WPS in Action: Connection and Solidarity

During the 25th Anniversary year of the Women Peace and Security Agenda, this workshop creates space to bring together practitioners advancing the WPS agenda to connect with one another and share strategies to advance. Questions to guide discussions will be focused on:

• Agility: how are you responding and adapting to shrinking civil society spaces, funding cuts or other challenges to your work right now?
• Coalition Building: who are your allies and how are you building shared agendas?
• Language and Stories: how are you reframing and reclaiming negative language being used about women’s rights?
• Safe Participation: how do you protect yourself and those you are working with online and in person from attacks?
• Meaningful Participation: in which political spaces are you able to effectively engage, or are there some you cannot engage with?
• Defence Orientation: how are you responding to the increased focus on defence and deterrence?
• Capacity Building: what skills and resources do you most need now to advance your work?
   

The event will start with a world-café style format based on key themes identified above. Participants will then make more personal connections in a speed dating format and engage in a reciprocity exercise to see where there may be matches in terms of what people can offer, and what others need to advance the WPS Agenda.

The objective is to see build connections between participants working across sectors – in governments, civil society organisations and international organisations to identify strategies and synergies, and build solidarity at a time when the WPS is being challenged by increasing insecurity and a changing multilateral environment.