Press release: UN Women and partners release an app to boost women’s contribution to peacemaking
Date:
Cairo, July 1st, 2020 - UN Women, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Political Settlements Research Program, the Monash University Gender, Peace and Security Center, and Inclusive Peace have developed PeaceFem, a mobile application containing vital information on women’s participation in peace efforts. A contribution to the growing field of ‘peacetech’ that utilizes technology to achieve peace and security, PeaceFem brings together data and resources on women and peacemaking in one easy-to-use app available in English and Arabic.
“COVID-19 has served as a reminder of the importance of adapting and finding new ways of connecting, sharing and accessing information,” said Dr. Moez Doraid, UN Women Regional Director, a.i. for the Arab States. “This app brings down barriers that restrict access to information needed to engender peacemaking in the Arab world and beyond."
Intended for use by women’s rights advocates, mediation and negotiation teams, the app contains strategies that have been employed to influence peace processes as well as the resulting gender provisions, and data on their implementation. It also contains a fully searchable library of case studies that showcase the strategies used to include gender provisions in peace agreements, the enabling or limiting factors and the resulting agreements.
“This app helps women in mediation have access to relevant data and strategies very quickly,” said Professor Christine Bell, Director of the University of Edinburgh’s Global Justice Academy.
Beyond tracking gender provisions, the app also provides data on the implementation of these provisions on the ground and steps taken to achieve them: “Gender provisions in peace agreements are major achievements. But what happens to them after agreements are signed? The app provides a snapshot of the implementation challenges and progress for gender provisions in post-conflict settings across the globe,” said Jacqui True, Director of Monash University Gender, Peace and Security Centre.
Covering 30 peace agreements across 19 peace processes so far, the app is free for download on the Google Play and Apple online stores.
“Including gender and women’s rights in peace agreements does not come from nowhere – women’s groups, mediators and their supporters have used different strategies to get them into agreements,” says Thania Peffenholz, Director of Inclusive Peace. “PeaceFem provides strategies that are key for getting gender and women provisions into agreements."
This app was developed with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
PeaceFem is available for download in the Google Play and Apple stores.
For more information, please contact:
Samer Abu Rass
Media and Communication Consultant
UN Women Arab States