Evelyn Thornton (left) and Tobie Whitman discuss the powerful influence of women in Integrated Peacebuilding.

Peacebuilding is a complex process. It involves a diverse set of actors utilizing creative tools, engaging multiple communities, and striving to understand the nuances of conflict. Collaboration amongst actors from different sectors—development, humanitarian aid, diplomacy, business, media—leads to sustainable outcomes.

Integrated Peacebuilding: Innovative Approaches to Transforming Conflict addresses the importance of a holistic method for ending violent conflict. Edited by Craig Zelizer, Founder of the Peace and Collaborative Development Network, the book features ideas from a range of leading academics and practitioners in the field.

Institute CEO Evelyn Thornton and I wrote the chapter, “Gender and Peacebuilding.” We discuss the powerful influence of women’s participation and present:

• Key theories about women’s inclusion in peacebuilding
• Skills and challenges for practitioners
• Current policy innovations, such as quotas and National Action Plans
• Case studies on women’s participation in peace processes in Guatemala and Kenya

Over the last few decades, we’ve gained a greater understanding of the factors—like women’s inclusion—that contribute to lasting peace. Integrated Peacebuilding is a vital compendium of best practices that will deepen our perspective and push us even closer to that goal.

Read the book and share your thoughts.

Tobie Whitman, PhD, is Senior Adviser and research lead at The Institute for Inclusive Security. Previously, she worked with USAID and Women for Women International.

Alaa Murabit was on the “Most Wanted” list of female activists during the revolution in her hometown of Zawia, Libya. Undeterred, she travels the world and her country demanding that Libyan women have a say in governing their new democracy.

“This is not just women fighting for women. This is society fighting for society.” Alaa told 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl at this year’s Women in the World Summit. She said, “I’m not afraid.”

Alaa draws inspiration from the “phenomenally brave” women who led the Libyan revolution in 2011. Stirred by their example, her organization—The Voice of Libyan Women—raises awareness for critical issues such as domestic violence and increasing women’s political participation.

Alaa is one of the many women who inspire us. See why.

Zainab Al-Suwaij, a Women Waging Peace Network member, reflects on conditions in Iraq ten years after the US-led invasion of her country on MSNBC’s Up With Chris Hayes. Al-Suwaij, who fled Iraq in 1991 and later became the co-founder and executive director of the American Islamic Congress, emphasizes that poor infrastructure and growing sectarianism in Iraq can be traced back to one thing: lack of security.

Our experience in conflict areas – including Iraq – confirms that women have unique insight into the core security issues in their communities. Read more about how women can help create inclusive and lasting security in “A Women’s Guide to Security Sector Reform.”

Also on Up with Chris Hayes:

• Afghan Network member Rangina Hamidi talks about women’s participation in the country’s peace process.
• Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Inclusive Security Founder and Chair, discusses Hillary Clinton’s legacy as Secretary of State.

Philister Baya, Chair of the South Sudan Civil Service Commission, reads through the nine Cooperative Agreements. The agreements were signed between Sudan and South Sudan in September 2012 but haven’t been implemented.

I recently returned from Addis Ababa where The Institute for Inclusive Security convened a diverse group of 20 women from Sudan and South Sudan during the African Union Summit. Both countries signed peace accords in September 2012. Until very recently, virtually nothing had been done to implement the agreements. Women have been largely absent from the process. The recent signing of a new agreement on the timeline for implementation was no exception. Peace won’t endure if the undeniable value and intellectual capacities of half the population are left out.

In Addis, the women leaders delivered airtight messages to senior officials about why and how women should be central in decision making. In a joint statement they proposed several concrete actions that should be taken by the governments of Sudan and South Sudan, the African Union, the UN, and other actors.

While their recommendations encourage actions by these entities, the women leaders also reflected on their own preparations. Together we identified several keys – relevant to women leaders everywhere – for getting to the table and contributing fully to the conversation and course for change.

1. Women must lobby from the top down AND, especially, the bottom up

Facilitators and other actors in the talks have promoted inclusion and consultation to the parties before without much impact. Control of the process resides primarily in the hands of the parties, thus they are the most critical entry point.

Allies for women’s inclusion are present in both parties, and these individuals must be leveraged. Without pressure from civil society to broaden the substance of the talks, there will be no traction. Women must reach out to the parties, as well as to their communities and grassroots networks, to be effective conduits of information.

