The role of women in peacebuilding is immense. The United Nations Security Council Resolutions (S/RES) 1325, 1888, 1889, 1820 and 2106 reaffirm the key role women can play in re-establishing the fabric of a recovering society and stresses the need for their involvement in the development and implementation of post-conflict strategies. Often only viewed as victims, women also play a key role in preventing violent conflict, resolving it, and rebuilding societies in post-conflict periods. Women can act as agents of change, active participants, supporting participants, victims and spoilers, and newly responsible care providers. They can play an active leadership role and positively impact peacebuilding and national development at all levels.

This course introduces the concept of gender as a lens for a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by men and women in conflict environments. It enables the application of a gender lens to conflict and peace issues and the development of a gender-sensitive capacity-building and leadership approaches for the field. Through four modules, the course provides the conceptual and practical tools for better understanding the different roles that men and women play in peacetime and wartime; gendered impacts of conflict, war and insecurity; and the current work that women’s organisations do in post-conflict contexts to increase women’s leadership and decision-making power in order to transform leadership models, and contribute to peace and conflict resolution activities.

The course aims at making a concrete contribution by bringing together a diverse group of people to critically reflect on the involvement and challenges of women at all levels in peacebuilding and national development, and to think of ways to more effectively implement the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and other legal instruments directed at promoting women’s leadership and participation. Using various exercises, case studies, scenarios and videos, the course highlights the critical role of women in post-conflict reconstruction by specifically analysing the complex relationships between gender, leadership and peacebuilding.