Peacemakers Network Engagement at the 68th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
Event | March 2024
Throughout the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Peacemakers Network and its partners held events showcasing women’s empowerment through tackling poverty and improving institutions and financing with a focus on gender.
Funding the Backlash or the Revolution? Rights, Religious, and Resistance
On Thursday, March 14, the Peacemakers Network, Network member the Global Interfaith Network (GIN-SSOGIE), the ACT Alliance, and Act Church of Sweden held an official side event co-sponsored by UNFPA, Sweden, Canada, and Germany to discuss how anti-rights actors are becoming well-funded movements, while progressive movements remain under-funded and left behind.

From left to right: Panellists Jonas Lucas, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Rev. Toni Kruger Ayebazibwe, GIN-SSOGIE; Petra Totterman Andorff, Kvinna till Kvinna; and Moderator Zanele Makombe, ACT Ubumbano.

Moderator Zanele Makombe, ACT Alliance opening the panel.

Financing Peace for Gender Equality: Advancing the Financing of the 1325 Agenda
On Thursday, March 14, the Peacemakers Network alongside Network member the United Religions Initiative (URI), Soka Gakkai International, NGO CSW and Women in International Security (WIIS), held an official parallel event focused on what next steps and reforms needed to be taken to refinance reforms aimed supporting peacebuilding and women’s rights organizations in the lead up to the 25th Anniversary of the 1325 Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
The event featured moderator Anoush Baghdassarian, Human Rights Attorney and Founder of ReRooted Archive and panelists: Ariela Blatter, CEO of Women in International Security, Esther Oman, Executive Director of Reach Out Cameroon, and Hilary Anderson, Senior Gender Specialist at the Inter-American Commission of Women within the Organization of American States (OAS).
Blatter began the conversation by pointing out that we now have 131 years to get to gender equality and that there continues to be an imbalance of legal protections for women, with the treatment of women being the best indicator of peace. Blatter then gave her perspective on the financial landscape opportunities for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, including by highlighting the role of donor governments, private foundations and the private sector. Blatter made the call for more convening multi-sector conversations around financing the Agenda. Oman then gave her experience at the grassroots level, speaking to the realities of the funding situation on the ground. Oman made the argument that instead of giving money to governments, to give the money directly to women-led and focused peacebuilding organizations. Oman stressed the need for flexible funding and more investment in capacity-building. Anderson then argued that it is not that there isn’t money available, but that the money is being spent on the wrong things, including funding that is being put towards the anti-rights movement. Anderson highlighted that most budgets of ministries focused on supporting women and young women are less than 1% of the entire national budget. Anderson called for more coordination to push back against these attempts to cut further funding by anti-rights groups.
To become more involved in these discussions in the lead up to the 2024 UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, join the NGO CSW Working Group on Peace for Gender Equality here.

From left to right: Ivy Koek, Soka Gakkai International providing opening remarks with Moderator Anoush Baghdassarian and Panellists Ariela Blatter, Women in International Security, Esther Oman, Reach Out Cameroon and Hilary Anderson, Inter-American Commission of Women – Organization of American States.

The Role of Faith Actors and Institutions in Promoting Gender, Peace and Security
On Monday, March 18, the Peacemakers Network, the Centre for Gender in Politics at Queen’s University in Belfast, Christian Aid, the Global Interfaith Network (GIN-SSOGIE), the ACT Alliance, and Act Church of Sweden held a private roundtable with actors both from the faith and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) communities on how to strengthen partnerships and understanding to create an even stronger intersectional feminist movement through utilizing the new Queering the Women, Peace and Security Toolkit. This toolkit seeks to strengthen the gendered dimensions of peace and security programming through demonstrating how to be more inclusive of the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in the global communities’ joint analysis and program implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda. Key takeaways from the conversations are shared in the infographic below.
As a next step building on the roundtable discussion, an online event will be held in June as part of the Peacemakers Network Inclusivity Community of Practice to continue building awareness and conversations on the toolkit with LGBTQ+ and faith actors. To take part in this conversation, sign-up here.

Discussants at the ‘Role of Faith Actors and Institutions in Promoting Gender, Peace and Security’ private roundtable with faith and LGBTQ+ peace actors.
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