PeaceWomen Across the Globe is an internationally active feminist peace organisation based in Bern with an office in Colombia. We support women and feminist peacebuilders in contexts affected by armed conflict in their diverse efforts to build lasting peace. To ensure their full, equal and meaningful participation in all stages of peace processes, we amplify their visions and demands, boost their efforts to shape peace processes and connect women and feminist peacebuilders within conflict-affected countries and across regions impacted by armed conflict.
15 years ago, Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold together with an international team nominated 1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize. In an unprecedented initiative, they searched the world for women working for peace and justice. On the occasion of its anniversary we interviewed Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, initiator and co-president of PeaceWomen Across the Globe, about the decisive moments of the project.
Our programmes create spaces where women can develop and advance their diverse efforts to achieve lasting peace. Our goal is the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in all phases of peace processes. Together with them, we advocate for a feminist understanding of peace that questions power relations and strives for transformative change.
In this programme, we focus on the point in time when there is little or no talk of peace and narratives revolve primarily around military and humanitarian measures. But peace work is relevant long before negotiations begin. The conditions must be actively created long before that: peace intentions and visions need to be developed and peace activists and their networks can be supported even during armed conflict. In this way, we can ensure that women are prepared to engage with the post-conflict period and to strategically plan for and participate in structural, transformative change.
The programme, launched in 2026, was jointly developed with Palestinian and Israeli organisations to address women’s exclusion from formal peace negotiations. It supports and gives visibility to a coalition of women advancing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and women’s meaningful inclusion in Palestinian-Israeli peace processes.
Our work in Palestine counters the increasing social, political and geographical fragmentation of Palestinian society. It supports Palestinian visions for a feminist future marked by justice. With our project partners, we work to bring together and empower women and queer people affected by violence and gender injustice across fragmented and militarised borders, in order to become more aware of and claim their rights.
Since the beginning of our programme, and especially since Russia's war of aggression in 2022, we have been building trust with women affected by the war in Ukraine. Our meetings have fostered an environment where women can openly share experiences and talk about their visions for peace – whether they have gone into exile, remained in eastern Ukraine or were displaced to other parts of the country. Following the launch of the redesigned Ukraine programme in the autumn of 2024, we organised a train-the-trainer workshop in Krakow in February for women who play a leading role in their municipalities.
Despite a growing awareness that the full, equal, safe and meaningful participation of women leads to more sustainable peace agreements, women remain largely excluded from formal peace negotiations. We strengthen women's participation in peace negotiations by finding creative ways to link formal and informal women's initiatives.
We have been working in Colombia since 2016 with our Peacebuilding After Armed Conflict programme. Since the signing of the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrilla group, we have been advocating for the participation of women affected by the conflict in its implementation. In our Peacebuilding During Peace Negotiations programme, launched in 2025, we are also committed to ensuring that women participate in ongoing, locally rooted peace negotiations. Women and women's organisations must be equally represented at negotiations with local armed groups.
As part of a pilot programme in Sudan, we are connecting peace activists in the Dilling region in the south of Sudan with Sudanese activists who have lived in exile since 2023 due to the ongoing violence. Together with our local partner, we promote the targeted development of skills that these women can use to participate fully and meaningfully in peace negotiations and drive social change.
Together with our partners, we work to ensure that peace activists play an active role in implementing peace agreements as well as in processes of dealing with the past after armed conflicts – thereby contributing to the prevention of violent conflict and renewed escalation.
Since the signing of the peace agreement in Colombia with the FARC-EP guerillas in 2016, we have been actively supporting the participation of conflict-affected women in its implementation. In our programme, we are committed to ensuring that their experiences and concerns are included in the transition to a sustainable, peaceful society.
Women continue to live with the complex effects of the ten-year armed conflict that ended with a peace agreement in 2006. Yet, they were effectively excluded from the peace negotiations and their participation in transitional justice processes remains severely restricted. With our programme, we strengthen the agency of women and young people affected by the conflict and enable their access to political decision-makers so that they can hold the government accountable to deal finally with the violent past and its consequences.
The armed conflict over self-determination between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Muslim majority region of Mindanao lasted more than 50 years. Women were already driving forces in the peace process. Since the 2014 peace agreement, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao has been in the process of building political structures. This is a key moment for women to anchor their demands for a gender-equal society within the new political and social structures.
We have been organising Women's Peace Tables with our local partners since 2015, with the aim of strengthening women's participation in peace processes and making their peace work visible. They have become a proven instrument for achieving these goals.
Conflict-affected women from four different regions participated in a Women’s Peace Table in southern Colombia in the summer of 2023. On the agenda for the two-day gathering organised by our partner organisation Comunitar: create a space for women to exchange experiences and to deepen their knowledge on transitional justice and reconciliation. Our programme manager Karin Widmer was there.
Eighteen years on, since the signing of the peace agreement, there can still be no talk of peace in Nepal. The lack of political will, patriarchal social norms as well as political instability are hindering its implementation, leading to intergenerational consequences for those affected by the conflict. They want to be recognised as victims of the violence of war and demand the truth. Our colleagues Camille Bernheim and Karin Widmer listened to them at a Women's Peace Table.
In the 20 years before the Taliban came to power in August 2021, women in Afghanistan had been able, with difficulty, to reclaim some of their rights and their place in society. Until the takeover, we supported women to increase their knowledge about their rights in relation to the peace process at the time, so that they could help shape peace and have a voice in decision-making processes. We are currently analysing how to continue our support for Afghanistan's women.
Struggles over land, resources or political power are the main reasons for the violent conflicts that regularly flare up in certain regions of Kenya. Although many women are active in peacebuilding within their families and communities, they lack recognition, specific knowledge and access to resources and larger networks. This is where our project comes in.
Political tensions and economic turmoil in Pakistan are the causes of an increase in insecurity in the country. Ethnic and religious minorities who are marginalised and persecuted and women who experience gender-based violence are particularly affected. Many sink deeper into poverty. Our project partner uses theatre performances to highlight these inequalities, promote dialogue and peace.
The landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) was passed in 2000. In the 25 years since then, more than 110 countries have adopted a National Action Plan for the implementation of the resolution, highlighting the potential of the WPS agenda as an instrument for transformative change.
We are horrified by the recent escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza and appalled by the loss of life. We condemn the violent attack by Hamas against the Israeli civilian population in the strongest terms. We also, decidedly, condemn the violence used by Israeli Forces against the Palestinian civilian population. Together with civil society and peace organisations in Israel and Palestine, we call upon all decision-makers there to respect International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and human rights and to protect the civilian populations through all available means. This includes, among others, an immediate end to Hamas’ hostage-taking of civilians and to the blockade of Gaza imposed by the Israeli government, cutting the population off, especially from access to water, food, electricity and fuel.
What images do the words "peace processes" evoke in your mind? Do you imagine years of negotiations culminating in a ceremony where the parties to the conflict sign an agreement, followed by a photo of the handshake that goes around the world? We questioned and deconstructed this common perception and took an in-depth look at peace processes focusing on the question: "How do women influence peace processes?’"
Militarisation means more than "just" spending on armed forces: this spending is the consequence of a security policy geared towards war. As a feminist peace organisation, we oppose the claim that more weapons lead to more security. We demand demilitarisation and disarmament because that is the only way to achieve genuine peace and comprehensive security.