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.

The International Board is responsible for the strategic leadership of PeaceWomen Across the Globe. It is composed of members from all over the world, as well as a Swiss committee.

The International Office in Bern is responsible for the operational implementation of all our activities. The team plans, manages and implements our worldwide activities in close cooperation with our partner organisations abroad.

Our history begins with a courageous and visionary idea: to nominate 1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize in order to give more visibility and recognition to women's peace work worldwide. From the "1000 Women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize" initiative emerged a global network of women peace activists - and our organisation.

As a global feminist network organisation, our partners in Switzerland and abroad form an indispensable part of our work.

As an internationally active feminist peace organisation, we implement our programmes in close cooperation with selected organisations abroad. We focus on a small number of long-term partnerships. We are united by our commitment to the effective participation of women in all phases of a peace process.

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 February 2022, we had just finalised an interview with our programme coordinator Olena Zinenko in Ukraine. Two days later, the Russian army attacked. As the second anniversary of the war of aggression approaches, Olena recalls her state of shock in those early days and months of the war and the journey she has taken since then. She also explains why talking about peace in Ukraine can create divisions and how women need to be the driving forces for a forward-looking “life agenda”.

"I had to close my heart and soul to work." Valentina Cherevatenko, Russian PeaceWoman, human rights defender and member of Women's Initiatives for Peace in Donbas(s) describes her despair after the Russian war of aggression began.

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.

Fostering connections and exchange among women and feminist peacebuilders from countries affected by violent conflict is a central aim across all our programmes. To advance this goal, we invited two Sudanese and two Colombian peace activists to Switzerland. Over four days they shared experiences, strategies and approaches to feminist peacebuilding. They also met with decision-makers to highlight the challenges faced by women peace activists, particularly young ones, in their respective countries – and to voice their expectations.

Feminists Connecting for Peace is our global network of women and feminist peacebuilders – from grassroots activists affected by armed conflict to women participating in formal peace negotiations. Since emerging from the initiative “1000 women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize”, it has evolved into a worldwide community for feminist peacebuilding. Joining the network provides members visibility, safety and access to knowledge and resources.

What barriers do women and feminist peacebuilders face in Africa – what means do they have to overcome them? How can generations of peacebuilders work together to make their demands heard and achieve lasting peace in their countries and regions? These were among the questions discussed at the first regional meeting of the Feminists Connecting for Peace network in Africa.

In May 2024, Our House, the Belarusian International Centre for Civil Initiatives based in Lithuania, organised three webinars for Belarusian women dissidents to network, engage and share on issues related to feminist peace, peacebuilding, conflict prevention, militarisation and security. A total of 53 women anonymously participated in the webinars to discuss peace, non-violence and the challenges faced by women peacebuilders in the region. This project, supported by our Feminist Peace Initiatives, helped build solidarity among the women.

Thailand’s ongoing political instability is shaped by tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, rising nationalism and the fragility of the Thai state. Various groups have attempted to communicate about and advocate for peace. But the public discourse is dominated by militarised narratives and civic space is shrinking – making the need for feminist networks to build collective responses apparent. With our Feminist Peace Initiatives, we supported a gathering of women and feminist collectives to build a solidarity movement.  

For the first time in a decade, Jewish Israeli and Palestinian feminists who hold Israeli citizenship came together to reflect on the past years, share analysis and imagine alternative nonviolent futures. In the shadow of two years of devastating war on Gaza and the ongoing regional war in the Middle East, the discussions were often difficult and painful. But they also led participants to the conclusion that spaces for feminist political discussions are “not a luxury but a necessity”.  We supported this gathering with our Feminist Peace Initiatives.

In November 2024, SOFAD with the support of PeaceWomen Across the Globe’s Feminist Peace Initiatives carried out a Women’s Peace Table to contribute to peace in the Great Lakes sub-region. The Women’s Peace Table facilitated the collaboration between the neighbouring countries DRC, Burundi and Rwanda by facilitating dialogue between different women, including some whose husbands, children and brothers are members of armed groups.

Our collaboration with WILPF Lebanon initially set out to spotlight the critical connection between small arms proliferation and violence against women in Lebanon. However, the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, that escalated in September 2024, altered the situation dramatically. The crisis demanded swift adaptation to ensure not only the physical safety but also to support the psychological and emotional wellbeing of the peacebuilders impacted by the conflict.

Our publication "Feminists Connecting for Peace" offers a platform to activists from our network to share and exchange their experiences and analyses on an annually changing topic.

Ever since a team around our founder and president gathered the names of 1000 women peacebuilders from across the globe and nominated them collectively for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, we have understood how fundamental networks are to peacebuilding and specifically to women’s peace work. We also know: networks need to be cultivated and cared for. With this in mind, we invited 12 women peacebuilders to come together in Bern in February 2024.