As an international network organisation, we work closely with our local partners to support them in designing peacebuilding programmes in various contexts and at different stages of peace processes. We work with a wide range of organisations abroad – from local grassroots organisations to national non-governmental organisations. We are united by a feminist vision of a peaceful world in which everyone feels safe.

Together with our partners, we work to ensure that peace activists play an active role in implementing peace agreements as well as in processes of dealing with the past after armed conflicts – thereby contributing to the prevention of violent conflict and renewed escalation.

Women continue to live with the complex effects of the ten-year armed conflict that ended with a peace agreement in 2006. Yet, they were effectively excluded from the peace negotiations and their participation in transitional justice processes remains severely restricted. With our programme, we strengthen the agency of women and young people affected by the conflict and enable their access to political decision-makers so that they can hold the government accountable to deal finally with the violent past and its consequences.

In the fall of 2019, we brought together peace activists from Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines to share their experiences of armed conflict and of the subsequent peace efforts in their countries and to benefit from each other's expertise. As different as the political contexts are, the women found many similarities. The solidarity they felt at the meeting gives them the strength to continue their often arduous peace work.

A short film from 2023 about a participant of a Women's Peace Table in Nepal, whose husband was disappeared during that country's decade-long armed conflict. We support our partner Nagarik Aawaz in using Women's Peace Tables as a means to address the long-term reparative needs of conflict-affected women and to localise transitional justice in communities.

From 2015 to 2025, we supported our local partners in organising Women’s Peace Tables with the aim of strengthening women's participation in peace processes and making their peace work visible. These proved to be an effective tool for achieving these objectives.

Film about the Women's Peace Tables carried out by our partner Nagarik Aawaz with our support in Nepal until 2019.

Eighteen years on, since the signing of the peace agreement, there can still be no talk of peace in Nepal. The lack of political will, patriarchal social norms as well as political instability are hindering its implementation, leading to intergenerational consequences for those affected by the conflict. They want to be recognised as victims of the violence of war and demand the truth. Our colleagues Camille Bernheim and Karin Widmer listened to them at a Women's Peace Table.

What images do the words "peace processes" evoke in your mind? Do you imagine years of negotiations culminating in a ceremony where the parties to the conflict sign an agreement, followed by a photo of the handshake that goes around the world? We have scrutinised and deconstructed this common image and taken an in-depth look at peace processes, as well as the question: "How do women influence peace processes?" The result of this work is a graphic representation of the different stages of peace processes. With this tool, we want to focus on the role women play and where they exert influence to drive peace processes and prevent setbacks.

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.

In the magazine Fem*Fém, our colleagues Liv Halperin and Camille Bernheim write about promoting creative agency, maintaining peacebuilding and leveraging political opportunities as crucial factors for creating a peaceful society after armed conflict in their article “Sustaining peacebuilding efforts in post-armed conflict settings”. The multilingual magazine Fem*Fém is published by the Association for Feminist Science in Switzerland FemWiss.

Making peace processes more gender-sensitive

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.

"Building peace across the divide", Susan Risal, executive director, Nagarik Aawaz, our partner organisation in Nepal

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.

This issue of our newsletter focuses on women peace activists: their insights, experiences and learnings in their daily work for peace. Whether in Sudan, Nepal, Colombia, the Philippines or Switzerland, the articles in this newsletter clearly demonstrate the importance of feminist peace work and its networks for sustainable peace.

In this special edition of our newsletter, you can find out which stages peace processes go through and where and how women exert influence in order to drive peace processes and prevent setbacks. We have added an extra, detachable double page so that you can use the graphic illustration of peace processes and the accompanying text yourself. You will also find out how our partner in Nepal is helping to ensure that the generations affected by war are heard and recognised as victims of war violence through intergenerational Women's Peace Tables. The meeting with peace activists from our Feminists Connecting for Peace network, which took place in Bern at the beginning of the year, is another focus of our newsletter.

Here we list articles and media content published in English, Spanish or French. For media content that was published in German, please refer to the Medienspiegel page.

Despite the peace agreement, there can be little talk of peace in Nepal. The incomplete implementation of the agreement has intergenerational consequences for those affected by the conflict. At a Women's Peace Table, two generations shared their stories and presented their demands to the government. Our colleagues Camille Bernheim and Karin Widmer were there.

Three different countries and contexts, each with different peace agreements and challenges in implementation. And yet, the three women from our partner organisations in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines found many commonalities – in the experiences and insights shared by women peacebuilders and in what it takes to sustain peace. At a public panel in Bern, the three women talked about the importance of feminist principles in peacebuilding, particularly to prevent backsliding into armed violence, of safe spaces and self-care for activists and of not losing sight of the goal – sustainable peace.

Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines. What these countries have in common: They have formally ended armed conflicts, but there is still no peace. Women peacebuilders from our partner organisations in these three countries share their achievements and insights on sustaining peace during transitional justice processes and preventing backsliding into armed conflict at an event in Bern on 16 October 2024.

Together with our partners in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines, we support women in voicing their experiences and demands for peace after an armed conflict is formally ended. We developed an illustration and handout to creatively present and share the insights we have gained together over the course of three years for a more sustainable impact of our engagement.

Our long-standing partnerships in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines, where formal peace agreements have been signed, support women in the implementation of peace agreements and in their efforts to bring about structural change. In three videos with representatives of our partner organisations in these countries, they share their most important insights from their collaboration with us. 

How do people of different generations in Nepal experience the consequences of the ten-year armed conflict that ended in 2006 with a peace agreement? Two videos show young adults of the second generation and women of the first generation, who were directly affected by the conflict, exchange their experiences at intergenerational meetings. Most of them have lost family members. At the meetings, they speak about their suffering and feelings of revenge and begin a healing process that ultimately gives them the strength to demand their right to recognition collectively.