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Our Global Reach
10 September 2026
Staff Accountant (Remote, US Based)

ICAN is hiring a Staff Accountant to provide financial and administrative support to ICAN’s Finance Director and broader team.

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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
10 September 2026
Staff Accountant (Remote, US Based)

ICAN is hiring a Staff Accountant to provide financial and administrative support to ICAN’s Finance Director and broader team.

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Country - Iraq

About the Organization

Odessa is an organization based in Iraq, founded in 2009, that works to empower women economically, legally, and socially to enhance their role in peacebuilding. ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund has supported Odessa since 2018, including supporting its work to foster social cohesion among the Yazidi and Christian communities in 2018. With the creation of a peace team, the organization used documentary filmmaking and photography to profile women’s stories and their role in promoting peaceful coexistence.

In 2021, ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund funded Odessa’s work to support the deradicalization and reintegration of former ISIS-associated women, and to foster social cohesion and provide livelihood support in the process.

Core Areas of Work:

  • Peacemaking
  • PVE, Deradicalization, and Reintegration

[Women] are ambassadors of peace; they are spreading peace in their local areas and the community is recognizing them as that.

– Maysoon Ahmed Ismael Director, Odessa Organization for Women Development, Iraq

Stories & Features

Women Peacebuilders and Religious Leaders: A Complex Partnership with Transformative Potential 

In a world increasingly divided by polarization, fear, and misinformation, building trust at the community level has never been more urgent. Religious and faith leaders—often seen as voices of moral authority and guidance—wield significant influence over the social and political attitudes of their communities. As locally rooted, trusted community leaders themselves, the women peacebuilders who make up the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) recognize the value of engaging with religious actors to advance inclusive peace and gender equality

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June 3, 2025
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Bridging Communities: How Women Peacebuilders Promote Peace and Resilience to Prevent Violent Extremism

ICAN facilitated a four-day peer-to-peer learning exchange in Indonesia between WASL members Empatiku and Odessa Organization for Women’s Development, from Mosul, Iraq. 

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January 21, 2025
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Sisters of Peace in Iraq: Diffusing the Timebomb of a Divided Mosul

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.

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July 24, 2023
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More Countries & Partners

OUR PARTNERS MAP
Empatiku Foundation Indonesia

Empatiku is a civil society organization based in Indonesia that fosters empathy in the security and education sectors and addresses the rise of violent extremism. Since its establishment in 2015, Empatiku has innovated its programs to ensure the involvement of civil society, especially women, in bringing about social change.

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Think Twice Brazil Brazil

Think Twice Brasil (TTB) is a social impact organization that supports individuals and institutions to interrupt cycles of violence and inequality through education, research, and the development of innovative strategies that advance peace, democratic participation, and human rights.

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Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Aid (WCGLA) Egypt

The Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness (WCGLA) is a feminist, independent civil society organization based in Egypt, dedicated to advancing women’s rights, gender justice, and inclusive peacebuilding.

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Hope Advocates Africa Cameroon

Founded in 2015, Hope Advocates Africa (HADA) is a youth-led, grassroots-driven organization based in Cameroon, advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), gender justice, environmental peacebuilding, mediation, and conflict management in marginalized communities.

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Al Firdaws Society Iraq

Al-Firdaws Society is a leading Iraqi non-governmental organization founded in Basra in 2003.

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Corporación Conciudadanía Colombia

Corporación Conciudadanía is a nonprofit, non-partisan, civil society organization that promotes citizen participation in order to strengthen local democracy and active citizenship.

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Pathways for Women’s Empowerment and Development (PaWED) Cameroon

Pathways for Women’s Empowerment and Development & Integrated Agricultural Training Center (PaWED-AITC) is a Cameroon-based non-governmental organization advancing gender equality, inclusive peacebuilding, and social cohesion.

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Center for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance (CEWLA) Egypt

The Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA) is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 1995. Its strives to offer Egyptian women legal support and assistance regarding their rights under the Egyptian Constitution and laws, and international conventions.

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Women for Justice Foundation (WJF) Egypt / Canada

Women for Justice Foundation (WJF) is an Egyptian-Canadian nonprofit organization based in Ottawa, Canada and established in 2019.

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