Two workshops for 60 women peacebuilders directly affected by the armed conflict focused on strengthening their capacity to increase the visibility of their peace work and to advocate for their inclusion in peace processes. The workshops, organised by Badya Centre for Integrated Development Services, took place in Dilling, South Kordofan State, in southern Sudan in February 2025. We supported these workshops with our Feminist Peace Initiatives.

At the PeaceWomen Across the Globe-hosted webinar, “Leveraging feminist networks for advocacy”,  three inspiring and experienced activists and peacebuilders shared key insights on how and why feminist networks play a key role in advocacy. Rabab Baldo (Sudan), Uma Mishra-Newbery (Switzerland) and Karen Tañada (Philippines) collectively have decades of experience in feminist engagement shaped by diverse contexts and trajectories.

With our Feminist Peace Initiatives (FPI), we support local and feminist peace initiatives and projects of our network members. The aim is to promote innovative ideas for feminist peace work quickly, in a straightforward manner and for a limited period of time. In this way, we enable network members to try out new ideas that correspond to their own priorities and those of their communities.

Our advocacy aims to create political impact and achieve a feminist vision of peace. The focus is on the implementation of key human rights instruments that form the basis for a peaceful and gender-just world.

On 8 July 2024, the Brest Regional Court in Belarus sentenced the prominent Belarusian human rights defender and 2024 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Olga Karatch to 12 years' imprisonment and a fine of 170,000 euros under five criminal articles, including, among others, “conspiracy or attempted coup to seize state power by unconstitutional means”, “discrediting the Republic of Belarus” and “defamation of Aliaksandr Lukashenka”, the Belarusian president. Olga Karatch is the head of the Lithuania-based International Centre for Civil Initiatives Our House, which campaigns for the rights of conscientious objectors in Belarus. She is a feminist peace activist who promotes non-violent resistance to the militarised regime and society in Belarus and a member of our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace. We call for Olga Karatch’s protection and the respect of international human rights law.