ICAN co-hosted a workshop on strengthening cooperation among CSOs

With support from the Rapid Response Window of the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund in partnership with the International Civil Society Action Network, Women Relief Aid, a South Sudanese women-led NGO and member of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership, is making remarkable strides to improve realities for women in the country.

ICAN was invited to attend the Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy Conference at the World Forum in The Hague from November 1-2, 2023. Organized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the conference welcomed more than 750 participants from over 40 countries. On the first day of the conference, ICAN hosted a side event titled: No Feminist Foreign Policy Without Feminist Funding, in partnership with GPPAC.

Members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL)—peacebuilders, mediators, human rights activists, and community leaders living and working at the frontlines of many of today’s devastating wars—released a statement calling upon global political leaders to demand an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine. The statement outlines a comprehensive set of actions that enable a pathway to a more just and peaceful future.

In the war-torn city of Mosul, Iraq, the scars of conflict run deep. The rise and fall of ISIS left behind a community fractured by violence. ISIS male fighters were killed, captured, or fled, but the women they married, and their children remained. Referred to as “ISIS-associated families”, they are stuck in limbo, without legal status and facing ostracism and isolation. The challenge of reintegrating these families into society is a daunting task, but the Odessa Organization for Women’s Development (Odessa) – a partner of ICAN and member of WASL- is making significant strides in bridging this divide.

The ongoing war in Syria has resulted in the world’s largest refugee crisis with more than 13 million people forcibly displaced since the beginning of the conflict in 2011. Kilis, a Turkish border city, is the main point of entry from Syria and is home to around 200,000 Syrians. Kareemat, a women-led peacebuilding organization in Kilis, Turkey, is making a profound impact on Syrian refugee women and their families. Supported by ICAN, Kareemat addresses the challenges of displacement, isolation, and economic hardships through psychological support, language classes, and economic empowerment resources, fostering integration and reducing tensions between Turkish and Syrian communities.

Despite staggering challenges and limited space to operate, the Women, Peace, Studies Organization (WPSO) continues to provide support for women in every province of Afghanistan.

ICAN is pleased to share the summary of key findings of a four-year independent evaluation (December 2018 - December 2022) conducted by Merits Partnership on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). This summary highlights ICAN added value to local women-led peacebuilding organizations, international organizations including funders, as well as to the wider Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Preventing Violent extremism (PVE) agendas.

Communities are a powerful force for pre-empting and preventing extremisms, provided they are equipped to intervene to ensure that community members do not become trapped in the process of radicalization. In the WASL community check-in call on March 16, 2023, WASL member Mira Kusumarini of Empatiku, a peacebuilding organization based in Indonesia, presented a new guidebook to build the capacity of communities to do just that, entitled Identifying Early Warning Signs: A Guidebook for Building Community Resilience to Violent Extremism.

On Wednesday 15 February guests from the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UNDPPA), UN Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) and UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) joined the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and women peacebuilders in the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) for a special consultation on the UN Secretary-General’s “New Agenda for Peace”.

ICAN is fundraising to support the urgent humanitarian needs of its partners in the earthquake-affected region and the communities they serve. We are raising funds to help them with safe shelter, blankets, food, water and medicine, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Please donate if you can.

On October 27, 2022, the Feminist Financing Group brought together representatives of Member States, the UN, and civil society for the first time since the adoption of the Financing Resolution to discuss concrete actions for more meaningful inclusion of women in decision-making around developing and implementing funding priorities.

This briefing paper collates the perspectives and approaches of 63 women peacebuilders from 39 countries, members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL), who gathered in spring of 2022 during ICAN’s 9th Women, Peace, and Security Forum “Reclaiming Power, Restoring Peace”.