To Address Extremisms In The New Decade, Do What The Women Say
ICAN’s Senior Program Officer, Rosalie Fransen provides a gendered analysis of emerging trends and threats in the CT and P/CVE landscape.
Despite the Challenges, Donors Must Continue to Support Struggling Nonprofits in Afghanistan (The Chronicle of Philanthropy)
Following the Taliban takeover, a large number of civil-society leaders, particularly women, were forced to flee the country, and a severe lack of funding and a repressive operating environment led many organizations to shut their doors.
What Happened in Afghanistan Isn’t Staying in Afghanistan (Common Dreams)
To prevent the forever war turning into war forever, instead of an arms race and trillion-dollar defense spending, now more than ever we need to stand for and practice the principles of universal human rights, justice, and pluralism.
Where are the Women Peacemakers? (Le Monde Diplomatique)
Who should be but isn’t at the peace talks table for the many wars afflicting the daily lives of millions? Women. They do the work on the ground but are cut out of negotiations for peace.
Why Don’t Afghan Lives Matter? | Opinion – Sanam Naraghi Anderlini (Newsweek)
Afghanistan’s country code is +93. My phone lights up—day and night. I cannot bear to answer, knowing I have no answers. I cannot bear to ignore them. “I hope you are not tired,” they say. “Sorry to bother you,” “Thank you for thinking of us,” and “If they find me, they’ll rip me apart, please take my children.” Their graciousness, dignity, apologies for disturbing our lives, to help save theirs, are humbling and haunting.
Women, Peace and Security in the Time of Corona
An op-ed by Sanam Naraghi Anderlini about the gendered impact of COVID-19, and the relevance of the WPS agenda.
US WPS Agenda: Not Just a Foreign Policy
Stacey Schamber discusses the potential of US Women, Peace and Security Act to transform the US’s role in the world and stresses the need to widen the lens of the WPS policies and the Act to include the domestic US context.
Features
Self-Help Groups, Skills Learning and Psychosocial Support: WPSO Provides a Lifeline to Afghan Women
Despite staggering challenges and limited space to operate, the Women, Peace, Studies Organization (WPSO) continues to provide support for women in every province of Afghanistan.
ICAN Partner AWAPSA: A Catalyst for Kenya’s First SGBV Court
Funded by ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund (IPF), AWAPSA launched a project across Kenya’s coastal counties to increase awareness of SGBV, educate women and girls on how to report instances of SGBV, and facilitate the reporting of cases to the police. One of the most significant and unforeseen outcomes of AWAPSA’s project was the establishment of Kenya’s first special court for handling SGBV cases, which opened in March 2022, at Shanzu Law Courts, Mombasa.
Pakistani peacebuilder, Bushra Hyder, fighting off call for jihad for Rohingya
As news and images of the Burmese military’s attacks on the minority Muslim Rohingya community spread around the world, partner, Bushra Qadeem Hyder, a school principal and long time educationalist in Pakistan was among the first to see the impact on the students...
Interviews
Marie-Joëlle Zahar is Pushing the Boundaries for Women in Security & Peacebuilding
Marie-Joëlle Zahar has been an ICAN Board Member since 2019. In this interview, she reflects on her early experiences during the war in Lebanon and how they shaped her journey in the world of conflict resolution, peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction, and gendered work. Marie-Joëlle shares stories of her time as a Senior Expert on the Standby Team of Mediation Experts at the UNDPPA, what it was like being one of the few women in international mediation spaces, and her advice for the next generation of women peacebuilders and WPS practitioners. Read more to view the full conversation.
“We are not afraid, we are resisting”: A strong message from the Director of Myanmar’s Gender Equality Network
At 8pm every evening since February 1, 2021 hundreds of thousands across Myanmar bang pots and pans to demonstrate their non-violent resistance to the military coup. This symbolic act is part of the Red Ribbon campaign, a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement. The movement’s message is clear, explains May Sabe Phyu, Director of the Gender Equality Network (GEN) and a member of WASL: “We are not afraid; we are resisting the coup.”
“Let us go where the guns are loud”: How Esther Omam Builds Peace in Cameroon
“Women peacebuilders run to the problem when everyone else is running away,” said ICAN’s CEO and Founder, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. This statement could not be truer of award-winning Cameroonian peacebuilder, Esther Omam. Esther’s career has seen her go from development worker to humanitarian responder to mediator and peacebuilder, in the South-West region of Cameroon.
Peace Heroes: Najlaa El Sheikh Helps Syrian Women Refugees Become Business Owners
“I often dream the jasmine returns to Syria to decorate and perfume our streets.”
As the Syrian regime rained barrel bombs on her hometown in Syria, Najlaa and her family were forced to flee to Turkey where she established the first organization led by a Syrian woman to help other women refugees with literacy, economic empowerment, and psychosocial support.
Peace Hero Najlaa El Sheikh speaks to ICAN about her journey, her work, and her dreams.
Peace Heroes: Muna Luqman and the Role of Women in War-Stricken Yemen
We spoke to Yemeni peace activist Muna Luqman, co-founder of the Women Solidarity Network and member of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL), about the war in Yemen, its devastating ramifications, and about the strength of Yemeni women in the face of this destruction.
Peace Heroes: Indonesia’s Mira Kusumarini Shows How Reintegrating Ex-extremists is Done
Mira Kusumarini talks to ICAN about C-SAVE’s efforts to alter the lives of returnees and prepare their communities to accept them.
ICAN in the News
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini Interview on Times Radio
ICAN Founder and CEO, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, talks to Darryl Morris for Times Radio about the Taliban’s latest directive, restricting Afghan women’s travel without a male relative chaperone, which she describes as “devastating, disappointing but honestly not surprising.”
Women, Power and Peacebuilding: Assessing the Women Peace and Security Agenda
“From Nepal and Yemen to Northern Ireland or Israel, Palestine, we have seen the political and military elite, at war with each other, unable to agree to anything—yet they stand united when it comes to excluding women peacebuilders from the processes. I think it’s because they are afraid of the women. They are afraid of being held accountable.”
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics joined Ms. contributor Michelle Onello for a frank and far-reaching interview to discuss what has been accomplished by the Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda thus far and what more needs to be done.
ICAN’s Sanam Naraghi Anderlini became a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
This special honour was given to Ms. Anderlini in recognition of her work and for services to international peacebuilding and women’s rights.
WASL Partner Visaka Dharmadasa’s Efforts to Include More Women in Sri Lanka’s Peacekeeping
WASL partner Visaka Dharmadasa, founder of the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) was featured in an article reporting on Sri Lanka’s efforts to include more women in its military. ICAN, in partnership with the Permanent mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN and AWAW, hosted a panel on “Increasing Women in UN Peacekeeping” in October 2017, and Visaka played a key role in highlighting the need to hold a follow up seminar in Colombo discussing setting a quota of women in the Sri Lankan military and in peacekeeping missions.
Photo Gallery
Latest Videos
Reclaiming Power, Restoring Peace
We are delighted to release our new video “Reclaiming Power, Restoring Peace”, which gives a glimpse into the words, work, and unique nature of WASL.
Iran Protests 2022: Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE speaks to CNN International
ICAN’s Founder and CEO, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE spoke to Anna Coren on CNN International on October, 27, 2022 about the current protests in Iran that began after the death of Mahsa Amini.
The Coming of Age of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: 21 in 2021
Nearly every month through 2021, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE, founder of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and director of LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, hosted conversations with pioneering women peacebuilders from around the world and their allies working internationally on issues of peace and security.