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Our Global Reach
29 January 2026
ICAN’s Holistic Security Menu: A New Way to Support Women Peacebuilders

Women peacebuilders often operate in some of the world’s most dangerous contexts—yet the security support available to them is frequently fragmented, repetitive, and short-term. Recognizing the need for a fundamentally different approach, ICAN conducted a holistic security assessment of its Afghan partners, including members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL).  The result is the Holistic Security Menu: a co-designed, partner-driven model that provides practical and sustainable security support—on women peacebuilders’ […]

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Resource Library
12 May 2025
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.

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21 April 2025
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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News & Media
6 October 2025
Open Statement to the United Nations Security Council on behalf of Women Peacebuilders Marking 25 Years of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda

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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Papers

April 26, 2022 by Lauren Mellows Race, Power and Peacebuilding Race, Power and Peacebuilding aims to explore and to understand how racism manifests itself in the peacebuilding sector. This report has been produced by Peace Direct in collaboration with...
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 26 April 2022
May 17, 2018 by Lauren Mellows Anderlini challenges conventional wisdom on countering/preventing violent extremism "Challenging Conventional Wisdom, Transforming Current Practices: A Gendered Lens" Sanam Anderlini's contribution to the newly published "Transformative Approaches to Violent Extremism", Berghof Handbook Dialogue Series 13 on Preventing Violent...
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 17 May 2018
October 11, 2017 by Lauren Mellows Bringing Peace to Yemen by Having Women at the Table This brief examines and reflects on existing efforts to enable the participation of civil society voices, notably women, in Yemen’s formal negotiations. And it provides practical recommendations to the...
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 11 October 2017
September 19, 2017 by Lauren Mellows Analysis: National Action Plans on Preventing Violent Extremism A gendered content analysis of nine NAPs, analyzing whether and how specific themes and target groups were discussed, including education, media, civil society, gender/ women, and human rights.
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 19 September 2017
May 7, 2015 by Lauren Mellows Case Study: Recruitment of Girls into Militant Groups Respect the Dignity and Autonomy of Girls:  Stop Recruitment of Girls into Militant Groups 16 year-old YPJ fighter Barkhodan Kochar from Darbasi, Syria.“The war influenced me a lot. Before...
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 07 May 2015