International Centre for Gender, Peace and Security. Research, policy and action for a more secure world

Transcription

1 International Centre for Gender, Peace and Security Research, policy and action for a more secure world

2 THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR GENDER, PEACE AND SECURITY was established to mobilize knowledge, strengthen capacities and support research that will increase women s security and the gender-responsiveness of peacebuilding policies, programs and institutions. The Centre will host an International Research Council on Gender, Peace and Security to support case-based, thematic, regional and comparative research that is intellectually sound, policy relevant and theoretically innovative. Ten years after the Security Council s first action on women, the political will to increase women s security and strengthen their role in peacebuilding remains high but the risks to women s lives during conflict and its aftermath have not diminished and, for many, have become far worse. Strategies to prevent violence against women are growing in number, but they remain piecemeal and under-resourced and have yet to bring about any substantive shift in women s empowerment, gender equality or sustainable development. The International Centre for Gender, Peace and Security (IC-GPS) seeks to increase the quality of women s leadership in peacebuilding and the gender-responsiveness of peacebuilding strategies. IC-GPS programs will support experts, researchers and practitioners from crisis-affected areas to identify viable peacebuilding strategies and provide the knowledge and expertise needed for fulfilling international commitments to increase women s security and support their role in peacebuilding programs. Early thematic priorities include sexual and gender-based violence, women s participation in peacebuilding, the implementation of Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security, and the gender dimensions of post-conflict macroeconomic reform. From a central hub in Nairobi, Kenya, the Centre will lead a global program of activities working with implementing partners and collaborating institutions from around the world. The Centre will provide both a safe-haven and a global platform for strengthening intellectual leadership in the field of gender, peace, and security and building a global community of research, practice and activism. All of the Centre s knowledge and program resources will be accessible through an open, web-based virtual platform. The Centre was incubated by the Social Science Research Council with significant support from the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. It is currently supported by grants from the Open Society Foundations and the Oak Foundation. c/o African Leadership Centre P.O. Box Jacaranda Avenue, Off Gitanga Road Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya Correspondence: Jennifer F. Klot, klot@ssrc.org

3 International Research Council on Gender, Peace and Security The Centre will host an International Research Council (IRC) on Gender, Peace and Security that will fund social science, policy and operational research that is interdisciplinary, intellectually sound, policy relevant and theoretically innovative. Utilizing a wide variety of flexible grantmaking and administrative mechanisms, the Research Council will provide quality assurance for national and international research and collaborations that respond to knowledge needs and gaps in the emerging field of gender, peace and security and help create a unified, interdisciplinary body of research and practice. The Council will be guided by an independent and international scientific steering committee that will advise research priorities. 1 IC-GPS Strategic Program Framework: Strengthening Research Capacity 2 3 Sharing Knowledge Linking Research, Policy and Practice The International Research Council on Gender, Peace and Security will fund: 1 Strengthening Research Capacity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Systematic reviews, implementation research, monitoring and evaluation about what works to increase women s security. Experience-Based Knowledge The publication, translation, dissemination and utilization of existing research and the development of new methodologies to research, collect, and make experience-based knowledge accessible. Quantitative Approaches and Data Collection Enrichment grants will provide funding and expertise to bring gender analysis and indicators into existing survey instruments on all aspects of security, from natural disaster and post-conflict needs assessment to small arms surveys and humanitarian health assessments. Sex and age disaggregated data and gender analysis are absent from the most widely used international survey instruments and indices of state fragility, peace, governance, natural disasters, humanitarian response and post-conflict needs assessments. The absence of empirical, comparative and longitudinal data has made it virtually impossible to take evidence-based approaches to peacebuilding, a relatively new field of research and practice. IC-GPS will strengthen research capacity and intellectual leadership in crisis-affected, developing and transition countries. Aligned with the International Research Council s grantmaking activities, programs will provide fora for skills building and exchange, advanced training in research methods, monitoring and evaluation, proposal development and writing for publication, policy and advocacy. Flagship programs will strengthen the capacities of both individuals and institutions through intensive residential research institutes; a mentorshipbased online proposal development course and training in feminist research ethics: Online Proposal Development Course This mentorship-based online course provides one-to-one supervision and training in problem formulation and conceptualization, methodology, data analysis, ethics, research uptake and dissemination. Participants are guided through the development of participatory research agendas that are problem-centered and relevant to policy, practice and women s activism. This course is adapted from a moderated four-week pilot program with teams in seven countries in Africa and the Arab region and successfully strengthened research proposals on young women s political participation. It was developed in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Canadian International Development Research Centre, the Arab Families Working Group and the American University in Cairo. Framework for Research Ethics and Evaluation (FREE) These peer-reviewed ethical guidelines for feminist research in crises were developed by Vanderbilt University together with a strategy for establishing a feminist institutional review board. FREE will provide researchers with information and training about the ethics of field research on gender and conflict. Residential Institutes and Colloquia During IC-GPS s incubation, a curriculum was developed by the Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights to support advanced training in feminist research methods, ethics, concepts and theories about gender and security. Core faculty and visiting experts will facilitate an intensive program of peerlearning, training and collaborative agenda setting that bring together academic researchers, senior practitioners and policy makers.

