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Podcasting and Peacebuilding: She Talks Peace with Amina Rasul
Podcasting and Peacebuilding: She Talks Peace with Amina Rasul
03 November 2022
ICAN’s Senior Program Officer, Stacey Schamber, and WASL member and President of PCID, Amina Rasul, in conversation about the She Talks Peace podcast, part of the global She Builds Peace campaign.
When the pandemic hit the Philippines, Amina Rasul, President of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID), wondered how they would continue their work. Their scheduled launch of the She Builds Peace campaign was canceled the day before the event, so they pivoted to zoom. Without in-person meetings, they were unsure how to proceed until one friend suggested that Rasul try podcasting. “What’s a podcast?” she wondered. Rasul conducted her research, listened to dozens of podcasts, and finally connected with Podcast Network Asia, a podcasting firm with experience in the entertainment industry who was keen to support podcasts with more gravitas.
Rasul realized that a podcast offered an opportunity to reach a wide audience, not only in the Philippines but globally. She connected with Dina Zaman, fellow member of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL), the Southeast Asian Network of Women Peacebuilders (SEAWP), and co-founder of IMAN Research, a Malaysian based think tank. They were both interested in educating others, especially women, about the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda and understanding the critical role that women play in strengthening human security. Through the podcast, women peacebuilders have an opportunity to discuss their work, the challenges they face, and the reasons for their motivation and commitment to women’s rights and peacebuilding. The first episode of the She Talks Peace podcast, which aired in August 2021 reached listeners across seven countries, this has since expanded to 82 countries. While the majority of the audience is women, 29% are men, and the podcast has reached a wide intergenerational cross section: 8% of the listeners are adolescents and 10% are senior citizens, perhaps in decision-making roles.
Listenership by Age (As of August 2022)
Listenership by Country (As of August 2022)
Centered on the WPS agenda and implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1325, She Talks Peace has become a platform for information sharing, networking, and training on the role of women peacebuilders bringing peace and security to their communities. With guests from Indonesia to Afghanistan, from Malaysia to Nigeria, each episode shares the stories of peacebuilders and their dreams and hopes for a world without violence. Topics have ranged from violent extremism to modern day slavery, from technology to protecting the environment. Many WASL members have joined to discuss the issues which affect their contexts (listen below).
“Attending university is part of my nonviolence, which I use on a daily basis. This is a way of saying to the occupation, we are here. We have to keep advocating our cause with the international community.”– Lucy Talgieh, WASL Member, Palestine
Rasul has found that podcasting is highly accessible and can serve as a powerful way to discover new audiences and strengthen communities. In her words, “the key technological advantage to podcasting is its time-shifting nature, the ability to listen to audio material when we choose. Podcasting offers convenience to listeners while providing a platform to get informed and be part of a cause.” Rasul reflects that the conversational style, with personal sharing and anecdotes, makes complex issues more understandable and humanizes peacebuilders, enabling listeners to connect with who they are.
“I’ve always focused on the personal. I think it’s important to keep this perspective in policymaking. Women are looking at how to eat, how to provide safe shelter for our children.”
– Nina Portaska, WASL Member, Ukraine
“We have to be able to really talk to each other, even if the audience is just hearing us.” One young person described that listening to the podcast felt like eavesdropping because it made it real for her. Podcasts bring intimate conversations about difficult issues into our living rooms and can help communities feel supported. Rasul has encouraged others in the WASL community to host podcasts in their local languages to reach others and help “give a voice to the voiceless.”
“I feel like I’m making more friends. I’m getting to know our sisters more. If they amaze me, you can imagine how much they amaze young people who are listening.”
– Amina Rasul, WASL Member and She Talks Peace Host
After Rasul promoted the podcast with her own network, several professors who teach either peace or gender studies contacted her to request permission to use the podcast as resource material. She met with them at Mindanao State University (MSU), which has Institutes for Peace and Development across seven campuses, and decided to create a localized peace curriculum integrating the podcasts into training modules. While the university teaches peace and conflict theory, Rasul explains that it’s not contextualized with an Islamic perspective. She plans to engage in cross-country learning exchange with other WASL members and university professors to develop the curriculum which will also highlight differences across Islamic contexts. In addition to MSU, the University of the Philippines, the Human Rights Commission, and the Department of Education have also indicated interest in the podcasts as learning material.