2. Women must add undeniable value to the process

Because the talks between Sudan and South Sudan are some of the most closed to date, access is tricky. Women must work together with a unified voice and be knowledgeable about the technical and interpersonal aspects of the talks.

Recommendations must be informed by what is happening inside the peace process and must propose relevant, constructive interventions. Building relationships with senior decision makers, from negotiation teams to facilitators, will strengthen the possibility of gaining long-term allies down the road.

Women leaders from Sudan and South Sudan stand proudly together inside the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On the sidelines of the AU Summit in January 2013 they advocated rigorously for more women to be present in the negotiations between their two countries.

3. Women must show up ready and able

Women, as with any marginalized group, must surpass standards of excellence and be prepared, confident, on message, and ready to engage with senior decision makers. Inclusion is a right AND a responsibility. Strength and certainty outshine supplication. Women shouldn’t ask but demand to be present.

4. Women must be flexible and persistent

Time and again, we received information about the complexity of the long-running negotiations process and the agreements it recently yielded. Each time we adjusted our interventions to reflect the nuance.

Peace is a process, dynamic and ever changing. Effective advocacy must occur in conjunction with the peace process and constantly adapt to new information. The importance of building long-term relationships with groups engaged in the process shouldn’t be overlooked, as these relationship yield access to information and other key actors.

5. We must all illuminate the meaning of ‘gender’

The term “gender” is used ubiquitously to promote the inclusion of women, but the words “women” and “gender” shouldn’t be used interchangeably. We must offer substantive evidence about how including women is more than just a moral obligation.

Similarly, referring to “women’s issues” implies that there are issues that apply uniquely and only to women in isolation and don’t impact others. This isn’t true. Gender-based violence and early marriage, to name a few, are issues that expose the social strata in a society and adversely impact families and communities.

Farah Council is the program manager for The Institute for Inclusive Security’s work in South Sudan and Sudan. She leads the organization’s efforts to advance the inclusion of women in the ongoing transition processes in and between both countries.

Related:
Children of War, Women of Peace

She believed the key to Rwanda's reconstruction lay in involving women at the grassroots level

This post by Linda Melvern, investigative journalist and author, originally appeared in “The Independent.”

Rwanda’s Minister for Gender and Family Promotion, Aloisea Inyumba, who played a decisive role in the rebuilding of her country, has died aged 48. Inyumba was a pioneer in the advancement of women and she received international praise for her achievements.

Inyumba was first appointed to this post in July 1994 immediately after the genocide of the Tutsi and the civil war were over. The country’s infrastructure was in ruins and the social problems were unprecedented. Women now comprised 70 per cent of the population. The estimates from a 1997 report from UNICEF showed 250,000 women and girls had been raped and were infected with HIV with 35,000 made pregnant and more than 100,000 children had been separated from their families, orphaned, lost, abducted or abandoned. There were hundreds of thousands of women who were homeless, internally displaced and had lost their husbands.

Inyumba believed that the key to reconstruction and peace was to involve women in community development at the grass roots levels in society. She created a national women’s movement based on the former administrative structure with local groups run by women in every neighbourhood. Under her stewardship – like other ministers her initial salary came in beans and rice — the ministry grew in size and importance and it attracted international donors. Rwanda developed faster than other countries, Mary Robinson, former UN Commissioner for Human Rights believed, precisely because women had played such a determining role.

Inyumba grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda. The Rwandan government was run by politicians claiming rule for the Hutu majority and who, with Belgian colonial help, had overthrown the Tutsi monarchy. Her father was killed before she was born in the massacres of Tutsi that swept the country. Her mother and five children managed to escape. In 1990 the UNHCR had estimated that 900,000 Rwandan refugees were living in neighbouring states. The regime in Kigali refused the right of return.

She was a student at Uganda’s Makerere University and studying social work and social administration when she joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), initially a clandestine group, created in Uganda in 1987. The RPF was dedicated to a return home and the RPF cadres in the refugee camps encouraged Rwandan youth to enlist in the Ugandan army in order to receive military training and experience. Inymuba had travelled abroad to explain the movement’s intentions to the diaspora. On October 1, 1990 the armed wing of the RPF, the newly created Rwandan Patriotic Army, (RPA) invaded Rwanda when some two thousand Rwandans deserted Uganda’s army ranks taking weapons and supplies. The result was a three year civil war and massive internal displacements inside Rwanda. For the RPA this initial invasion was a disaster. The Rwandan government army had the benefit of decisive help from the French military.

