Women and youth taking action for peace - Who is a peacebuilder?

“Peace processes” are often understood to be formal negotiations between the armed parties of a conflict culminating in the signing of a peace agreement. We propose a more comprehensive understanding of peace processes, which allows for more visibility and recognition of the different actions women and youth take and the roles they play in peacebuilding, interactively deconstructing common assumptions with the participants of the workshop and recognizing complexities.

A thematic presentation aided by a visual tool (https://1000peacewomen.org/en/programmes/participation-in-peace-processes/what-are-pe ace-processes) focuses on the understanding of peace processes as all peacebuilding initiatives, formal and informal, that strive for transformative, structural change by tackling the root causes of conflict and violence before, during and after armed conflict. The great variety of roles youth and women play within peace processes is introduced and debated.

The interactive group work is based on case studies and testimonials of youth, women and feminist peacebuilders, with questions prompting the participants’ reflections about their own perceptions of peacebuilders as well as their own role in peacebuilding. The participants interact with the peace processes illustration as a tool to make visible how women and youth influence peace processes, raise questions, facilitate analytical debate and encourage the addition of feminist visions to conventional narratives.