A Manual for involving women in peace
Jan 21, 2015
First story
I just discovered this manual from Kvinna Till Kvinna, which has worked a lot with women on peacebuilding in conflict zones. It is focused not just at women, but at all those engaged in peacebuilding such as donors, diplomats and mediators - and that is very useful, because sometimes those groups don't understand how to engage women and it is helpful to have a resource that you can share with them.
This is the link to their 24 page manual, in English:
http://www.kvinnatillkvinna.se/sites/default/files/Make%20Room%20for%20P...
Here is their descriiptiont:
"This manual focuses on the participation of women organisations acting for peace in conflict affected regions. Make Room for Peace gives practical guidance to third parties, such as donors, diplomatic delegations, mediators and other intermediaries aiming at supporting sustainable peace processes. The recommendations apply to both national and international stakeholders in peace processes. The manual may also be used as a tool for women’s organisations advocating women’s participation in peace processes.
"The effectiveness of systematically including women’s civil society groups in decision-making in peace processes as a whole tends to be undervalued judging from the very limited participation of women achieved so far in the shaping of peace processes. This marginalisation is still evident even when peace and rebuilding negotiations are supported, facilitated and mediated by international third parties that are positive to democracy, gender equality and women’s rights.
"This guide attempts to address this weakness by presenting concrete tools for third parties who are serious about including women’s organisations in peace processes.
"Kvinna till Kvinna brings two decades of experience-based knowledge of supporting more than a hundred women’s organisations in conflict regions. It would appear that civil society women’s work for peace and security is still largely an untapped resource in the political decision-making of peace processes."
