Afghan Women and Peace
WAW's Peacebuilding Program works to ensure women's meaningful participation in the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan. We believe that sustainable peace is only possible through an inclusive process that preserves women's rights and the tremendous gains made by the Afghan people.
WAW’s Peacebuilding Project
Launched in March 2019, WAW’s Peacebuilding Project strives to ensure women's meaningful inclusion and participation in Afghanistan's peacebuilding process. Through the support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, other funders, and stakeholders, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) is working tirelessly to build understanding of the ongoing peace process and the need for women’s meaningful role in it by conducting outreach, public awareness campaigns and education, workshops and trainings on peacebuilding throughout Afghanistan.
Building Peace
Since WAW's Peacebuildig Project was launched in 2019:
- 61,000+ individuals participated in WAW’s Peacebuilding Project.
- 1,700+ training sessions were held through public awareness campaign.
- 1,200+ members of civil society underwent training.
- 1,500+ individuals celebrated International Peace Day with WAW.
- 6,014 people were surveyed to assess what peace means to Afghans.
Through the project, Afghan women and men participate in training workshops and public awareness campaigns that enhance their knowledge about:
- The importance of a meaningful role for women in peace processes;
- Core elements of peacebuilding, such as conflict resolution and mediation, crisis phases, peacebuilding skills; and,
- The development of the Afghan peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
Project Survey Results
As part of WAW's Peacebuilding Project, WAW has surveyed over 6,000 Afghans in 10 provinces. Results of these surveys revealed that:
- 100% of respondents want peace and security that protects the interests of all Afghans;
- 66% are affected by fighting and violence daily;
- 65% do not want the Taliban to serve in official government positions
- 72% do not want the Taliban to serve in the Afghan government security or armed forces.
- 91% identified women’s rights as the most important issue to address in the Afghan peace process:
- with 47% identifying women’s/girls’ education and 44% identifying employment as the most important issues with regard to Afghan women's rights.
Quotes:
Thousands of Afghan women nationwide have expressed a clear consensus on two points: they insist that the war needs to end, and that the peace to follow must continue to build opportunities for women. The single greatest step to advance Afghan women’s cause is education and training to build their professional capacities.
Afghanistan's First Lady, H.E. Rula Ghani
WAW and the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda
In January 2018, WAW joined the US Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security (US CSWG) , a non-partisan network of civil society organizations with expertise on the impacts of women in conflict and their participation in all facets of peacebuilding.
The US CSWG advises policymakers and the public about approaches to effectively implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, and the US National Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security (June 2019).
Through our work in Afghanistan and on the US CSWG, WAW is:
- Working with members of the US Department of State, Department of Defense, and USAID, as well as with members of the US Congress to provide guidance, input, and oversight on the US National Strategy on Women Peace and Security;
- Drafting and submitting recommendations and conducting consultations with key US government departments and officials to advise on implementation plans that will positively impact Afghan women and girls, and women and girls around the world, while keeping Afghanistan as a key priority in US foreign policy;
- A leading voice advocating for the inclusion of women’s perspectives in the process;
- Gathering data and amplifying the concerns and priorities of Afghan women, while helping shape US and international policy towards peacebuilding in Afghanistan; and
- Sharing lessons learned from our peacebuilding program with members of the US CSWG and around the world to help inform future peace processes and women’s meaningful participation.
