Mainstreaming Gender
Pilot Project
 Engendering the Peace Movement


Pilot Project: Engendering Peace
Incorporating a Gender Perspective
in Civilian Peace Teams

Recent civil society contributions to conflict management and peacebuilding have included civilian-based peace services, such as Peace Brigades International (PBI), Ziviler Friedensdienst (Civil Peace Services-Germany), the international Nonviolent Peace Force (currently deployed in Sri Lanka), the International Women’s Peace Service in Palestine and the European Peacebuilding Agency initiative.

WPP was invited to national and international conferences to share its expertise during discussion on the impact of conflict on women’s lives, the need for a gender perspective in peace building, and how to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
When attending conferences where military peacekeeping was discussed, the challenges of implementing a gender perspective in peacekeeping missions became apparent.
At the same time WPP received signals from the field that civilian-based peacekeeping missions also faced difficulties implementing a gender perspective in their work, or lacked gender awareness altogether.

 

 

Based on this information, WPP decided to organize a pilot project in 2008 on this topic in cooperation with Peace Brigades International (PBI). PBI the oldest civilian-based peace organization in the world, it is also in the stage of implementing a gender and diversity policy. From PBI’s five country projects, it was decided to focus on PBI Indonesia for the pilot project.

As Case study, the Pilot project addressed some questions:

  • What are the challenges in terms of gender faced during the field mission in the field?
  • How are these challenges addressed?
  • Are there any difficulties in addressing the challenges, and if so, what?
  • What is needed to overcome them

This pilot project aims to contribute to growing gender awareness and sensitivity within the praxis of existing peace teams and other peacebuilding initiatives, in order for them to effectively promote and contribute to gender equality as a condition for a just, lasting peace.

Please download the publication of this pilot project here

Read here an article that includes some of the recommendations formulated based on the observations of the pilot research.

For any information related to the Pilot Project, please contact the WPP Gender Officer Cristina Reyna.