Nordic Women Mediators' Annual Meeting 2021 and Workshop on Inclusive Mediation to Sustain Peace
The 2021 annual meeting of the Nordic Women Mediators Network took place at the Culture House in Reykjavík from 17-19 November. Prior to the meeting, GRÓ GEST hosted a workshop on inclusive mediation where GRÓ GEST fellows, NWM members and other experts were invited to attend. Each event was attended by over 30 people, in addition to a few NWM members who participated in the annual meeting online.
The Nordic Women Mediators Annual Meeting 17-19 November
The NWM annual meeting started with an opening conversation on Wednesday night, November 17, where Mahbouba Seraj, journalist, women‘s rights activist, and founder of the Afghan Women‘s Network, and Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, NWM Iceland chapter member, former UN Women Country Representative in Afghanistan and current Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, discussed the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan and how the international community, with a focus on the Nordic countries, can support following the recent Taliban seizure of power. During Thursday morning, external experts engaged with network members in panel conversations on transformative approaches to peace processes, on how to best include and strengthen women in mediation and peacebuilding efforts, evaluating interventions, and the way forward. Following the conversations, the network members engaged in group discussions, followed by internal discussions on Friday morning where each Nordic chapter provided an update from its network, reflected upon the network’s work until now as well as the future of the Global Alliance of the Regional Women Mediators, particularly the role of the NWM with the Global Alliance.
Photos from the annual meeting can be found here.
GRÓ GEST is the operational partner of the Nordic Women Mediators’ Iceland network and is supported by the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Workshop on Inclusive Mediation to Sustain Peace
On Wednesday, prior to the annual meeting, GRÓ GEST, in partnership with Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) and Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), hosted a workshop as a side event to the meeting on Inclusive Mediation to Sustain Peace. The workshop was attended by NWM members, GRÓ GEST students, and external specialists.
The workshop was divided in two sections; the first led by Dr. Marsha Henry, Associate Professor at the Department of Gender Studies and a founding member of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics, where she critically discussed the Women, Peace and Security agenda. The second part of the workshop was led by Dr. Catherine Turner, Associate Professor at Durham Law School and Deputy Director of the Durham Global Security Institute, who focused on inclusive conflict mediation and the redesigning of peace processes.
The workshop provided a platform for discussions on how to mobilize and include representations of all actors of the community, including diverse groups of women, girls, and marginalized groups, to every level of peacemaking.
Photos from the workshop can be found here.
The workshop was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers through NIKK.