| Posted: April 13 2010,05:45 |
If you wrote this report, you will find a button here that you may click
in order to make changes in the report. 
|
Postal address of organization/institution
|
Star Capital 8, City Stars, Nasr City
|
E-mail address of organization/institution
|
nshoeb@womenforpeaceinternational.org
isidky@womenforpeaceinternational.org
|
Website address of organization/institution
|
www.womenforpeaceinternational.org
|
Telephone of organization/institution
|
Tel: +2 202 2480 1100
Fax: +2 202 24801102
|
PRIORITIES: All of the organization's domains of culture of peace activity |
EDUCATION FOR PEACE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN RIGHTS
WOMEN'S EQUALITY
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION
UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
|
TOP PRIORITY: The organization's most important culture of peace activity |
EDUCATION FOR PEACE
|
PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS: What
partnerships and networks does your organization participate in, thus
strengthening the global movement for a culture of peace? |
The
Movement works internationally, regionally and locally, pooling
expertise and experience to enhance peace, justice and development in
our societies. It partners with diverse stakeholders including
the civil society, government, the private sector and the media to
eradicate violence in all its forms by activating the power of women
and youth to participate as key influencers, change agents and active
partners in peace processes.
|
ACTIONS: What activities have
been undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the ten years of the Decade? If you already made a
report in 2005, your information from 2005 will be included in the 2010
report.
|
The
Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement (SMWIPM) is a
non-profit, non-governmental association that was founded in 2006.
The Movement’s over-arching objective is to translate the process
of peace building into tangible actions that can be felt and
experienced in people’s lives. Through need-driven programs we
re-enforce existing developmental efforts and promote the principles of
peace and non-violence as effective paths to achieving human security.
By promoting dialogue, advocacy and awareness through its diverse
initiatives, the association helps women and youth develop the skills
to initiate and spread understanding, respect, and peace in their
communities, their countries and around the world.
Since its
inception, the Movement has implemented programs that cover a wide
range of interdependent themes including peace education,
gender-mainstreaming, health awareness and the protection of the
environment. It has also focused on using art to promote dialogue,
tolerance and respect for cultural diversity. It has worked with
the media to raise awareness about topics that threaten human security
and violate human rights, including human trafficking and child abuse,
as well as highlight best practices that strengthen peace building
efforts worldwide.
Driven and inspired by the unwavering
energy and creativity of women from the grassroots to the decision
making levels, the Movement continues to join hands with various
partners to enhance participation of women in peace and human security
policies and dialogues.
In line with these efforts, the SMWIPM has
created a Peace Matters lecture series that engages inspirational
speakers to stimulate public discussions on the role of women in peace
and human security issues. In addition, the lectures aim to encourage
the active participation of civil society members in the promotion and
advancement of the principles of the culture of peace.
Every
opportunity is used for forwarding our mission through advocacy and
networking. The latter has taken many forms including conferences,
seminars and colloquiums all over the world. The Movement organized in
2005 the Women Defending Peace Conference in Geneva, which brought
together over 200 experts and activists dedicated to enhancing women’s
participation in the peace and security processes.
The
Movement works closely with the United Nations system and other
national, regional and international organizations to help strengthen
legal instruments and tools dedicated to the enhancement of peace and
human security.
In
2004, the SMWIPM joined forces with the United Nations Fund for Women
(UNIFEM), to organize in 2004 the Arab region’s first workshop to
address the importance of UNSC resolution 1325. The event brought
together 52 participants from 14 different Arab countries to discuss
ways to disseminate the message and implement the recommendations of
the resolution across the region. The success of this gathering
recently prompted the Movement to organize a follow-up seminar aimed at
encouraging participants to examine existing strategies being
undertaken by governments and international organizations to tackle the
obstacles hindering the institutionalization of this resolution, such
as building cross-regional peace networks and enhancing efforts in the
region to build a culture of peace.
Building on these efforts,
the Peace Movement is presently working with university students to
integrate a UNSC 1325 component in existing Model United Nations (MUN)
programs across Egypt by providing the MUN secretariats with a UN
training on UNSC 1325 which would enable them to further discuss and
work on the Resolution during their conference.
Maximizing the
potential of women in fostering security at the local levels, requires
us to understand that their can be no sustainable development without
eliminating the problem of extreme poverty, without addressing the
marginalization and violence experienced by women in global societies.
