KAIROS receives national grant to support women's peace-building
News release from KAIROS, May 30, 2018:
KAIROS Canada is thrilled to announce a renewed collaboration with the Government of Canada to deliver Women of Courage: Women, Peace and Securityin Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Philippines, South Sudan, and the West Bank. Global Affairs Canada will inject $4.5 million over five years to support the work of five grassroots women-focused organizations that help to heal female victims of war while empowering them to be peace builders.
Despite challenges and having to work in very difficult contexts, KAIROS and its global partners have persisted in critical, transformative international development work that will be strengthened and expanded through this collaboration.
Matching funding from Global Affairs Canada by 25 percent, KAIROS will invest $1.3 million in this program of transformative psycho-social counselling, legal accompaniment and human rights training for women survivors of war and agents of peace.
KAIROS’ Women, Peace and Security program will empower women to contribute to inclusive, equitable, and sustainable peace with justice in conflict zones where women are at particular risk. The program resonates strongly with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, which identifies gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as the best way to eradicate poverty and build a more peaceful, more inclusive and more prosperous world. The feminist policy also identifies women, peace and security as a core action area.
Historically, women have played a key role in conflict prevention and resolution, as well as in building and sustaining inclusive and just peace, a role recognized in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000). According to research by Inclusive Security, peace agreements have a 35 percent greater chance of being more effective and durable when women help draft them.
Yet men’s voices and experiences continue to dominate peace-building processes. From 1992 to 2011 only two percent of chief mediators and nine percent of negotiators in peace processes were women, according to research from the International Peace Institute.
KAIROS’ Women, Peace and Security Program will support five of its long-term global partners: Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines (EcuVoice), Héritiers de la Justice (DRC), South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC), Organización Femenina Popular (Colombia), and Wi’am: Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center (West Bank).
Despite limited funding, these partners have persisted in their programs in contexts of extreme human rights and humanitarian crises, and KAIROS has maintained strong relations of solidarity, providing moral, financial, and advocacy support.
Today, KAIROS and its global partners welcome this renewed opportunity to work with Global Affairs Canada on women, peace and security, particularly in the context of the feminist policy. This program, which requires critical support from donors to secure the KAIROS 25 percent match, will allow partners to reach many more women and significantly boost their efforts to build sustainable, just and equitable peace in countries that have suffered some of the worst and most protracted wars in the world.
Learn more about the work of KAIROS, of which the Anglican Church of Canada is a strong member, right here.