Inyumba was appointed the RPF finance commissioner and she organised a covert but successful money-raising campaign. The RPF created support cells in every Rwanda community in Africa, Europe and North America. Inyumba had argued that even the poorest could contribute if only by knitting blankets for RPF soldiers. Inyumba talked of these troops as “our children” and persuaded women to give their jewellery and men to leave their shoes. She was extremely frugal. She sourced cheap army uniforms in eastern Germany and travelled to Berlin to negotiate the best terms.

In his eulogy at her state funeral, President Paul Kagame, who had been the RPA military commander, said she would have given her life for her country. Tributes came from President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, from actor Ben Affleck, and Lillian Wong, the UK’s first ambassador to Rwanda in 1995. Cindy McCain, wife of 2008 Republican Presidential candidate John McCain, said that Inyumba changed her life forever.

In 1994 Inyumba had spearheaded a national adoption campaign for children orphaned by war and genocide. “We are committed to seeing all Rwanda’s children grow up in loving, caring families and not in institutions”, she had said. The UNICEF Representative to Rwanda, Noala Skinner, described Inyumba as “an inspiration and full of dignity and a true activist for women and children”. Inyumba was instrumental in the building of the Maranyunda secondary school for girls, Nyamata.

She served as Executive Secretary of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission where she established a grass roots programme to explain the benefits of Rwandans working together at local level. She was a Senator in Parliament and for a time was Governor of a province, Kigali-Ngali. In 2011, she was once again appointed Minister for Gender and Family Promotion. She was a member of the African Women Advisory Committee. She was on the advisory board of Women for Women International and in 2012 was one of three recipients in the inaugural ‘Women have Wings Courage Award’, for outstanding women who were living the courageous spirit of Amelia Earhart, the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Her humility, her quiet voice and graceful manner betrayed a will of iron. She was fiercely loyal to the RPF. She loved her country with passion and was proud of its achievements. When she died Rwanda had a higher percentage of women Parliamentarians than anywhere else and women occupied more than half of senior government posts. One million people had been brought out of poverty, free education was available until the age of 14 and a nation-wide national health insurance scheme was in place.

“It was not easy for us to manage the aftermath of genocide”, she said. “It was a big challenge for us”. After the disappointment at the international failure to stop the 1994 genocide, Inyumba and her colleagues had resolved that they would rely on home-made solutions to their problems.

She was married for 16 years to a Rwandan army colonel and medical doctor, Richard Masozera, who is currently director general of the Rwandan Civil Aviation Authority. She leaves two children: Nicole (16) and Noah (8).

Aloisea Inyumba. Born Uganda, December 28, 1964. Died Kigali, December 6, 2012.

This article originally appeared on The Independent’s website and can be seen here.

“To have a sustainable peace process, we can’t only bring the men with guns to the table; we must also have women.” So says Alaa Murabit, founder of Voice of Libyan Women, in this video for Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

Murabit and Inclusive Security Founder and Chair Ambassador Swanee Hunt sat down before a panel on “Elevating Women for Global Security” at the John F. Kennedy, Jr. Forum in January to answer three questions about women and peace.

This post is by Mary Raum, PhD. Dr. Raum is Professor of National Security Affairs with the US Naval War College.

Author’s Note: The thoughts contained herein are the author’s alone and do not represent the Department of Defense, its allied service branches, or the United States Naval War College.

The nature of war has changed over the past several decades. The days of nation vs. nation conflict have been largely replaced with a complex variety of instabilities and conflict compositions. This has forced a paradigm shift in how we prepare for war.

Secretary Clinton is a futurist in this realm of thinking. Her spotlight on the role women play in conflict prevention, resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction signifies an innate understanding of the actualities of modern discord. Her viewpoint, correctly, is that in order to have peace, it’s essential to understand the interplay of social, economic, humanitarian, and military components which lead nations into conflict.

Acknowledging the complexity of these conflict dynamics, leads to the natural conclusion that a broad range of armed and unarmed, male and female stakeholders need to be engaged in the processes utilized to end wars and sustain peace. Secretary Clinton’s inclusive security initiative—which is far removed from earlier, one-dimensional positions that predate her tenure—is innovative because it allows for all the world’s populations to be actively engaged in the stability and prosperity of their nations.

