"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)

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

"Building peace across the divide", Susan Risal, executive director, Nagarik Aawaz, our partner organisation in Nepal

"Bringing peace to Mindanao": Yasmin Busran-Lao, former member of the Philippine government's peace negotiation panel for talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front

Civil society plays a significant role in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security", not, however, to the same extent everywhere. On the meeting of the "WPS Focal Points" network in South Africa.

In this print newsletter you can read about the exchange of knowledge and experience between two representatives of the Gender Working Group of the Colombian Truth Commission and peace activists from the Philippines and learn how the exchange at the WPS Focal Points meeting in South Africa contributes to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security".

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.

Shortly after the war of aggression in Ukraine began in February, we opened an emergency fund to support people in embattled areas in eastern Ukraine, especially the women who participated in our 2021 Women’s Peace Tables. Thanks to the network of our partner organisation, KFR Public Alternative, a large number of people in need received essential everyday items.

In this issue of our newsletter, our Ukrainian partners report on the changes they have noticed over the last two years in the participants of our meetings with war-affected women from Ukraine. In another article, you will find out which topics were at the centre of discussions for 17 peace activists from 10 Asian countries at the network meeting in Manila. You can also find out what was on the programme during the visit of Sudanese peace activist Rabab Baldo and Colombian human rights lawyer Luz Marina Monzón Cifuentes in Bern.

Even before the Russian war of aggression, women in eastern Ukraine were barely heard, their needs and concerns ignored. Our pilot programme, launched in 2021, opened up spaces where women discussed issues and formulated demands to make their everyday lives safer. We are picking up where we left off with the new Women’s Platform for Peace.

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Negotiations often end war rather than creating peace. However, if women are involved in the process, the chances of lasting peace increase significantly, writes our Director Deborah Schibler in the NZZ am Sonntag. (German only.)

Our work with women in eastern Ukraine has shown even before the war escalated on 24 February 2022: Violence against women is a military tactic is, writes our programme manager Annemarie Sancar in the latest issue of à propos. Women's experiences must be part of the process of dealing with war crimes.

In the Annual Report 2022, you will learn everything important about our work in the past year - and why feminist visions of peace were put to a tough test.

Our new director, Deborah Schibler, brings a lot of experience in peacebuilding and peace processes from her various assignments around the world - and a lot of passion for the participation of women.

In the webinar "Memory and Transformation", experts and participants addressed the legacy of conflict-related violence and injustice. In particular, the webinar explored which voices and experiences are excluded when dealing with this legacy, which still resonates today, and what the consequences of this exclusion are. The recording of the webinar is now available.

Moments of recognition and understanding emerged during the exchange between peace activists from Colombia and the Philippines. Our programme officers Andrea Filippi and Karin Widmer were there.

The second issue focuses on the topic of "security". What does security mean from a feminist perspective? How does this understanding conflict with a military understanding of security? Read the nine contributions from our network.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" is considered a milestone, but our work to implement the resolution reveals several points of criticism. Read more about the search for a truly feminist peace policy in the article by our programme manager Annemarie Sancar in KOFF's magazine à propos.

Our founder and president Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold talks about her life and her commitment to women's peace work in an interview with the Croatian media platform Phralipen.

In an interview with our Ukrainian programme coordinator Olena Zinenko, she recalls the first days and months after the Russian attack on 24 February 2022 and talks about the path she has travelled since then. She also explains why women must be the driving force behind a future-oriented "life agenda" in Ukraine.

What images does the word "peace process" conjure up for you? You probably imagine years of negotiations, a ceremony at which the parties to the conflict sign an agreement and shake hands? We have deconstructed this common image and taken an in-depth look at the question: "How do women influence peace processes?" The result is a graphic representation of the different stages of peace processes. With this tool, we put the role of women centre stage and show where they exert influence to drive peace processes and prevent setbacks.

In this article, our director Deborah Schibler explains why the common images and narratives of peace processes need to become feminist. It was published in the March issue of à propos, the magazine of KOFF swisspeace.