. We enhanced women’s expertise to influence and transform peace processes, made deliberate attempts to claim spaces to ensure women influence and participate in peace processes at all levels, made information available for women to influence decision-making in peace processes and continued to strengthen the holistic wellbeing of women in post-conflict settings.
Authors; Helen Kezie-Nwoha and Juliet Were
The ‘Women and Peacebuilding in Africa’ project looks at the cost of women’s exclusion and the possibilities for their inclusion in peace talks, peacebuilding, and politics in Somalia, Algeria, northern Nigeria, South Sudan, and Sudan. The project also examines the struggle for women’s rights legal reform and political representation as one important arena for stemming the tide of extremism related to violence in Africa.
The three themes that make up the project are:
- Inclusion and exclusion in postconflict governance
- Women activists’ informal peacebuilding strategies
- Women’s legal rights as a site of contestation
The ‘Women and Peacebuilding in Africa’ project is a consortium between Center for Research on Gender and Women at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE). The project is funded by the Carnegie Foundation and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
This edition focuses on the women, peace and security issues discussed during the institute, as informed by the UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 2250, Sustainable Development Goals (5, 16) and related national frameworks (including national action plans). It takes a closer look at the state of conflict and post-conflict in the 5 countries, progress in implementing UNSCR 1325 which centres women’s concerns as well as women’s responses to peace and security gaps and challenges.
The University of Wisconsin – Madison in partnership with African researchers, Isis Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) and Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) conducted a research project that looks at the cost of women’s exclusion and the possibilities for their inclusion in peace processes, peacebuilding, and politics in countries affected by war in Africa. The research project also examined the struggle for women’s rights, legal reform and political representation as one important arena for stemming the tide of extremism related to violence in Africa.
In 2017, Isis-WICCE partnered with National Union of Women with Disabilities Uganda (NUWODU) and Gulu Women with Disabilities Union (GUWODU) to implement a 1yr project on “Increasing Access to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights for Women with Disabilities” with funding from Amplify Change. The project sought to strengthen the capacity of Women with Disabilities (WwDs) to advocate for improved SRH services and improve competencies of service providers to ensure quality services for WwDs in Gulu district.
At the beginning of the year, we set out to strengthen our existing partnerships and make new connections to ensure women live in peace and recreate peace across Africa and in Asia. We affirmed our desire to make meaningful progress on behalf of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the sustainable development agenda and African Union’s agenda 2063. This year’s annual report offers an the opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months including the strides made, challenges faced and our collective impact on women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings.
The report presents highlights of Isis-WICCE’s Seventh annual Peace Exposition held in Amuria district, Eastern Uganda under the theme “Families United Against Gender Based Violence and HIV/AIDS”. The 7th peace exposition brought community members, local government and civil society the opportunity to discuss HIV/AIDS and its links to gender-based violence while proposing solutions and committing to action for a peaceful Amuria.
This documentation provides an opportunity to illuminate covert and overt voices and actions of women political actors that most times get silenced in patriarchal political settings. Two cases of women political leaders are selected from Uganda and Zimbabwe respectively, with a specific intent of learning from their historical experiences particularly of those who participated in liberation struggles of the two countries as well as a new breed of women leaders that emerged in post-conflict political leadership thereof.