At present, our defense establishment is focused on insurgencies and acts of terror. These threats have the potential to harm societies one diminutive event at a time. The states that house them are among the most unstable and, notably, they’re the nations with the least inclusive local, national, and international decision-making processes.

The concept of women, peace, and security makes sense in light of this new world order. To offset these potential conflicts, strong defense systems and policies today require constructing robust relationships among many different state actors before we revert to fighting—all the while keeping an eye toward the defense of our nation on a larger scale.

Secretary Clinton addressed relationships between nations while still protecting a solid defense establishment within the US. This is perhaps why some view her as having a political rather than a statesman’s legacy. Simultaneously taking a strong stance on “hard security issues” and seeking to address the social dimension of conflict demonstrates how revolutionary Secretary Clinton’s thinking may be regarding the nature of today’s global instabilities.

She understands that defense is a joint, multiparty endeavor and, as such, requires broad inclusion of populations in the assessments, decrees, and determinations of their futures. She is also in tune with the fact that the US military is now organized around joint command and control structures. She recognizes the increased global use of United Nations forces and the rising importance placed by nations upon globalized interventions. She’s been instrumental in pushing forward activities related to UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960, as well as in NATO’s development of an overarching strategy to achieve the goals set out in these policies.

President Obama’s executive order establishing women, peace, and security as vital to US security policy is not yet two years old. The institutionalization of inclusive security is a slow and tedious process. Movement forward is rarely exciting enough to rise as a media event but, by institutionalizing first, there is a greater chance for the women, peace, and security initiative championed by Secretary Clinton to become integral to defense and international policies. Grassroots efforts at the institutional level invariably lead to long-term change. It’s a grand strategy in reverse.

**The United States Naval War College will host its Second Women, Peace, and Security Conference in the fall of 2013. The Women, Peace, and Security Conference will be a follow-on conference to its predecessor at the USNWC in the spring of 2012. This conference will expand in scope to include international perspectives as well as additional armed service branches, DoD professionals, and NGOs. Women Peace and Security (WPS) is now an expected, and in some instances, required entity of the United States armed services in conflict and post-conflict reconstruction planning and operations.

The Resolution to Act Launch Event was held in Washington, DC, on March 13, 2012. For the full set of photos from the event, click here.

Last week, Amb. Swanee Hunt and the Institute for Inclusive Security introduced Resolution to Act, our strategy for translating the powerful vision of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 into meaningful results. This new initiative seeks to bridge the gap between what policies “say” and what they “do.”

In 2000, resolution 1325 provided a new framework for acknowledging and advancing the vital role of women in building peace. Some 39 countries have developed National Action Plans (NAPs) to carry out 1325’s principles. However, NAPs are only part of the story, since policies without practice are mere words on paper.

Partners, policymakers, and experts from around the world gathered at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC, to celebrate the launch.

During the luncheon, participants heard from key leaders, including:

• Julia Duncan-Cassell, Liberian Minister of Gender and Development
• Wazhma Frogh, Afghan civil society leader
• Brian Nichols, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
• Gry Larsen, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister
• Jane Holl Lute, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
• Jordan Ryan, UNDP Assistant Administrator

Amb. Hunt explained that NAPs must be well-designed, monitored, and constantly improved to effect change, and that meaningful collaboration is vital to successful execution. She introduced Gry Larsen, who recognized the women leaders as the “true heroes,” and shared her pride at being a founding partner of Resolution to Act. Wazhma Frogh emphasized how important it is for implementers to realize the impact of inclusive security, stating, “I have lived the war, I have lived the peace: women make the difference.”

Julia Duncan-Cassell told her powerful story of how women brought peace to Liberia through collective action. Brian Nichols shared that the biggest change he’s seen in Washington since the US launched its NAP in 2011 is that inclusion is becoming ingrained.  He now rarely sees a document that doesn’t already address the need for inclusion. Jordan Ryan reminded the group that despite progress made in regards to women’s inclusion, there is an important distinction to be made between integrating these principles into documents and integrating them into the work on the ground.  He noted that in conflict states, a small percentage of assistance is dedicated to projects that address inclusion of women.

Concluding lunch, Jane Holl Lute urged participants to act, stressing, “we shouldn’t treat war like weather; it doesn’t just happen.”

High-level Discussion Groups

The launch was a celebration and an opportunity to collaborate. The Institute has long served as a convening force; this event was an extension of our cooperative approach.

