Rationale The gender advisors of two former OD partners of PeaceNexus, Conciliation Resources and CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Foundation, bonded over the many challenges they faced in their drive to mainstream gender within their organisation. After two years of bilateral discussion, they applied for support in 2020 to deepen their dialogue to a broader and more diverse group. Under their leadership, thirteen peacebuilding organisations, local and international ones working in different contexts, came together to explore the different dimensions of genderintegration as experienced by those championing it internally.
The peer-learning initiative
The dialogue took place over a series of round-tables held over several months, it was informed by desk research and case-studies prepared by participants. A report captures the collective learnings that emerged and provides key insights into what successful gender integration requires: a commitment from the leadership embedded in the organisation’s strategy and an alignment of internal practices so that efforts to integrate a gender lens at the programmatic level are not undermined by gender-blind structures. The group also developed a gender integration spectrum tool to help organisations assess themselves, and open up an internal dialogue on their ambitions and practices related to gender and peacebuilding.
The report was launched in September 2021 and as participants continued to implement the report’s findings within their respective structures, they found it useful to keep meeting on-line to support each other in these efforts.
Small grants and reflection paper
In 2023, PeaceNexus provided a small grant to four participating organisations to further strengthen their commitment to gender integration: the Berghof Foundation, Saferworld, CMI- Martti Ahtissari Peace Foundation and Peaceful Change Initiative. The report Operationalising Gender Integration in Peacebuilding Organisations, what happens when you try: Learning from practice captures the journey of these four organsations as they sought to overcome what were shared challenges: a gap between awareness and application, uneven engagement across teams, difficulty translating tools into practice and challenges in sustaining progress over time.