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She Builds Peace: Stand With Women Peacebuilders Today
ICAN’s Statement on our Gender- and Conflict-Sensitive Response to COVID-19
Women, Peace and Security in the Time of Corona – Sanam Anderlini
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Women Peacebuilders on the Frontlines of COVID-19
Many of our WASL partners, alongside other women peacebuilders, have pivoted their work to respond to COVID-19 and related issues: community awareness-raising, distributing supplies, calling for ceasefires, working to prevent domestic violence as people are quarantined or self-distancing at home, and more. Women peacebuilders are again on the frontlines, working to prevent the spread of a pandemic in their communities.
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini’s Remarks at the 7th Biannual Review of the UN Counter Terrorism Strategy
“Stop the rhetoric on promising rights, development and gender equality, and deliver on that promise. If your promises stay empty, you lose the trust of the people,” warned ICAN’s Founder and CEO, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE, during a high level session of the UN’s 7th Biannual Review of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.
Ms. Anderlini spoke alongside Professor Ni Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN’s Special Rapporteur Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl, Switzerland’s Permanent Representative to the UN and Ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, Permanent Representative of France to the UN in a session on “Protecting and promoting Human Rights as a cornerstone of building resilience against terrorism”.
Read Ms. Anderlini’s full speech.
The Ever-Present Cycle of Conflict and Peace Making
Around the world, women peacebuilders are working within their communities to de-escalate violent conflict and prevent the recurrence of conflict in post-conflict or transitional environments. However, their work is made increasingly more difficult by the framing of conflict resolution as a linear process. WASL partners suggest that conflict is actually a cycle and that most countries will experience multiple phases of the cycle, simultaneously.
In the 14th virtual WASL call, peacebuilders discussed the ‘cycle of conflict’ and how it affects their work on conflict prevention, de-escalation, and peacebuilding.
Read the full summary.
The Importance of Global Connectivity in Peacebuilding
The concept of interconnectedness is one that ICAN has directly addressed through the formal establishment of WASL, meaning “to connect” in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. In the 12th weekly call, WASL members shared their stories of what this alliance means to them as a family and community of support.
“ICAN and WASL offer moral and political support to women. They energize us and empower us to raise our voice.”
Read the full summary.
Secondary Impacts of COVID-19 and the Role of Development Aid
As COVID-19 has exacerbated existing gaps in services on the ground, and many women peacebuilders pivoted their work during the pandemic to deal with urgent humanitarian response, the question of whether development aid reaches local communities arose. Members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) highlighted the need for change so that development aid can reach local communities and provide the basic services of food, healthcare, and education.
Canada’s Minister of International Development, Karina Gould, and Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, Jacqueline O’Neill joined WASL members in the conversation.
Read the full summary
Our Work
Presents a pragmatic guidance for the inclusion of women peacebuilders, and offers proactive steps to broaden participation.
Preventing extremism by promoting rights, peace and pluralism. Enabling strategic collaboration between women peacebuilders.
Provides a mechanism for regular high-level civil society-government dialogue on issues related to preventing extremism.
Provides grants and technical assistance to partners to support local solutions in promoting peace and countering extremism.