Participants spent the afternoon in discussion groups focusing on challenges that Resolution to Act will address, such as linking inclusive security, data, and results; convincing the private sector to invest in NAPs; and utilizing technology to spur learning across borders. The groups provided a forum in which participants could pool their expertise to delve into strategic questions.

The discussions were rich, and the recommendations produced are powerful. The Institute is eager to share these in the coming months, so be on the lookout for updates as we advance this important initiative.

Now What?

The goal of Resolution to Act is to create, foster, and measure the impact of NAPs and related strategies. Impact requires a clear vision of success and how to get there, as well as stakeholders working together to create outcomes that resonate across institutions and conflict zones.

We’re currently implementing Resolution to Act in Afghanistan, and we’ll head to Liberia in May. Several other important country engagements are planned for later this year and in 2014. We’re also developing new tools to help NAP implementers, including a new monitoring and evaluation toolkit to measure the progress of implementation. This work would not be possible without support from our partners, which include:

• Club de Madrid
• Cordaid
• Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security
• Government of Finland
• Norwegian Foreign Ministry
• UNDP
• UN Women
• US Department of State

We’re finalizing arrangements and hope to soon announce partnerships with the University of Nairobi and the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders / International Civil Society Action Network.

As we build and develop Resolution to Act, we’re excited to engage with new countries, new partners, and new experts – if you are resolved to act, please contact us!

Related:

About Resolution to Act
National Action Plan Kick-Starts Banner Year for Women, Peace, and Security
Women, Peace, and Security Act Introduced: Ensuring Women a Seat at the Table
What’s Missing from the US National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security?

Angelic Young is senior coordinator of Resolution to Act at The Institute for Inclusive Security.

This article by Philister Baya Lawiri is cross posted on The Elders.

Sudan, once the largest nation is Africa, recently split into two. This separation was the result of over five decades of war. I was a child of war. I personally know the bitter experiences of loss and displacement. I wish I could say we have attained peace, but we have not. Within and between both of our nations we are facing many challenges. As women from both countries we are deeply concerned.

On International Women’s Day, I want to highlight one crucial element that has been missing from all the peace negotiations, cooperation agreements and efforts to implement them: the participation of women. After separation we have two new countries, and we need a new approach. Women are tired of being excluded – it is time for us to participate in peace negotiations and governance.

Women: Excluded from the Peace Process

In 2000, while Sudan was still in the midst of civil war, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325: this recognized that around the world, peace and security cannot be achieved unless women participate in peace processes. Yet the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement – and all the agreements since signed between Sudan and South Sudan – have been drafted without the presence of women.

Despite being excluded, women in Sudan and South Sudan have a history of working together across conflict lines to make peaceful coexistence possible. During the decades of civil war, we were never formally invited into the peace talks – but we showed up anyway. We lobbied our leaders to end the war.

Since South Sudan’s secession, we have continued to cooperate across the border even though it is difficult for us to meet in person. In January I travelled to Addis Ababa to meet 19 of my sisters from Sudan and South Sudan – members of the Coalition of Women Leaders supported by the Institute for Inclusive Security – to review the recent Cooperation Agreements signed by our two countries’ leaders in September 2012.

The signing of these agreements, a major success, was meant to normalise relations between our countries, on issues like the Sudan-South Sudan border, citizens’ nationality, trade and particularly oil. But since then, the signatories have not taken one step to implement the accords. Talks are stalled, and meanwhile our people continue to suffer. We see ongoing violence and militarisation. Increasing numbers of refugees and displaced people in both countries is creating a desperate humanitarian crisis.

Yusuf Batil refugee camp in South Sudan, July 2012

We wanted to take our recommendations to the senior mediators and negotiators who had gathered in Addis for the biannual African Union (AU) Summit. Our message was this: as women, we are tired. We are tired of the ongoing conditionalities being imposed every time our leaders come to the negotiating table. We are exhausted by the continued lack of information about what is happening and how decisions are being made in the peace process. Most of all, we are deeply concerned about the near complete absence of women in these talks.

We told our leaders and the AU officials, enough is enough.

An Opportunity for Women?

Although there is a real danger that Sudan and South Sudan will return to war, let me share a little hope. There is a rich opportunity for women now to contribute to peace. Because the Cooperation Agreements signed in September last year have not been implemented, there are still many entry points for women to engage in the process.

