Colloquium 2000
November 4 - 18
Highlights of Immediate Outcomes

One of the goals of the Women Waging Peace Initiative is to bring attention to the essential role and contribution of women in preventing violent conflict, stopping war, reconstructing ravaged societies, and sustaining peace in fragile areas around the world. The significant news coverage of Colloquium 2000 was an important step in that direction:

• Major stories were reported in daily newspapers, including a full page in The Boston Globe and a two-page spread in The Boston Herald, in women's magazines, such as Ms. and Marie Claire, and on radio, including National Public Radio.
• A film crew documented the Colloquium, which will result in a 30-minute story to be aired on WorldLink TV, reaching some 18 million homes worldwide.
• The Voice of America's Africa Journal did a series on women in conflict in Africa.
• Parade magazine is planning several articles that will reach its weekly circulation of 37 million.

Delegations from diverse conflict areas are initiating site visits to learn from the work of other women peacemakers:

• The office of Mo Mowlam, the United Kingdom's former State Secretary for Northern Ireland, is working to bring the Women Waging Peace delegation from Colombia to Northern Ireland this spring to explore strategies used there that could be adapted for use in Colombia.
• The Russian delegation has invited our Guatemala delegate to Moscow.
• The Burundi delegation plans to meet in early December in Kigali, Rwanda, to create cooperative efforts between the two African countries.
• A Women Waging Peace Northern Ireland affiliate will travel to Serbia to meet with delegates and women political leaders.

Women Waging Peace is planning regional conferences in 2001 in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Other delegate exchanges occur daily on the Women Waging Peace Web site. Monthly regional and local Cyber Chats on the Internet will be conducted through the Web site to keep delegates, organizers, and policy shapers in close collaboration. Many of the chats will be issue-specific.

Several policy-related meetings have taken place with the US Agency for International Development (AID). AID has offered extensive support of Women Waging Peace regional efforts. Follow-up meetings to the G-8 Summit are planned to implement activities in G-8 capitals; a meeting has already occurred in Tokyo, with others planned for Berlin, London, and Moscow in the early part of next year.

Women Waging Peace will host a two-day seminar on Women in Politics in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in December to assist in the political empowerment of women from throughout the former Yugoslav region. Discussions will cover the significance of women in politics, the importance of elections, and the interaction of economic development and politics.

Additional reconciliation concerts in honor of Women Waging Peace are being planned. The next will take place December 21 in Belgrade where Charles Ansbacher will conduct Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Sava Center. It will feature the symphonic orchestra of Radio TV of Serbia, along with the chorus of Radio TV of Serbia and the Chorus of Mokranjac. Other reconciliation concerts are in the planning stages in Azerbaijan/Armenia and Cyprus.

The 2000 Research Symposium, held in conjunction with the Colloquium, was a highly successful gathering of key thinkers in the field of gender and peacebuilding. Representatives from over 50 universities meet for three days to promote dialogues and joint initiatives and research. The Symposium resulted in:

• The establishment of ethical guidelines for researchers in the field of gender and peacebuilding to encourage responsible research.
• An international database of scholars, practitioners, and activists representing over 30 countries to serve as a tool for academic collaboration.
• An extensive on-line bibliographic database including resources on gender, conflict, and peacebuilding to facilitate the work of scholars.
• A broad database of research questions for research and inquiry by students and scholars.

We are planning a network of universities worldwide, beginning with Javerianha University in Colombia, to create an ongoing scholarly relationship with Harvard in this field.

Several policy-related meetings have taken place with the US Agency for International Development (AID). AID has offered extensive support of Women Waging Peace regional efforts. Follow-up meetings to the G-8 Summit are planned to implement activities in G-8 capitals; a meetings has already occurred in Tokyo, with others planned for Berlin, London and Moscow in the early part of next year.

A book is being written profiling 20 of the delegates. The first chapter, highlighting a delegate from Colombia, is completed, with publication expected in 2002.