On Thursday the 15th of October, the PRIO GPS Centre co-hosted an event on Imagining Inclusive Mediation, with a specific focus on learning from pioneering and young women leaders. The event was hosted alongside the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), and the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), in partnership with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Norway.
Panellists included a range of experienced and young women leaders: Hanna Tetteh, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU); Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, UN Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisors; Emmily Koiti, medic, human rights activist, youth representative and signatory in the South Sudan peace process; Hajer Sharief, Libyan human rights advocate and the co-founder of "Together we build it." There were opening remarks by Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA). Torunn L. Tryggestad,
Deputy Director at PRIO and Director of the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security, gave comments with an emphasise on digital technologies and digital divides. The event was moderated by Itonde A. Kakoma, Director for Global Strategy, Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
The discussion examined: strategies to help increase inclusivity in different phases of peace processes: preparation, process design, and implementation mechanisms; Ways in which resistance to women's inclusion can be addressed; Lessons learned in facilitating women's inclusion and broader participation in peace processes; And ways in which inclusive mediation efforts can draw on technological tools.
A recording of the event can be found on CMI's Vimeo page, and it will be made available with both French and Arabic subtitles.
Based on the discussion, The DPPA, PRIO and CMI have developed 2-pages of practical guidance notes on gender-sensitive mediation pertaining to 1) Gender-sensitive Conflict Analysis 2) Inclusive Mediation Process Design and 3) Inclusive Implementation Arrangements. These can be found on CMI's webpage as well as on UN.Peacemaker.org.
For those interested, further information on actionable steps for the participation of women peacebuilders can be found here: 'Operational Framework to Guarantee the Participation of Women Peacebuilders'. The document provides examples of actionable steps and precedence for the participation of women peacebuilders in Track 1 peace processes, and is available through ICAN's website.