4 2 Sharing Knowledge IC-GPS will increase the visibility, dissemination and utilization of experience-based knowledge and existing research. Through translation, alternative forms of dissemination, peer review, mentorship and the innovative use of technology, programs will support and engage practitioners, activists, women s organizations and crisis-affected communities. Translation and Knowledge Broker Facility A dedicated funding facility will catalyze field-building efforts by supporting translation and alternative forms of dissemination of existing research in Arabic, French and Spanish. Research will be made available through the virtual Gender and Security Research Hub and Platform. Virtual Gender and Security Research Hub and Platform The Gender, Peace & Security Research Hub is an interactive, online participatory platform that provides a central location for all available data and research related to gender and conflict transformation. Innovative technology will link research with authors, institutions and relevant networks. The Hub currently contains over 5,200 entries and provides the first centralized, publicly accessible collection of peer-reviewed research on gender, peace and security. An online participatory research gateway allows activists, researchers, policy makers and practitioners to ask questions, find up to date research and identify where new research is urgently needed. The Hub was developed by the SSRC and the Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights. It is currently working with the Women s Regional Network to inventory resources on the militarization of aid, corruption and security in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. 3 Linking Research, Policy and Practice IC-GPS will act as a catalyst, mobilizer and convener of social science researchers, scholars, funders and policy makers working across disciplines, regions and communities of practice. The Centre will enhance collaboration among communities of research and practice, within and across regions. IC-GPS will create virtual and place-based spaces for collaborative agenda setting across sociocultural, political and geographic settings and strengthen the convening capacities of research institutions working in the area of gender, security and peacebuilding. Stakeholder Consultations and Research to Policy Linkages Workshops will strengthen the leadership capacities of women to engage in security policy arenas and provide intensive training in gender theory and research methods and ethics. They will also provide training in writing for publication, policy and advocacy. This builds on an IC-GPS pilot project on Women s Political Participation in Asia which created a new model for facilitating participatory research and policy-agenda setting processes (PRAPAS), to identify funding strategies for national women s foundations to support women s political participation in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Hong Kong, India and Mongolia. Lead Partners included the International Network of Women s Funds, Asian Network of Women s Funds, the Institute for Developing Nations, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Gender, Crisis and Peace Forum (GCPF) Working in partnership with the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, and modeled on the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, GCPF will meet shorter-term, practical and strategic knowledge needs of the UN and other policy shapers by providing a systematic channel for independent information and expertise on national, regional, or thematic concerns, and the implementation of recent Security Council actions on gender, women and sexual violence. This program builds on IC-GPS s first policy dialogue, African Perspectives on Implementing 1325, lead by FAHAMU (Kenya) and the African Leadership Centre. The Dialogue engaged the African Union, scholars, activists and practitioners in a critical assessment of gender training as a strategy for integrating substantive gender concerns into peacebuilding operations and security-sector reform processes.

5 Founding Board of Trustees Carol Cohn // Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights Jennifer Klot (Secretary) // Social Science Research Council* Luz Méndez (Chair) // National Union of Guatemalan Women Kaari (Betty) Murungi // Independent Lawyer Funmi Olonisakin // The African Leadership Centre and King s College* Seteney Shami // Arab Council for the Social Sciences* Ndeye Sow // International Alert *Ex Officio Advisory Council Balghis Badri // Ahfad University for Women, Sudan Charlotte Bunch // Center for Women s Global Leadership, Rutgers University Lin Chew // Institute for Women s Empowerment, Hong Kong Kathleen Cravero // Oak Foundation, Switzerland Bina D Costa // College of Asia and the Pacific, Australia National University, Australia Mala De Alwis // Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, Sri Lanka Hoda Elsadda // Cairo University, Egypt Alcinda Honwana // The Open University, UK Charlotte Isaksson // North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Belgium Suad Joseph // University of California, Davis Youssef Mahmoud // International Peace Institute Dyan Mazurana //Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA Maria Emma Wills Obregon // Universidad De Los Andes, Colombia Madeleine Rees // Women s International League for Peace and Freedom Theo Sowa // African Women s Development Fund Dubravka Zarkov // International Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands Incubation Phase Partners Abantu For Development, Ghana African Leadership Centre, Kenya African Gender Institute, South Africa The American University In Cairo, Egypt Arab Families Working Group, Egypt Asian Network of Women s Funds, Hong Kong Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights, USA Escridura Para Liderar (Ese:o), Chile Fahamu, Kenya Gender and Historical Memory Commission, Colombia International Alert, UK International Development Research Centre, Canada International Food Policy Research Institute Institute for Developing Nations, USA Institute for Social Studies, The Netherlands International Network of Women s Funds Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, USA Centre for Global Governance, London School of Economics, UK Plan Netherlands, The Netherlands Public Conversations Project, USA School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia Union Nacional De Mujeres Guatemaltecas, Guatemala University for Peace, Costa Rica Vanderbilt University, USA Host Partner African Leadership Centre The African Leadership Centre (ALC) in Nairobi, Kenya is the host partner of the International Centre for Gender, Peace and Security. The ALC mentors the next generation of African leaders and facilitates their participation in national, regional and international efforts to achieve transformative change in Africa. ALC programs include the world s first Fellowship on Gender, Peace and Security. The Fellowship bridges research, policy and practice through academic training and field placement with African peacebuilding institutions. The African-led Centre brings together leaders, experts and academics from around the world to work with young, talented Africans at a dedicated centre located in Nairobi, Kenya that that is equipped with state-of-the-art information technology and has a residential facility. ALC s Director, Funmi Olonisakin, is an IC-GPS founding board member and leading feminist scholar, activist and practitioner in the field of gender and security. Implementing Partner Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is an independent nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of social science research and scholarship. Founded in New York City in 1923 as the world s first national coordinating body of the social sciences, it is today an international resource for interdisciplinary and innovative public social science. The Council has a mission to lead innovation in the social sciences, build interdisciplinary and international networks, mobilize knowledge on important public issues, and educate and train the next generation of social science researchers.