WPP Women peacebuilders Forum- LONDON EDITION
Come and join us in the 1ST Edition of WPP's 'Women Peacebuilders' Forum', organised by the ''United Women for Peace initiative.
Women for Peace and Participation (WPP) believes it is an important time to take stock of the international agenda on women, peace and security, and to build the political will for the necessary changes to policies and practices to enable the active participation of women in peace and security at local, national and international level. WPP launched its ‘United Women for Peace Initiative’ in April 2017 and this forum is the first in our series’.
Our experience demonstrates that women are more likely to participate meaningfully in specific peacebuilding contexts when they operate in coalitions of international and domestic networks, highlighting their role in peace process and lobbying for including their voice in decision making. We will engage women peacebuilders from all fields of life whose work directly and indirectly impacts social pacification. Women in politics, civil society and professional women members of the diaspora communities, possessing skills and first-hand experience and able to leave higher impact.
Seventeen years since the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, the women, peace and security agenda has become even more critical in the face of violent extremism, rising violence and failing states; especially the importance of women as active participants in the prevention and resolution of war. Yet, despite the many achievements of women at local and national levels, women's participation at all levels of formal and informal peacebuilding remains low.
Under the theme ''Women Peacebuilders' forum in this workshop we are bringing together women peacebuilders from various countries and regions living in the UK as part of the diaspora community. This particular one day event aims to share experiences and lessons learnt. A shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities women encounter in various fiels of life in the conflict and post conflict situations is required. This particular workshop will also provide basis to innitiatie reviewing how UNSCR 1325 enhances the effectiveness of women in diaspora groups in peace processes, and, in countering violent extremism at the community level - to help guide future research and policy initiatives.
Speakers:
1) Quhramaana Kakar, from Afghanistan is the founder of Women for Peace and Participation. She is an award winning Peace Activist and development practitioner with special focus on women's empowerment and leadership building, and their participation in political procceses.
2) Indira Kartallozi is a director at Kaleidoscope Futures a Cambridge-based think-tank and media company focused on creating a better and brighter future – one that is safe, smart, shared, sustainable and satisfying. Indira is also a founder of the Migrant Entrepreneurs International - a social enterprise that stands for recognizing the positive contribution of migrant entrepreneurs globally, for empowering marginalized migrant communities through entrepreneurship and for promoting sustainable and responsible practices by migrant entrepreneurs.
3) Rahaf, Syra is an academic and researcher, her area of research is peacebuilding and gender. She is also member of WPP' United Women for Peace initiative.
4) Ana Victoria, is a theologist and Afro-Colombian Preist at Snt. paul's Cathedral. In 2015 she became member of the Truth, Memory and Recociliation Commission of Colombian women in the diaspora - participated in the Colombian peace process as part of the diaspora.
5) Marwa Baabad, from Yemen is fellow at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at LSE. She is human rights activiist with extensive expereince and knowledge of women and peacebuilding at the grassroots level in Yemen.
Chair: Leah Basel, is Associate professor at the University of Liesecter and writer. Leah's migration work focuses on gender and migration, particularly the politics of refugee women's integration.
Workshops facilitators:
Zarina Khan is the Director of GAPS (Gender Action for Peace and Security), leading its policy and advocacy work in the UK on Women, Peace and Security.
Sebil Safi is an associate professor in the field of Public International Law with a range of experience in teaching and research in the areas of migration, refugees, gender including the perspective of International Law and Refugee Law.
WORKSHOP 1:
WOMEN'S ROLE IN PEACE PROCESSES, RESEARCH AND POLICY ON PEACEBUILDING AND PEACE MAKING PROCESSES
WORKSHOP 2
WOMEN'S ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN THE PEACE PROCESSES (i.e education, campagining, networking, lobbying)
It is an unique opportunity for women from all diaspora groups to come together and raise their voice!
Click Here WPP Women peacebuilders Forum for PDF file
“Why do women in the diaspora matter in peace processes and policies”
In recent years, diaspora women have had a considerable degree of influence on policy agendas in conflict-affected countries on issues ranging from advocating for inclusive peace processes to pressing for sustainable development. Diaspora women, many of whom have been directly affected by war, often possess unique skills and first-hand experience of the local and global context and are well-placed to influence international policies in favour of women in war-affected countries.
Please join us for the launch of ‘United Women for Peace’ an initiative of the non-profit ‘’Women for Peace and Participation.’’ This event will highlight the role of diaspora women leaders based in the UK but who continue to advocate for inclusive and gender`-sensitive peace processes and in their home countries and the inclusion of their communities in policy making, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Indonesia, Kosovo, Libya, South Sudan and Turkey.
Please click here to get your ticket:
Launch Event: ‘United Women for Peace
Amnesty International
The Human Rights Action Center
17 -25 New Inn Yard
London, EC2A 3EA
20 April 2017
10:00 – 14:00
Where do Women Stand in the Peace Process in Afghanistan?
Women for Peace and Participation (WPP) is organizing the event together with the Afghan SOAS Society aiming to highlight the gender aspects of peace-building in Afghanistan, specifically focused at women’s participation.
