Jan 2013 –
Since its start in 2013, PRIO has taken part in the High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes initiative for envoys, senior mediators and their teams. The Seminar is a cooperative effort of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), PRIO, Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), and the Governments of Norway and Finland. The seminar is one of the main teaching and training activities of the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Centre.
Participation in the seminar is by invitation only.
The first series of seminars took place between 2013 and 2015:
15 October 2020: The UN DPPA, CMI and PRIO publishes three short 2-page practical guidance notes on gender-sensitive mediation. The notes capture key lessons learned on inclusive mediation strategies for the benefit of peacemakers. Read the notes here:
1. Practical Guidance for Gender-sensitive Conflict Analysis
2. Practical Guidance for Inclusive Mediation Process Design
3. Practical Guidance for Inclusive Implementation Arrangements
22 October 2019: The second edition of the Global Women, Peace and Security Index was launched at the UN Headquarters in New York on 22 October, 2019. The WPS Index provides important insights into patterns and progress on women’s well-being and empowerment around the world across three dimensions, inclusivity, justice, and security. The Index has been developed by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) in collaboration with the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security. The 2019/2020 report can be found here.
27 March 2017: UN DPPA launched a Guidance on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Strategies, which "draws on the seminar materials and guidance notes and feedback provided by seminar participants and senior mediation experts, including UN envoys and members of the UN Standby Team of mediation advisers". The Guidance is available on the UN Peacemaker website here.
Promoting women’s effective participation in conflict mediation and addressing their specific needs in peacemaking efforts is a high priority for the United Nations and Member States since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security. However, in spite of many global and regional commitments and initiatives, the number of women and gender experts involved in formal peacemaking processes remains rather low, and few peace agreements include gender-relevant provisions or harness the resources women may contribute to reach more sustainable peace.
The overall objective of the High-level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes for envoys, mediators and senior mediation experts, is therefore to generate more consultative processes by promoting women’s effective participation and building inclusive, gender-sensitive mediation capacity at international, regional and national levels. The Seminar will introduce practical "how-to" strategies and tools for more inclusive peace process design, as well as options for gender–relevant provisions, including specific language, for the key thematic areas of peace agreements.
Inclusive mediation rests on the assumption that building a sustainable peace would require an integration of societal perspectives – those of conflicting parties and other stakeholders – and its design includes multiple entry points and diverse mechanisms for participation. An inclusive mediation process, however, does not imply that all stakeholders can participate directly in the formal negotiations, but it can facilitate a structured interaction between the conflict parties and other stakeholders to include all perspectives in the process.
The High-level Seminar is rooted in the premise that women living in conflict have strategic knowledge and networks to contribute to its resolution and can be actors in implementing sustainable peace. Gender dynamics thus create unique opportunities and challenges for peacemaking and need to be understood, analyzed, and used for strategic advantage. As inclusivity may increase opportunities for reaching sustainable agreements, more systematic consultation of and outreach towards women across societies would assist mediators in their jobs.
For questions, please contact Stine Aspevik Bosheim at stibos@prio.org
The 10th UN High-level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes took place in Helsinki 5–7 November 2019. PRIO, the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), and the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UNDPPA) have been holding the seminars for six years. Altogether more than 200 senior mediators have attended the seminars, which have been funded by the Finnish and Norwegian Foreign Ministries.
The ninth High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes will this year be held in Oslo, 9-11 October
2018.
Since its start in
2013, this series of seminars is organized by the UN Department of Political Affairs
(DPA), the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) and the Governments of Norway and
Finland in cooperation with the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security. At PRIO, the
project is led by Torunn L. Tryggestad.
On 10-12 October 2017, twenty-six senior peace mediators met in Helsinki for the High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes, where they were trained in how to ensure women and gender perspectives are included in peace processes.
This was the eighth in a series of seminars that began in 2013 in order to generate more consultative processes by promoting women's effective participation and building inclusive, gender-sensitive mediation capacity at international, regional and national levels.
The first issue in 2017 the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update is now out.
The lead story in this issue includes an interview with Sarah Douglas, Gender Advisor at the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office, about how the UN Peacebuilding Fund has managed to surpass the target for financing gender-specific projects.
The first of a new series of High-Level Seminars on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes will be held in Oslo this autumn.
The seminar will be opened by Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende. He will be joined by Director of Policy and Meditation at the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) Teresa Whitfield, who will also be participating in the three-day seminar. Other participants will include high-level mediators, special envoys and mediation experts, including representatives from various UN agencies, national governments and international organizations as well as researchers and religious leaders.
The lead story in this issue of the GPS Update is the 15th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, including an analysis by Torunn L. Tryggestad, Director of the PRIO Centre and Gender, Peace and Security, of the Global Study on the implementation of the resolution.
The fifth High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes will be held in Oslo from 24-26 March. The seminar is an initiative that started in 2013 for envoys, senior mediators and senior mediation experts. It is organized by the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA), PRIO, Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), and the Governments of Norway and Finland. At PRIO, the seminar is one of the activities under the Gender, Conflict and Peacebuilding project led by senior researcher Torunn L. Tryggestad. Participation in the seminar is by invitation only.
This week at Voksenåsen Hotel in Oslo, the PRIO Gender Team organizes a High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Mediation Processes for envoys, senior mediators and their teams in collaboration with the UN Department of Political Affars (DPA) and the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI). The seminar is organized with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Participation in the seminar is by invitation only.