There are several bodies tasked with implementation. This is a chance for women in civil society to be consulted on the mandates of these bodies. More than that, women should be appointed as chairs to committees; they should serve as technical experts, observers and advisors.

This is the message we brought to the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) overseeing the peace process. While in Addis we met with former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Chair of the Panel, as well as members Pierre Buyoya and Abdulsalami Abubakar, former presidents of Burundi and Nigeria respectively. We specifically recommended that the AUHIP create a consultative taskforce of women to guarantee our engagement – and to ensure the voices of those being impacted most by the agreements make their way to the high-level talks.

Philister Baya Lawiri (centre, back row) meets members of the AUHIP, together with fellow members of the Coalition of Women Leaders. Addis Ababa, January 2013. Photo: Institute for Inclusive Security.

Our hearts leapt when President Mbeki agreed that there is a need for such a taskforce. He said that the time for it is ripe and that his advisers would begin working with our group the very next day to give effect to the idea. It was a fantastic result for us. We still have much work to do – our recommendation has not been formally acted on. But we have created space for our voices and we will continue to add them, invited or not, to the discussions that determine the direction of our nations.

This is a challenging time for relations between Sudan and South Sudan, and for the future of my young state. We will only achieve a lasting peace if women, at last, can be part and parcel of the process.

In this video from the Institute of Inclusive Security, Philister Baya Lawiri and other South Sudanese women leaders from government and civil society discuss women’s participation in South Sudan’s development.

At age ten, Philister Baya Lawiri walked with her family for 35 days through the forests of southern Sudan to escape violence. She traces her desire to build peace to her years as a refugee in Uganda and as a displaced person in Khartoum. Today she chairs South Sudan’s Civil Service Commission, promoting democratic values within the country’s newly formed government. Read Philister’s full bio on the Inclusive Security website.

Despite international laws and policies mandating women’s participation in security sector reform (SSR), women’s perspectives are often discounted or overlooked. Women in civil society can also find themselves outside of discussions about security and unsure how to engage in them.

To address this gap, The Institute for Inclusive Security and The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) are launching an innovative guide for women in civil society that provides concrete steps on how to help develop an effective and accountable security sector.

Why the Guide is Unique

The Women’s Guide to Security Sector Reform responds to a critical need. “Advocating for women’s roles in SSR is important because conflict is a culture … we cannot combat it with more conflict,” says Alaa Murabit, founder, Voice of Libyan Women, and reviewer of the Women’s Guide. “We can combat it with women who drive a different security understanding.”

The Women’s Guide is written mainly for women who have not formally studied security or worked with police, militaries, elected officials, and other actors within the sector. Women often have essential knowledge of community needs and a strong desire to make the security sector serve communities better. The Women’s Guide draws on varied experiences of women in civil society from across the world and shares examples of practical, innovative projects. Leading female activists from Afghanistan, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, Serbia, and Uganda provided invaluable feedback.

What the Guide Includes

In addition to introducing key concepts, the Women’s Guide outlines concrete ways for women and women’s organizations to influence reform from the grassroots. Included are specific steps on how to research security issues, form coalitions, plan strategically, develop recommendations, advocate (with ideas of how to target messages to specific audiences), and engage directly (such as through local forums or by providing training).

The Women’s Guide contains practical tools for women to take action. For example:

• Activities to identify local risks to stability
• Sample letters to officials asking for meetings
• Talking points for meetings with policymakers

It also includes definitions of jargon, a key to the roles of major security actors, and ideas for how to counter skeptics who oppose women in civil society being part of SSR.

In addition to English, the Women’s Guide will be available in Arabic, French, and Bosnian. More translations will be done if funds become available.

How Women are Taking Action

Already, women around the globe are planning to use the Women’s Guide as a platform for engaging with the security sector. For example, with DCAF and local partner support, Žene Ženama, a women’s organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will host four one-day launch workshops across BiH this May. With the Women’s Guide as a roadmap, civil society and local government actors will come together to discuss the status of gender and SSR and identify avenues for collaboration.

Launches of the Women’s Guide are also planned for later this year in West Africa, Washington, DC, Afghanistan, and the Middle East.

Click here to download the Women’s Guide to Security Sector Reform

Tobie Whitman, PhD, is senior adviser at The Institute for Inclusive Security, where she leads the organization’s research program. Previously she worked with USAID and Women for Women International.