Speakers
Samira Hamidi holds a Masters (LLM) in International Human Rights Law and Practice from University of York, UK. She is a freelance consultant and women’s rights activist. Ms. Hamidi has contributed towards women’s rights agenda through her different roles and responsibilities since 2004. She has been able to focus on policy advocacy, contribute in strategic decisions of the organizations towards women’s empowerment agenda, design and conduct conferences, trainings, workshops and advocacy events, participate in lobby initiatives at the national and international platforms. Ms. Hamidi was a member participant of National Peace Consultative Jirga in 2010 and Loya Jirga in 2011. Ms. Samira Hamidi was an elected civil society speaker to the Tokyo International Conference on Afghanistan in 2012. Ms. Hamidi is currently the Chair of the Executive Board for Afghan Women’s Network (AWN), Chair of the Human Rights Defenders Committee and member of Steering Committee of Kabul House, (an initiative to support Women Human Rights Defenders) facilitated by Afghan Women Skills Development Centre.
Dr. Marissa Quie is a Research Associate in the Department of Sociology, College Lecturer in Politics at Magdalene College and Director of Studies at Lucy Cavendish College. She was previously a Research Fellow at Queens’ College and Samuel Reichmann Fellow at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge. She received her Ph.D from Christ’s College, University of Cambridge. Her main research interests focus on the problem of peace and on the connections between peace, gender and security and regional solutions to the problem of peace. Her research engages with the motifs of participation and protection that characterise debates about women and marginalised groups. She is currently engaged in a research project analysing the appeal of Islamic State for British women. She has done extensive consultancy work for the United Nations and for the Government of Afghanistan and has acted as an advisor to the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme (APRP) which was initiated in 2010. She has been a Mentor to Afghan students at both Cambridge and Oxford.
Hameed Hakimi is a Research Associate at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London. Previously, he has worked as a researcher at various institutions including the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Between 2014 and 2015, Hameed was an International Advisor for policy and capacity development at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul. He has a masters degree in International Security and Global Governance from Birkbeck College, University of London; a bachelor degree in Politics from Queen Mary University of London, and training qualification in research methodologies from University of Birmingham.
Sippi Azarbaijani-Moghaddam International consultant and social scientist with 23 years’ experience in conflict and post-conflict settings, notably Afghanistan, specializing on gender issues and working with international and local governments and military actors, local leaders, civil society and communities. From the 1990s she worked on negotiating access with the Mujahideen and the Taliban to work with women in rural communities. She worked extensively with Afghan women’s NGOs and with women leaders from the Taliban period into the post-Taliban era. She has published extensively on women in Afghanistan. She is currently doing a PhD in International Relations the University of St Andrews.
Quhramaana Kakar is the founder and director of Women for Peace and Participation. She works for women’s empowerment in the areas of leadership development through political participation in peacebuilding, and international development with special focus on women’s and vulnerable individual’s economic development and their inclusion at the policy level. She is N-Peace 2012 Role Model for Peace awardee, currently providing support to UN peace-network as advisor on the strategic board. She has been advising policy makers and politicians advocating for the rights of women and vulnerable communities in Europe and US on international intervention in Afghanistan. Besides her role with international community she was the Gender Advisor for the Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Program, to ensure that women’s interests are considered and integrated in the peace process. She holds an Mphil from the University of Cambridge, a master in Public Policy from Germany, a master in development economics and a master in Business Administration.
Marika Theros is a human rights and organizational development expert with more than 12 years’ experience working at the intersection of public policy, academia and civil society. She provides strategic and programmatic advice on issues related to human rights and civil society to a range of organizations. She is currently a senior researcher at the Institute for State Effectiveness in Washington DC. At the London School of Economics (LSE), she contributes to the Civil Society Research Program (JSRP), particularly on issues of accountability, justice, and conflict in Afghanistan. She also serves on the executive committee of the London Transitional Justice Network and is completing her Doctorate at the Department for International Development at LSE.
London Women's Peace Table

Women for Peace and Participation and the European Campaign for Human Rights for the People of Afghanistan invite you to participate in the London Women’s Peace Table on Afghanistan
Kabul Women's Peace Table
Despite the fact that women are perceived as victims of war in Afghanistan, they also played a key role in supporting political resistance in different regimes and building peace at the grassroots level. Women have obtained some formal representation in the current peace process both at the national and subnational levels, however their role at the grassroots level is equally important and more sustainable.
Afghanistan Peace and Reconciliation Programme was the central vehicle of the current peace process, which ended in 2015 with limited success. The second phase of the program has started with the title ‘Afghanistan Peace and Development Framework’. Women’ participation in the process however has been under question, for their ineffective involvement for various political and social reasons.
The Kabul Peace table seeks to discuss the impact of women’s involvement in the peace process at the grassroots / local levels and their challenges. The idea is to encourage wider participation of women in peacebuilding activities in the country.
The peace table is part of the international Women’s Peace Tables, taking place across the world. This peace table will be held in on Thursday 27th October 2016. The event is organised as a roundtable so be prepared to share your views.