This year Rasul will experiment with a new format for the podcast, developing a video of the podcast for You Tube. Recognizing that understanding of WPS remains low among policymakers and the security sector, Rasul hopes that by educating the public they can in turn influence key decision-makers. “I want people to know that women peacebuilders are not a threat, they are allies.” Women peacebuilders care for their communities and want to ensure holistic, human security. By changing dynamics at the community level, there may be greater acceptance of women peacebuilders which can seep upwards to affect higher level change. As it develops, She Talks Peace promotes more public awareness and institutionalizes this knowledge in the university system. In Rasul’s words, “You throw the seeds out and hope they take root.”
“I want people to know that women peacebuilders are not a threat, they are allies.”
– Amina Rasul, WASL Member and She Talks Peace Host
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.
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On October 6, 2025, the U.N. Security Council holds its annual open debate on Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. Today, we are not issuing a new statement. Instead, we are honoring our community of women peacebuilders—who appeared before the Security Council throughout these 25 years, speaking for the millions they represent—by echoing their messages.
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In South Sudan, a nation where peace has long remained fragile and democratic progress uncertain, women are stepping forward to shape the future of their country. Long excluded from the corridors of power, they are forging their own movement for lasting change.
On behalf of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and members of the global Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL), we are honored to nominate Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
در عرصه صحت روانی، افغانستان با بحران پیچیدهای مواجه است که این بحران به طور جدایی ناپذیر با ناامنی شدید فیزیکی، سیاسی و اقتصادی در کشور گره خورده و این نا امنی ها بحران را تشدید میکند. برای رسیدگی به آسیب های روانی، صحت و بهداشت جامعه به شیوه های پاسخگو به جنسیت و با مد نظر گرفتن حساسیت های فرهنگی، سازمانهای فعال در عرصه صلح سازی به رهبری زنان افغان در موقعیتی منحصربه فرد قرار دارند. این سازمان ها خدمات ابتدایی ارائه میدهند، مهارتها را توسعه میبخشند و در شکلدهی هنجارهای فرهنگی و جنسیتی نقش مؤثر ایفا میکنند.
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In a powerful departure from traditional advocacy, ICAN—guided by our Afghan partners and women peacebuilders—hosted the event “Watan e Ma – وطن ما – Our Homeland: Women of Afghanistan Keeping the Flame of Freedom Alive” on March 17, 2025 at Blue Gallery in New York City. Held during the 69th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), the event celebrated Afghan cultural heritage and the resilience of Afghan women peacebuilders, who persist in their leadership for peace, justice, and equality under the Taliban’s regime of gender apartheid.
On May 5, 2025, ICAN's Sanam Naraghi Anderlini delivered the keynote speech at the two-day international conference "25th Anniversary Conference of UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security."
As Senator Mobina Jaffer concludes 23 years of distinguished public service in the Canadian Senate, we extend our deepest thanks for her steadfast leadership as Chair of ICAN’s Board of Directors from 2014 to 2024.
Trust between communities and the security sector is critical for effective governance and peace. So is a vibrant civil society. When women peacebuilders are recognized and engaged as independent, strategic partners and security actors—in their own right—the results are transformative. Twenty-five years on from the launch of the WPS agenda, women peacebuilders’ creativity and contributions to societal peace and security are not only timely, they are even more essential.
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Since gaining independence in 1948, Myanmar has been shaped by relentless conflict, political upheaval, and deep-seated resistance. Ethnic divisions, decades of military rule, and systemic gender inequality have compounded the struggles faced by women across the country. Yet, despite oppression and violence, Myanmar’s women have consistently led movements for justice and change, standing at the forefront of resistance.
Afghanistan is facing a complex mental health crisis inextricably linked with and compounding the dire state of physical, political, and economic insecurity in the country. Afghan women-led peacebuilding organizations are uniquely positioned to address community members’ health and wellness in gender-responsive, culturally- sensitive, and trauma-informed ways.
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