The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Program at AC4 has published the Peace and Social Change Fellowship workshop report for the 2020 Nairobi cohort. This report captures some of the key themes that have emerged in the discussions and activities in which the participants in this year’s Peace and Social Change Fellowship cohort engaged, particularly during our opening workshop in January 2020. Participants shared common challenges, such as ensuring the scope of their work was manageable, mobilizing resources, telling the story of their work more accurately, and dealing with the ever-evolving socio-economic and political situations in their contexts. Together, they exchanged insights that ranged from using social media as a tool for collaborative outreach, to leveraging
intergenerational and interfaith dialogue to promote inclusive peacebuilding. The report discusses some of the key strategies that the participating grassroots women’s organizations all use, in various ways, to advance peace and justice in their communities:
1. Grassroots women’s activism addresses gendered violence that is not only physical, but also structural, and rooted in inequalities existing across society.
2. Women’s organizing to advance justice and peace occurs on a number of levels and scales.
3. Women’s mobilizations for peace and security often rely on integrating diverse stakeholders and perspectives into peacebuilding coalitions.
Lessons for the field:
The themes that emerged from the January 2020 workshop contribute to new understandings of
grassroots women’s activism and constitute key lessons for the field of women, peace and
security.
1. Adopting a broad lens of ‘peace and security’ more fully captures the nature of women’s grassroots peacebuilding.
2. Grassroots women’s organizations have much to learn from each other through the sharing of strategies, stories and key lessons.
3. Spaces for constructive horizontal engagement can help build stronger coalitions both within and across grassroots women’s organizations.
Read the full report here.
July 07, 2020