For two intensive days, 17 peace activists from 10 Asian countries explored the different roles that women play in peacebuilding. For the participants, the meeting in the Philippine capital Manila was a rare “time out” to reflect on their work, gain new perspectives and strengthen solidarity across borders. We also discussed what added value our Feminists Connecting for Peace network can offer in order to gain insights for further networking and advocacy activities.

Have you ever wondered how prejudice affects our thinking and what feminism has to do with peace?

PeaceWoman Ruth Weiss has dedicated her life to peace and tolerance: as a journalist and anti-apartheid activist in South Africa and as a speaker and author in the fight against anti-Semitism and any form of intolerance and agitation against a faith community. What lessons does she draw from her full life for peacebuilding?

Two workshops for 60 women peacebuilders directly affected by the armed conflict focused on strengthening their capacity to increase the visibility of their peace work and to advocate for their inclusion in peace processes. The workshops, organised by Badya Centre for Integrated Development Services, took place in Dilling, South Kordofan State, in southern Sudan in February 2025. We supported these workshops with our Feminist Peace Initiatives.

At the PeaceWomen Across the Globe-hosted webinar, “Leveraging feminist networks for advocacy”,  three inspiring and experienced activists and peacebuilders shared key insights on how and why feminist networks play a key role in advocacy. Rabab Baldo (Sudan), Uma Mishra-Newbery (Switzerland) and Karen Tañada (Philippines) collectively have decades of experience in feminist engagement shaped by diverse contexts and trajectories.

With our Feminist Peace Initiatives (FPI), we support local and feminist peace initiatives and projects of our network members. The aim is to promote innovative ideas for feminist peace work quickly, in a straightforward manner and for a limited period of time. In this way, we enable network members to try out new ideas that correspond to their own priorities and those of their communities.

Our advocacy aims to create political impact and achieve a feminist vision of peace. The focus is on the implementation of key human rights instruments that form the basis for a peaceful and gender-just world.

We launch and join political campaigns, working with like-minded organisations to advance feminist peace policy.

On 8 July 2024, the Brest Regional Court in Belarus sentenced the prominent Belarusian human rights defender and 2024 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Olga Karatch to 12 years' imprisonment and a fine of 170,000 euros under five criminal articles, including, among others, “conspiracy or attempted coup to seize state power by unconstitutional means”, “discrediting the Republic of Belarus” and “defamation of Aliaksandr Lukashenka”, the Belarusian president. Olga Karatch is the head of the Lithuania-based International Centre for Civil Initiatives Our House, which campaigns for the rights of conscientious objectors in Belarus. She is a feminist peace activist who promotes non-violent resistance to the militarised regime and society in Belarus and a member of our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace. We call for Olga Karatch’s protection and the respect of international human rights law.

This year’s International Day of Peace is a call to action. “Peace,” says United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “is not automatic. Peace is a result of action.” On this International Day, the UN recognises that it is “our individual and collective responsibility to foster peace.” We agree. For us, this call to action is about recognising the transformative power of networks and about fostering and making effective use of the particular collective power of women’s networks to achieve a peaceful and just world.

Political work is a core concern of our organisation and of Feminists Connecting for Peace, our global network. The network and its activities provide a space for activists and women's organisations to share ideas and practices, work together on strategies and carry out political work together. Through the network we contribute to our goal of creating political impact.

Through our publications and multimedia products you can learn more about the focal areas of our work, about our projects, programmes and political work, and about the activities of the members of our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace.

From policy briefs and reports to contributions by activists in the Feminists Connecting for Peace network to the biographies of the 1000 PeaceWomen: our publications provide an insight into our political and project work and into the activities in our global network.

What does security mean to you? Which people, places, sounds and senses make you feel safe? What is threatening your safety? These questions are central in discussions within our global network of feminist peace activists. Therefore, we chose to focus on safety and security for this second edition of the «Feminists Connecting for Peace» magazine.

Our network is spread out across the world, yet we feel and act in solidarity with each other. Supporting feminist peacebuilders and making their work visible is at the core of our vision and practice. The "Feminists Connecting for Peace" magazine is a co-creation of activists from our global network. The first edition focuses on Demilitarization.

The second issue of the magazine is dedicated to the topic of "Security".

In our range of multimedia products you can listen to human rights and women's rights activists talk about their lives and work. You can also learn more about our and our partners’ projects and events.

Compact, interesting and relevant: in our printed and electronic newsletters, you can find out about our events and projects and our political activities in Switzerland and abroad.

Civil society plays a significant role in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security", not, however, to the same extent everywhere. On the meeting of the "WPS Focal Points" network in South Africa.

It was a special kind of exchange that we were able to organise with our partners in the Philippines in December: at a series of events, two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission exchanged their experiences with peace activists from the Philippines. Many moments of recognition and understanding emerged from these encounters. Our programme managers Andrea Filippi and Karin Widmer were there.

Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, there have been calls for rearmament and higher military spending. As a feminist peace organisation, we oppose the claim that more weapons lead to more security. We call for demilitarisation and disarmament, because this is the only way to achieve real peace and genuine security. Our board member Margo OkazawaRey and our programme and network manager Annemarie Sancar explain why the world is at a crossroads today.

In this print newsletter you can read about the exchange of knowledge and experience between two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission and peace activists from the Philippines and learn how the exchange at the WPS Focal Points meeting in South Africa contributes to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security".

In this newsletter you will learn about the exemplary work of the Colombian Truth Commission, involving women and marginalised groups – and about how we contributed. You will also find out how we are making sparks glow with the Feminist Peace Initiatives and how we continue to work with women for peace in Ukraine, despite the war.

In this issue of our newsletter, our Ukrainian partners report on the changes they have noticed over the last two years in the participants of our meetings with war-affected women from Ukraine. In another article, you will find out which topics were at the centre of discussions for 17 peace activists from 10 Asian countries at the network meeting in Manila. You can also find out what was on the programme during the visit of Sudanese peace activist Rabab Baldo and Colombian human rights lawyer Luz Marina Monzón Cifuentes in Bern.