In this respect, the Movement is commuted to protecting women and
children, especially girls, from all forms of violence and
exploitation.
Today, human trafficking has become a global
problem especially affecting women and children. Most anti-trafficking
initiatives have been undertaken by governments and non-governmental
organizations but very few programmes have engaged the business sector
and harnessed their global reach and connections. The Movement
considered it crucial to involve the private sector in the fight
against human trafficking.
As a first step, the Movement -
together with UNIFEM, UNODC, IOM, Geneva Center for Democratic Control
of Armed Forces, the World Bank, the Foundation for the Child and
Family -organized a Roundtable of Business Community Against Human
Trafficking (Athens, January 2006) to generate interest among business
leaders and to discuss options for their involvement in the
anti-trafficking efforts. Business representatives adopted the Athens
Ethical Principles – a code of conduct for companies declaring zero
tolerance to human trafficking. The Principles became the main tool of
the End Human Trafficking Now! campaign, coordinated by the Movement,
which aims to create a global anti-trafficking coalition of businesses
to edge this illicit trade out of legitimate business.
One of the
greatest achievements of the campaign was the launch in 2008 of the
first helpline in Geneva for victims of human trafficking n
collaboration with various partners. The main objectives of the
helpline are to:
* Detect and identify potential victims of human trafficking.
*
Provide specialized help and support to victims (shelter; medical,
social and psychological assistance, legal counselling, etc.).
* Sensitize the general public on the issue of human trafficking.
* Improve the existing network for the assistance of victims.
A
key dimension of the SMWIPM is dedicated to amplifying the energy,
ingenuity and imagination of young people, and enabling them to
participate as active partners in peace building efforts.
It
is in this context the Movement organized the International Youth Forum
“The Power of Youth for Peace”, from September 1-3, in Sharm El Sheikh
– Egypt’s City of Peace. This youth inspired, organized and run event
brought together over 800 youth and 400 adults from 100 different
countries, to share ideas and perspectives on ways and ideas to
eliminate violence and build a more peaceful and sustainable world. It
offered all the participants an opportunity to go beyond the confines
of age and gender, build bridges across cultural divides.
In
preparation for this event, the Movement and its youth volunteers
worked extremely hard to reach out to young minds from around the
globe, listening to their stories and channeling their advice into all
aspects of the organizational process. This insight was used to select
a wide range of topics, which focus on peace in its broadest and most
holistic sense, taking into consideration the imperatives of human
security, development, human rights and justice.
The
topics selected for the Forum sessions addressed the present efforts
being taken by many in building a Culture of Peace, to promote
healthier, safer and more productive societies, to protect and enrich
their environment. They explored the eclectic nature of youth
leadership and participation, as well as the critical role of Media and
Information and Communication Technologies in advancing social causes
and empowering communities
.
During the closing ceremony, H.E.
Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak invited participants to become the founding
members of the Movement’s first International Youth Network. This
network works to support and empower youth network members by creating
platforms for dialogue and exchange, as well as organizing workshops
and training opportunities to enhance their capacity to build peace by
mainstreaming values such as justice, tolerance, cooperation and
equality in the pattern of behaviour, communication and perception of
their societies.
In 2008, the Movement launched a peace
education program for schools based on a "Peer 2 Peer" (P2P) model that
enables leaders from the Youth Network of the Peace Movement to train
younger students on the Culture of Peace. Through different arts, IT,
environmental, and sports activities, the program aims to reinforce and
strengthen the concepts of peace-building and protecting our
environment. Network members used teaching and learning methods that
encourage participation, cooperation, problem-solving, and respect for
differences.
In line with this program, a new Arabic
manual on a Culture of Peace has been developed to train youth
volunteers, students, educators and community leaders to disseminate
effectively peace values and principles in their communities.
Throughout summer 2009, the SMWIPM has worked hard to extend its
efforts in fostering a Culture of Peace by creating new youth network
groups across different governorates in Egypt, including Alexandria,
Behera, Dakahliya, Damietta, Kafr El Sheikh, Ismailiya, Menoufia and
Sharkeya. Each group is composed of around 15 young people aged 18-25,
revealing a wide-range of interests and academic backgrounds.
