Regional Gender Training (e.g. Asia,
Africa, etc)
Regional Consultations
Intercontinental
Consultations
 Women Peacemakers
& Media
Supported
WPP Projects
May 24 - International Women's Day for
Peace & Disarmament
Woman Peacemakers & Media
During seven years of work with women peacemakers, WPP often received
requests from peace activists for help in developing skills that make
better use of communication media. Most recently such requests have
come from women peace activists in Zimbabwe, India, Chad, Israel and
Zambia.
Women peacemakers have identified a need to use media, rather than
having media use them.
It is clear to them that in nonviolent conflict resolution, the support
of public opinion is crucial, and the ability of mass media to educate
and form public opinion powerful.
During WPP consultations and trainings in many different regions of
the world, civil society leaders complain about the lack of media
attention for their peace building efforts, especially in contrast
to the huge coverage given to acts of violence.
In some situations, such as Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, media
has also played a role in provoking or misrepresenting armed conflict.
The WPP was part of the research for the “Raising Women’s
Voices for Peacebuilding: Vision, Impact and Limitations of Media
Technologies” publication (published February 2001 by Drs. Susan
McKay and Dyan Mazurana).
In addition to its own experience in publishing a wide variety of
print media and organizing interviews for visiting women peace activists
in the Netherlands, the WPP has extensive experience in the using
video technology for peace.
The WPP has used video before in documenting and disseminating information
about women’s peace initiatives in situations of armed conflict.
The “Asian Women Speak Out” video, initiated at the request
of a women’s group in India, is a creative example of integrating
cultural arts and video. The video is used in colleges and community
events to raise awareness on ways that women in India, Bangladesh,
Nepal and Sri Lanka are confronting violence against women.
The process, using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, was empowering
both for the women’s groups involved in making the video, and
stimulates new ideas for building cultures of peace in viewers.
At the end of the workshops, the women peace activists will have
attractive, useful products for promoting their peace work into the
local community. They will have stronger contacts with local and/or
national media professionals; more understanding of ways to increase
media coverage for their work, and of the role itself of media in
peace building.
For more information, contact Janne Poort van-Eeden J.vanEeden@ifor.org
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Women Peacemakers & Media -
Workshop in Zambia
25 September – 2 October 2004, Kitwe, Zambia
IFOR group Youth Forum for Peace and Justice in Zambia organized
a workshop on Women Peacemakers and the Media in the framework of
the Women Peacemakers Program.
This has been the second workshop on Women Peacemakers and the Media,
in the framework of a pilot project for the International Fellowship
of Reconciliation’s Women Peacemakers Program (WPP).
The original idea was to have the African workshop take place in
Zimbabwe, because at the time of the planning, the Fellowship of Reconciliation
(FOR) in Zimbabwe already had an active women’s program. Since
the political situation in Zimbabwe deteriorated, it became more difficult
to organize a workshop in the country. In the meantime, the IFOR group
Youth Forum for Peace and Justice in Zambia developed an active women’s
department, which was willing to organize the Women Peacemakers and
the Media workshop. Also in Zambia, women peacemakers feel the need
of better coverage of women and women’s issues in the media,
and a better exposure of their work for peace.
To download the entire report,
click here >
Women Peacemakers & Media -
Workshop in India
26-31 October 2002, Cochin, Kerala, India
"Every
day when I open the newspaper or watch tv, my heart breaks. So much
violence. What we do is not being heard properly."
(participant during the first session of the workshop)
During WPP consultations and trainings in many different regions
of the world, civil society leaders complain about the lack of media
attention for their peace building efforts, especially in contrast
to the huge coverage given to acts of violence. In some situations
media have also played a role in provoking or misrepresenting armed
conflict. Women peacemakers have identified a need to use media, rather
than having media use them.
To read the entire report, click here >
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