Our history begins with a courageous and visionary idea: to nominate 1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize in order to give more visibility and recognition to women's peace work worldwide. From the "1000 Women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize" initiative emerged a global network of women peace activists - and our organisation.

"1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize", Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, president and founder PeaceWomen Across the Globe (German, English)

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.

War has been raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014. In 2022, Russia expanded its war of aggression in eastern Ukraine and to other parts of the country. As early as summer 2021, we launched a pilot programme in conflict-affected communities along the then-contact line between Russia and regions in eastern Ukraine, where women for years have been affected by rampant poverty, social insecurity and gender-based violence. Our Ukraine programme gave them the space they needed to work together on strategies for safety and security in their daily lives and equal participation in peacebuilding. We continue building peace with them during the war.

Interview with Olena Zinenko, project coordinator at KRF Public Alternative, about the tense situation in Ukraine a few days before the start of the Russian war of aggression on 24 February 2022.

Women living in communities close to the contact line are affected by the war between Ukraine and the autonomous Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in multiple ways. At the Women’s Peace Tables they can both network and freely share their experiences and visions of peace. We interview Board member Margret Kiener Nellen and our project coordinator Annemarie Sancar after their project visit in September

Since the signing of the peace agreement in Colombia with the FARC-EP guerillas in 2016, we have been actively supporting the participation of conflict-affected women in its implementation. In our programme, we are committed to ensuring that their experiences and concerns are included in the transition to a sustainable, peaceful society.

The armed conflict over self-determination between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Muslim majority region of Mindanao lasted more than 50 years. Women were already driving forces in the peace process. Since the 2014 peace agreement, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao has been in the process of building political structures. This is a key moment for women to anchor their demands for a gender-equal society within the new political and social structures.

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.

Conflict-affected women from four different regions participated in a Women’s Peace Table in southern Colombia in the summer of 2023. On the agenda for the two-day gathering organised by our partner organisation Comunitar: create a space for women to exchange experiences and to deepen their knowledge on transitional justice and reconciliation. Our programme manager Karin Widmer was there.

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.

Women in Afghanistan know how much is at stake for them in the peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government. If negotiations fail, they above all risk losing hard-won rights. The women must be able to demand their rights and have their say. A course at Gawharshad University in Kabul empowers them to do so. (The programme has concluded.)

If peace in Afghanistan fails, the women stand to lose the gains they have made since the collapse of the Taliban regime. Sima Samar, Coordinator for PeaceWomen Across the Globe and government official in Afghanistan speaks out for women’s rights and their inclusion in shaping her country’s peace and future. For this she has paid a high price. And yet she remains steadfast and cautiously hopeful. (Interview from 2019.)

In November 2024, SOFAD with the support of PeaceWomen Across the Globe’s Feminist Peace Initiatives carried out a Women’s Peace Table to contribute to peace in the Great Lakes sub-region. The Women’s Peace Table facilitated the collaboration between the neighbouring countries DRC, Burundi and Rwanda by facilitating dialogue between different women, including some whose husbands, children and brothers are members of armed groups.

"Truth and gender in the Colombian peace process", "La verdad y el género en el proceso de paz colombiano": Alejandra Miller Restrepo, member of our Board and member of the Colombian Truth Commission, Colombia (English, Spanish)

"The long road to end gender-based violence", "Le long chemin pour mettre fin à la violence sexiste": Jeanne Gacoreke, PeaceWoman and activist against sexualised violence against women, Burundi (English, French)

"Justice and peace for Afghanistan", Sima Samar, member of our Board and women’s rights and human rights defender, Afghanistan

"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.

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.

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.

Common paths to peace: this could be the title of this print newsletter. Because the women from Colombia and Ukraine featured in this issue are on these paths – even though war is still raging in Ukraine and a peace agreement has been in force in Colombia since 2016.