Our new women-led peacebuilding project launches
We’re so pleased to have launched another groundbreaking new project, in which our Peace Sisters are leading a series of awareness-raising initiatives designed to bring local communities together and promote social cohesion and tolerance.
The project is taking place in Bashiqa district, and is kindly supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through the British Embassy in Baghdad. Our partnership is raising understanding of the need for greater religious freedom, mediation and recognition of human rights – which is much-needed in fractured communities.
During the course of the project, our already-trained Peace Sisters, who themselves come from varied religious and ethnic backgrounds, will be holding sessions on GBV and peacebuilding. These are involving men and boys as well as key local leaders, in order to show how all faiths and genders must work together to reduce violence and abuse. Sessions will cover the principles of UN Resolution 1325, which calls for women’s participation and inclusion of gender perspectives in peace negotiations, humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations and post-conflict peacebuilding and governance.
The area where the project is taking place has long been a battleground of divisive issues, and tensions between ethno-religious groups has remained constant for years. The ISIS conflict has also had a major impact on the lives of individuals, as a lack of trust remains between communities, and there are few service opportunities to strengthen social cohesion and integration. Besides the lack of cohesion and peacebuilding initiatives, community members have previously had little opportunity to develop new skills or sustainable solutions for themselves – which is especially true for women and youths.
Our Peace Sisters have already thrown themselves into this ambitious project with huge enthusiasm, and we’re so proud of them for leading this themselves. We’ll keep you posted on their progress over the coming months, so keep following our social accounts for updates…
