The Permanent Secretariat of the Community of Democracies is pleased to announce its new project: ”Engaging Women in Sustainable Peace”.

The project will seek to identify best practices of women’s engagement in sustaining peace  aimed  at  assisting  government  agencies  and  civil  society  organizations  in  developing  strategies  for  the inclusion  of  women  in  strategies  for  sustaining  peace.  The project will be implemented by the Permanent Secretariat of the Community of Democracies and kindly funded by the Republic of Korea.
 
Removing barriers to women’s inclusion in conflict and post-conflict scenarios constitutes a priority for the international community. Advancing women’s participation  specifically  in  peace building  became  part  of  the  agenda  in  2000  with  the  UNSC  Resolution  1325  on  Women,  Peace  and  Security,  and  has  been  reemphasized  in  numerous  international  resolutions  and  agreements  since,  most  particularly  UNSCR  1889  (2009)  and  2122  (2013). Despite several international agreements and resolutions, little progress has been made in including women in sustaining  peace. In order to effectively advance female participation in the political arena, international agreements and resolutions need to be further supported by following up on the achievements and challenges of such strategies.
 
With the project “Engaging Women in Sustainable Peace”, the Community of Democracies intends to contribute to the international debate on women in the peace and security dialogue by inferring consolidated best practices from case studies. The project will aim to assess women’s beneficial inclusion in peace processes through a global perspective that embraces case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Potential areas in which best practices may be  identified  include:
 
  • Women’s engagement in sustaining peace within political bodies;
  • Women’s participation in preventing violent extremism through community-level activities and activism;
  • Women’s involvement in post-conflict resolution processes trough peace talks and mediation.

 

Photo: UN photo, Christopher Herwig