Photo © REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

OUR WORK

WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE

RESEARCH-BASED ADVOCACY

SUPPORT WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

Women understand the dynamics and events in their communities differently than men. Their insight and expertise helps policy makers better understand community undercurrents, serve community needs more effectively, and earn trust across all stakeholders. Women are indispensable partners not only in creating peace and lasting stability, but also in how address and prevent conflict.

In partnership with women civil society leaders in the sub-region, WRN is developing comprehensive peace research through our innovative research method - Community Conversations.

Community Conversations document and amplify women's voices from the ground. We go to some of the most remote regions in South Asia to create opportunities for sharing with women on security, corruption extremisms and militarization of aid and development. They have generated a rich, detailed accounts from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India of the gendered experience of insecurity.

"Community Conversations should not be a one-off - they should be the way policy is made."

-Clair Lockhart, Former Board Member

The rapid and explosive unraveling of peace and stability in the region, overlapped with a strong patriarchal culture, has particularly devastating consequences for women. The threat of sexual violence as a part of the conflict; the culture of impunity; brutalization, including rising family violence; economic impoverishment and displacement that ruptures social support networks has left women with limited voice and resources. WRN works to advance the role of women, across class, caste, ethnicity, and age, in preventing conflict and promoting peace and security in South Asia, one of the most militarized regions of the world.

WRN documents and amplifies women's voices from the ground through Community Conversations. We go to some of the most remote regions in South Asia to create an opportunity for sharing with women on security, corruption extremisms and militarization of aid and development.

Community Conversations lead us to identify and advocate for women's meaningful participation in peace processes.

When women are included in peace processes there is a 20% increase in the probability of an agreement lasting at least 2 years, and a 35% increase in the probability of lasting at least 15 years.