The Odd Couple: Women Peacebuilders and Security Actors Bridging Positions, Building Trust
The WPS agenda has proven a vital entry point for women peacebuilders to engage with the security sector and build trust within affected communities. These efforts—often invisible—are contributing to the reform of the sector, reshaping local security environments and mitigating violence.
The War Against Ourselves: Afghan Women Peacebuilders’ Response to the Mental Health Crisis in Afghanistan
This case study describes the drivers of the mental health crisis in Afghanistan, its gendered and cultural dimensions, and the strategies used by Afghan women-led peacebuilding organizations to provide solutions. The authors conducted interviews with representatives of Afghan women-led peacebuilding organizations and thematic experts, which were complemented by a desk review of project documentation and […]
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August 31, 2022: ICAN marks one year since the US and NATO ended their chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
August 31, 2022: ICAN marks one year since the US and NATO ended their chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan
31 August 2022
In August 2021, as Kabul fell to the Taliban, our small organization the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) received hundreds of desperate text messages, phone calls, and emails from Afghan women peacebuilders, journalists, lawyers, government employees, and women in the security sector. We became a de facto hub for over 2500 people at risk, facilitating safe houses in Afghanistan, providing livelihood support and, where possible, supporting evacuation and resettlement. One year later we have not stopped.
In the year since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, we have:
Advocated for and assisted in the relocation of approximately 200 families, consisting of over 1000 people.
Issued rapid response grants comprising $590,000 to Afghan women-led peacebuilding organizations to cover organizational needs and facilitate humanitarian support, relocation for staff, program beneficiaries, and community members.
Issued 17 individual grants totaling $36,000 to support humanitarian and protection needs.
ICAN Forum 2022 WASL Interview Series
To mark one year since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, we released the first two episodes of the #ICANForum22 Interview Series with Afghan members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL): Mahbouba Seraj and Hassina Neekzad. These interviews were recorded in June, 2022 at ICAN’s 9th Women, Peace and Security Forum: Reclaiming Power, Restoring Peace.
ICAN’s Founder and CEO, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE appeared on CGTN America’s The Heat program on 16 August, alongside Ambassador Omar Samad, the former Afghan Ambassador to France and Canada; Ahmad Shah Mohibi, Founder and President of Rise to Peace; and Benjamin Norton, an investigative journalist.
On Wednesday 7 September, 18.30-20.30 BST, three groups supporting vulnerable individuals to exit Afghanistan and resettle in the UK – Action for Afghanistan, Azadi Charity and Sulha Alliance – will co-host an event in the UK Parliament, Afghanistan Exit One Year On: Panel Discussion on the Challenges Ahead. ICAN’s founder and CEO, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE will speak on the panel alongside UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, Tom Tugendhat MP, Fawzia Koofi, and others.
بعد أكثر من عقد من الحرب، تشهد سوريا مرحلة انتقالية هشة. لقد كتب سقوط نظام الأسد في ديسمبر/كانون الأول من عام 2024 نهاية أكثر من 50 عاما من الحكم الاستبدادي، ولكنه لم يجلب الاستقرار الفوري. بل على العكس، يواجه البلد أزمة اقتصادية متفاقمة، وتوترات أمنية، وانتهاكات مستمرة لحقوق الإنسان، ونزوحا جماعيا، وتفككا اجتماعيا حادا. أكثر […]
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Nina Potarska, a member of the ICAN-spearheaded Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership, is currently at sea with the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian-led mission organized with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, en route to Gaza.
ICAN FeaturedOur StoriesStoriesWomen's Alliance for Security Leadership
مدينة البصرة في جنوب العراق، المدينة التي تضررت طويلا من الحرب وقلة الاستثمارات، تواجه تهديدات متزايدة بسبب خطاب الكراهية والتطرف وتآكل الثقة بين المواطنين والمؤسسات. وغالبا ما يقع الشباب -وخاصة الشابات- في قلب هذه التوترات، في عالم تتقاطع فيه المضايقات والتحرش الالكتروني مع الواقع. وفي مثل هذه البيئة، تتبنى جمعية الفردوس العراقية (الفردوس) نهجا جديدا […]
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The International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) Statement: The Escalating U.S.-Israeli War on Iran and its Regional Ramifications
Iraqi Al-Firdaws Society (Al-Firdaws) is taking a new approach to peacebuilding. Their project, Horizon: Promoting Community Peace, supported by ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund (IPF), brings together youth, local security forces, and civil society actors to address violent extremism through dialogue, education, and community-based action.
ICAN FeaturedOur StoriesStoriesWomen's Alliance for Security Leadership
Introducing the Holistic Security Menu: a co-designed, partner-driven model that provides practical and sustainable security support—on women peacebuilders’ own terms.
ICAN convened 20 members of WASL in Lisbon for the “Our Strategies, Our Peace” Writers’ Workshop. This unique gathering provided a secure and creative space for women peacebuilders to share their strategies, experience, expertise, and stories from conflict and crisis contexts.
