Case Study Release Events

In the Midst of War: Women’s Contributions to Peace in Colombia
Cross-Cutting Release Events:
     Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reconstruction (DDR)
From Combat to Community: Women and Girls of Sierra Leone
Adding Value: Women's Contributions to Reintegration and Reconstruction in El Salvador
Strengthening Governance: The Role of Women in Rwanda's Transition

In the Midst of War: Women’s Contributions to Peace in Colombia
The UN’s Commission on the Status of Women held its 48th session in New York March 1-12, 2004. Catalina Rojas, author of the Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace Policy Commission report on women’s efforts for peace in Colombia, presented her findings at a panel on women's participation in peace processes. Read Waging’s report, In the Midst of War: Women's Contributions to Peace in Colombia (pdf).

On March 11, 2004, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a members' briefing entitled "Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Importance of Women's Participation." Ambassador Hattie Babbitt (Senior Vice President of Hunt Alternatives Fund, the private foundation of which Waging is a program) presented tools available to legislators through Waging’s network of leading women peace builders and through Waging’s Policy Commission case studies. She also highlighted Waging’s research findings on El Salvador and Colombia. Ambassador Babbitt was joined by panelists Hodan Addou (UNIFEM), Florence Tercier (International Committee of the Red Cross), Ramina Johal (Women’s Commission), and Isobel Coleman (Council on Foreign Relations). Read more about this briefing convened by Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson, Susan Davis, and Tom Lantos.

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Cross-Cutting Release Events: Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reconstruction (DDR)
At the 48th session of the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (March 1-12, 2004), Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace Chair Swanee Hunt spoke on a panel, organized by UNIFEM, on gender and DDR. Moderated by Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of UNIFEM, the panel included Ameerah Haq of the UN Development Programme, Agnes Marcaillou from the UN Department of Disarmament Affairs, and Kelvin Ong of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Affairs. Panelists spoke about the lessons learned on DDR programs and the needs and capacities of women and girls; and they made recommendations for the future. For more information, see Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace's Policy Commission reports on DDR in El Salvador and Sierra Leone.

On March 10, 2004, Director of the Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace Policy Commission Sanam Anderlini spoke on panel entitled “Paving the Road to Peace: Improving the Reintegration of Former Combatants” and hosted by the United States Institute of Peace. Other speakers were Sean Bradley (Senior Operations Officer, Africa Bureau, the World Bank), Roger Moran (Deputy Director for Peacekeeping, Office of International Organization Affairs, US Department of State), and Colonel Michael Dziedzic (Program Officer, United States Institute of Peace). Ms. Anderlini higlighted the experiences of women and girls in DDR processes in El Salvador and Sierra Leone. For more information, see Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace's Policy Commission reports on DDR in El Salvador and Sierra Leone.

The Center for Developing Area Studies at McGill University brought together activists, scholars, and practitioners for a three-day event that addressed security from the perspective of the rights and needs of people, particularly women, in societies confronted by political violence. Policy Commission program associate Camille Pampell Conaway presented findings on the role and contribution of women to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR), highlighting experiences in El Salvador and Sierra Leone. Click here for the presentation and the paper.

Report on the Conference on Gender and Human Security
McGill University, Centre for Developing-Area Studies, Gender and Human Security Program
April 2004

Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace cohosted a panel entitled “Gaps in Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration: Cases from the Field” with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on February 26, 2004. Sanam Anderlini, director of the Waging Policy Commission, presented comparative findings from the El Salvador and Sierra Leone case studies. Other DDR experts participating were from the Office of Transition Initiatives at the US Agency for International Development and the Post-Conflict Project at CSIS. Discussants included representatives from Creative Associates, the United Nations, and the World Bank.

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From Combat to Community: Women and Girls of Sierra Leone
Policy Commission Director Sanam Anderlini and Camille Pampell Conaway were joined by Dyan Mazurana, case study coauthor for From Combat to Community: Women and Girls of Sierra Leone, for a presentation on February 10, 2004, at the Pentagon's Stability Operations Office, which is responsible for US deployments of peacekeeping missions. They focused on application of DDR findings from El Salvador and Sierra Leone to the situation in Liberia.

