Integrating women’s priorities into peacebuilding processes

Women peacebuilders in various conflict-affected countries face very similar challenges as they attempt to integrate women’s interests in peacebuilding policy processes and civil society actors from different countries can potentially learn a lot from exchanging experiences with each other. This report outlines the findings and recommendations of a workshop with representatives from Burundian and Sierra Leonean civil society organisations working in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment organised by International Alert on 25th to 29th February 2008. The aim of the five-day workshop was to exchange experiences, discuss common challenges and strengthen future collaboration in order to support the integration of gender-related priorities into peacebuilding processes. Throughout the workshop, a number of key policy issues relevant to civil society actors in both countries were raised. A central concern across all issues was the challenge that civil society organisations face in attempting to integrate gender perspectives into peacebuilding policies, particularly security-related activities, and then effectively monitoring the implementation of these policies. The workshop resulted in a number of findings and recommendations that can be built on to ensure enhanced support for women’s organizations to monitor and advocate for the inclusion of gender perspectives in peacebuilding processes.