The governments of Norway and Jordan will host two upcoming events to mark the publication of the new report Invisible Women: Gendered Dimensions of Return, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration, jointly produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), drawing on the expertise of members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL).

On February 28, 2019, they will convene an expert-level technical meeting, Advancing a Holistic and Gendered Approach to Return, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration from Violent Extremism exploring how to advance a holistic and gendered approach to return, rehabilitation and reintegration from violent extremism through policies and programming.

This technical meeting will consider the practical implications of multi-sectoral, holistic and gendered approaches to return, rehabilitation and reintegration, particularly as they apply to the current CT, CVE and PVE agendas and to development programming more broadly. Ms. Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) will moderate the discussion, featuring speakers from the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL):

• Mira Kusumarini, co-founder and Executive Director of the Civil Society Against Violent Extremism (C-SAVE) in Indonesia;
• Sabrina Mowlah-Baksh, founding member and former chair of WINAD, a feminist organization leading on women and security issues in Trinidad and Tobago; and
• Nika Saeedi, Policy Specialist, Gender, Political Processes, Peacebuilding at United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

They will provide front-line perspectives on the issues, sharing their strategies, lessons learnt and recommendations for critical and practical steps that the UN and member states can take in the development of policy and programming to address this issue.

On Friday, March 1st, 2019, as co-chairs of the Group of Friends of PVE the governments of Norway and Jordan will convene their yearly high-level meeting at the UN to review progress on the 2015 UN Secretary General’s Plan of Action for Preventing Violent Extremism. This event, Women’s Leadership and Gender Perspectives on Preventing Violent Extremism, will focus on the progress made and continued obstacles to the implementation of the plan’s recommendations pertaining to gender responsiveness and the inclusion of women’s organizations in prevention and response efforts. Because so often the first targets of violent extremism are women and minorities, women-led organizations from Pakistan to Nigeria, have long been the first to raise the alarm about violent extremism and developing responses, ranging from alternative narratives to building community resilience, and engaging with all actors including security forces. Their rootedness in communities means they have knowledge, trust, access and long-term commitment to initiate and sustain sensitive prevention, rehabilitation and peacebuilding efforts..

Ms. Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) will deliver the keynote address, followed by a presentation from Ms. Halima Mohamed, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Coast Education Centre (COEC). Discussions at the event will center on how best to ensure more inclusive P/CVE practices that draw on the comparative strengths of each sector, with particular focus on the role of women led civil society organizations.