The
Movement’s youth network also began laying down the groundwork for a
new program to be implemented in youth centres. The underlying premise
of this initiative will be to empower and foster an enabling
environment for young people to connect meaningfully, share experiences
respectfully and work together productively to positively affect their
communities through various initiatives and projects focused on
non-violence, health and education amongst others.
Moreover,
the SMWIPM has been providing opportunities for its network members to
utilize the media as a catalyst for peace, disseminating key messages
and achievements through radio and television programs, and developing
monthly newsletters, video’s and various other publications.
Another
outcome of the Movement’s 2007 youth forum was the launch of the Cyber
Peace Initiative (CPI) in cooperation with various partners, including
the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, the International
Telecommunication Union, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and Intel as well as
the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
CPI
is a dynamic process that aims at systematically enhancing usage of ICT
and Internet based tools to empower youth to participate actively in
building sustainable peace and advancing United Nations Millennium
Development Goals. The initiative rests on a “Culture of Shared
Responsibility”, complementing other ICT driven initiatives - such as
ICT for Development, ICT for Health, and ICT for Education. It is
an integrated effort to rally the local, regional and international
youth community to use ICT for the purpose of forwarding the cause of
peace enhancement and fostering a Culture of Peace.
It seeks
to mainstream information technology skills amongst young people and
engage them in the promotion of human security, intercultural
understanding, empathy creation, and the exploration of different
cultural and national realities.
In a very short period of
time, digital content has already been created in Arabic to teach
non-violence, respect for diversity, dialogue, human dignity and
tolerance in youth camps and schools. The Movement has also begun to
develop awareness raising materials about peace in the form of posters,
flyers and interactive educational CD’s on the Culture of Peace, to be
disseminated through Peace Camps as well as the new Cyber Peace Mobile
Unit.
In line with the track on Internet Safety, we have
begun to engage experts to train youth network members with the
knowledge and tools necessary to protect young children from the risks
presented by the Internet while maximizing their power for building
peace and human security.
The SMWIPM’s youth network has
collaborated with various partners in Egypt to disseminate a respect
for cultural pluralism, amongst children and youth, based on an active
and empathetic knowledge of world cultures and welcome diversity as a
source of enrichment. Through various cultural events, such as the One
World Peace Festival, the Movement encourages young minds not to combat
differences, but instead to explain and understand them. It works to
help them to appreciate the importance of social interaction and
dialogue as foundations for promoting a culture of peace.
The
SMWIPM Celebrating Diversity Initiative seeks to foster a respect for
cultural pluralism, amongst children and youth, based on an active and
empathetic knowledge of world cultures and welcome diversity as a
source of enrichment. It is designed to encourage young minds not to
combat differences, but instead to explain and understand them. It
works to help them to appreciate the importance of social interaction
and dialogue as foundations for promoting a culture of peace.
In
2006, the Movement launched the first Institute for Peace studies (IPS)
in the region. IPS acts as the academic arm of the Movement by
developing educational and research programs designed to enhance the
role of women and young people in human security and the process of
peace building. Hosted at the Library of Alexandria, it also aims to
bring together world renowned peace and security experts and
researchers, form partnerships on both regional and international
levels with various peace institutions and associations such as the
collaboration already established with the United Nations Peace
University in Costa Rica which shares similar objectives.
In
line with this programs and in collaboration Anna Lindh Foundation, the
Movement organized several workshops to develop a curriculum for
library and information science students and professionals that focuses
on the relationship between identity and conflict, basic theories of
peace and conflict resolution, and approaches to peace and conflict in
library settings.
|
PROGRESS: Has your organization
seen progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain
of action and in your constituency during the second half of the
Decade? |
Yes,
our association has developed an awareness raising and training program
designed to foster a culture of peace and nonviolence. We have trained
over 300 young people to become Master Trainers of our Culture of Peace
Program. In turn, they have been able to train over 2000 young people
and 200 educators to date.
|
OBSTACLES: Has your organization faced any obstacles to implementing the culture of peace and nonviolence? If so, what were they?
|
The main challenge has been measuring the impact of our Culture of Peace program.
|
PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization in the short, medium and long term to
promote a culture of peace and nonviolence? |
The main challenge has been measuring the impact of our Culture of Peace program.
|
GLOBAL MOVEMENT: How do you think the culture of peace and nonviolence could be strengthened and supported at the world level??
|
The
dissemination of Peace Education programs in schools and more political
support to international and national associations working to build a
Culture of Peace.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
