Common paths to peace: this could be the title of this print newsletter. Because the women from Colombia and Ukraine featured in this issue are on these paths – even though war is still raging in Ukraine and a peace agreement has been in force in Colombia since 2016.

Three different countries and contexts, each with different peace agreements and challenges in implementation. And yet, the three women from our partner organisations in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines found many commonalities – in the experiences and insights shared by women peacebuilders and in what it takes to sustain peace. At a public panel in Bern, the three women talked about the importance of feminist principles in peacebuilding, particularly to prevent backsliding into armed violence, of safe spaces and self-care for activists and of not losing sight of the goal – sustainable peace.

Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines. What these countries have in common: They have formally ended armed conflicts, but there is still no peace. Women peacebuilders from our partner organisations in these three countries share their achievements and insights on sustaining peace during transitional justice processes and preventing backsliding into armed conflict at an event in Bern on 16 October 2024.

Our long-standing partnerships in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines, where formal peace agreements have been signed, support women in the implementation of peace agreements and in their efforts to bring about structural change. In three videos with representatives of our partner organisations in these countries, they share their most important insights from their collaboration with us. 

Social media offer a global platform for the work of activists and their messages. But women who prominently campaign for peace and justice quickly experience an often violent backlash both in virtual and physical spaces. At an event we organised with the Canadian Embassy in Bern on 1 April 2025, Sudanese peace activist and gender expert Rabab Baldo and the Colombian human rights lawyer Luz Marina Monzón Cifuentes spoke about how cyberviolence is part of a broader effort to silence women like them.