Equality between men and women and peace go hand in hand: societies with higher gender equality tend to be more peaceful, while peaceful societies are better at making gains in gender equality. However, women continue to be marginalized in most peace efforts, despite the international commitments to support women’s role in building and sustaining peace. When both women and men engage in peacemaking as equals to create conditions for better life in their societies, the visions for peace become richer, and its outcomes are likely to be more inclusive and more just. Advancing gender equality is an essential part of this equation.
Our work
Gender equality and inclusivity are core operating principles of CMI. As CMI, we recognize the indispensable roles of women in building and sustaining peace, and work to widen the political space for women to contribute to peace efforts. CMI has established a reputable track record in translating the normative commitments on women’s inclusion in peacemaking into concrete action. CMI supports women in conflict-affected countries to access and influence peace processes; and by enhancing gender inclusive mediation.
CMI works to strengthen women’s roles in peacemaking through politically nuanced, context-specific and locally driven action. We work in a number of conflict-affected countries, such as Palestine, Yemen, Sudan and Afghanistan, to facilitate spaces for women from diverse political and social backgrounds to engage in dialogue about their civil, political and social rights, and to develop common political agendas to effectively engage with ongoing peace processes.
CMI supports mediators and other peace support actors in applying practical tools and approaches for gender inclusive mediation. Building on the lessons learned from CMI’s work on women’s participation in conflict affected countries, we build the capacity of mediation and peace support actors. We also take active part in knowledge and experience sharing with the peacemaking community and networks. An important part of our work in supporting mediators to advance gender inclusive mediation is the annual UN High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Strategies, organised in partnership with United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
CMI is also an operational partner of the Nordic Women Mediators Finland, a network of peace and security professionals that aims to advance the inclusion of women at all levels of peace processes from grassroots efforts to high-level negotiations. In this capacity, CMI also supports the collaboration between regional women mediator networks across the globe.
Key results
CMI has strengthened women’s political agency in conflict contexts such as Palestine and Yemen by facilitating dialogue among leading women actors and creating channels for their participation in political processes at both national and international levels. By bridging the gap between policy and practice of peacemaking, CMI has brought valuable insights from conflict contexts to the international peace mediation community, helping to shape more contextually informed strategies for increasing women’s participation in peace processes. By organizing the annual High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Strategies with its partners UN DPPA and PRIO, CMI has created space for mediation actors to exchange experiences and strategies for translating gender-inclusive mediation approaches into practice.