Case study coauthor Dyan Mazurana presented findings from Sierra Leone at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) to an Africa-focused audience on February 11, 2004. In attendance were representatives from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown University, the International Crisis Group, Refugees International, Search for Common Ground, and the US Agency for International Development. Ambassador Princeton Lyman, director of CFR’s Africa program, regarded the findings as useful tools for current efforts in Liberia.

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Adding Value: Women's Contributions to Reintegration and Reconstruction in El Salvador
On February 10, 2004, case study coauthor Camille Pampell Conaway and economist Sarah Gammage presented Adding Value: Women's Contributions to Reintegration and Reconstruction in El Salvador at the Inter-American Dialogue, the leading center for policy analysis on Western Hemisphere issues. Ambassador Hattie Babbitt and Policy Commission Director Sanam Anderlini also represented Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace at the meeting, which included participants from Capitol Hill, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the US Department of State, and the US Institute of Peace. Ambassador Margarita Escobar, permanent representative of El Salvador to the Organization of American States, was pleased with the positive findings on women’s work in her country and urged further research into the impact of women in national policymaking.

On March 11, 2004, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a members' briefing entitled "Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Importance of Women's Participation." Ambassador Hattie Babbitt (Senior Vice President of Hunt Alternatives Fund, the private foundation of which Waging is a program) presented tools available to legislators through Waging’s network of leading women peace builders and through Waging’s Policy Commission case studies. She also highlighted Waging’s research findings on El Salvador and Colombia. Ambassador Babbitt was joined by panelists Hodan Addou (UNIFEM), Florence Tercier (International Committee of the Red Cross), Ramina Johal (Women’s Commission), and Isobel Coleman (Council on Foreign Relations). Read more about this briefing convened by Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson, Susan Davis, and Tom Lantos.

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Strengthening Governance: The Role of Women in Rwanda's Transition

The UN's Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI) held an expert group meeting on "Enhancing the Role of Women in Electoral Processes in Post-Conflict Countries" January 19 - 22, 2004, in New York. Elizabeth Powley, associate director of the Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace Policy Commission, presented a case study on women's participation in electoral processes in Rwanda, drawn from her research entitled Strengthening Governance: The Role of Women in Rwanda's Transition. Supported by the Department of Political Affairs, the UN Development Programme, UNIFEM (the UN Development Fund for Women), and intergovernmental organizations, this meeting produced findings to contribute to the forty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2004. Read the final report from this expert group meeting.

On September 29, 2003, Rick Barton, co-director of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, hosted an afternoon panel on “Strengthening Governance: The Role of Women in Rwanda’s Transition.” Case study author Elizabeth Powley opened with a presentation. Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwandan native and participant in the 2002 national debates on the Rwanda constitution, added her perspective on the electoral process and the steps the government has taken to advance women in decision-making positions. Dr. Daniel Serwer, director of peace operations at the United States Institute of Peace, focused his comments on how the US government might advance the recommendations of this report to its current post-conflict reconstruction work in Afghanistan and Iraq. A lively discussion followed; participants included representatives of American University, Congressional offices, the Embassy of Rwanda, International Crisis Group, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the Overseas Development Institute, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the United Nations Development Programme, the Voice of America, and the World Federalist Association.

Ambassador Princeton Lyman, Ralph Bunche senior fellow and director of Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, hosted an Africa Policy Studies Program breakfast on September 29, 2003. After an introduction by Ambassador Harriet C. Babbitt, senior vice president at Hunt Alternatives Fund, case study author Elizabeth Powley presented “Strengthening Governance: The Role of Women in Rwanda’s Transition.” Ms. Powley is associate director of the Policy Commission at Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace. A rich discussion followed, with participation from representatives of the African Development Bank, Georgetown University, International Crisis Group, Search for Common Ground, the United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State.

Dr. Georgette Bennett, president and founder of the Tanenbaum Center, opened the September 30, 2003, lunch presentation welcoming a new partner—Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace. A discussion followed the presentation by case study author Elizabeth Powley and included input from representatives of the American Jewish World Service, Columbia University, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations, the International Peace Academy, and the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations.

Additional meetings and roundtables were held with the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery of the United Nations Development Programme, the Office for Democracy and Governance of the United States Agency for International Development, and the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

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