Nordic Women Mediators‘ Annual Meeting 2021 in Reykjavík
The Annual Meeting of the Nordic Women Mediators (NWM) network is hosted by GRÓ GEST and the Icelandic NWM chapter, with support from the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and takes place in the Culture House in Reykjavík on 17–19 November.
The meeting‘s opening event was held today from 18:00-19:00 with panelists and participants of the Annual Meeting on site and streamed live to registered webinar attendees. After welcoming remarks by Dr. Irma Erlingsdóttir, director of GRÓ GEST, a conversation between Afghani journalist, women‘s rights activist, and founder of the Afghan Women‘s Network Mahbouba Seraj 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, was screened. Their conversation was followed by panel discussions moderated by Dr. Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir, another NWM Iceland chapter member and Professor of International Relations at the University of Iceland.
At the three day annual meeting NWM members from Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, with operational partners, will discuss approaches to including and strengthening women in mediation and peacebuilding efforts; this year there is a special focus on lessons learned from the recent Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Three conference panel sessions on the meeting‘s second day will, with presentations from and participation of both network members and external specialists, offer conversations on transformative approaches to peace; evaluating interventions; and the way forward. The third and final day of the meeting will be dedicated to NWM internal discussions. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic this year’s meeting is conducted in a hybrid format, allowing participants and presenters who cannot attend in person to participate via a virtual platform.
Nordic Women Mediators was established in Oslo in 2015 to connect women from the five Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – who all have professional expertise relevant to conflict mediation, peace-building and negotiations, with the intention of sustaining peace through promoting the inclusive and meaningful participation of women in all phases of peace processes.
GRÓ GEST is the operational partner of the Nordic Women Mediators’ Iceland network and is supported by the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs.