Project: 1325 Women of Turkey

Country: Turkey  

Donor: Swedish Institute  

Partner organisation: SES Equality and Solidarity Association   

Project period: May 2020 – April 2021  

Target group: 20 local women’s rights activists in Turkey 

Purpose: Support women’s participation and perspectives on peace work through training in the use of social media.   

How: Capacity-building training in social media use, material production and advocacy, as well as training on creative material creation on UNSC Resolution1325 and meetings with politicians to hold them accountable for their parties’ work on women, peace and security.   

Results: Women’s message on peace and security has been heard by the public. Increased interest and understanding of UNSC Resolution 1325 among women’s organisations and activists. The partner organisation SES has become stronger and made a bigger impact in its work by creating networks of women interested in the women, peace and security agenda. The project created social media materials on women’s rights in relation to peace and security.  

The Women Participation Through Media project was implemented in Turkey with the aim of increasing the participation and visibility of marginalised groups in Turkish media. Through a training programme and the production of media materials, the project helped to strengthen the capacity of participants to influence and make their voices heard.   

Project: Women Participation Through Media  

Country: Turkey  

Partner organisation: Jinha News Agency, Raul Wallenberg Institute, Women in Foreign Policy, SES Equality and Solidarity Association  

Project period: May 2016 – June 2018  

Donor: Swedish Institute  

Purpose: To increase the participation of women’s and minority groups in Turkish media with the aim that they continue to work for the rights of vulnerable and marginalised groups.   

Target group: Women’s organisations, journalists and others in peace movements or media.   

How: Workshops to increase knowledge about UNSC Resolution 1325 and writing articles from a feminist perspective. A conference with local women media actors to discuss intersexuality in the media. Workshops on how to produce material on women’s rights in the media, as well as on women’s participation in the political, legal and military sectors in Turkey. A media campaign was created where articles, blog posts, tweets, etc. were produced to disseminate the knowledge from the project further. The project also organised meetings with Swedish experts and politicians to spread the knowledge from the project in Sweden.   

Results: The project helped to increase women’s participation in the media (between 17 and 50 people from the target group participated in each activity). It contributed to a more free and independent media in an increasingly censored media climate in Turkey. In addition, it created a higher awareness of human rights, as well as of LGBT+ and minority rights   

• A monitoring report on women’s representation in politics, the judiciary and the military was released – ‘Women Count Turkey.   
• A platform for women’s rights organisations was created – ‘Equality, Justice and Women’s Platform’.   

Publications:

Women Count Turkey

The Mediation Lab was organised in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Colombia with the aim of sharing knowledge and experiences on women’s peacebuilding from different contexts. The project enabled women peace workers from several countries to meet and work together to strengthen women’s capacity to learn from each other and work for peace.   

Project: Mediation Lab  

Country: Colombia, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Sweden, Turkey, Yemen  

Partner organisation: Iniciativa de Mujeres Colombianas por la Paz, KÖM Turkey, Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD)  

Donor organisation: MUCF, Folke Bernadotte Academy

Project period: 2016 – 2017  

Purpose: A triangular exchange of experiences to highlight innovative, successful mediation processes that have led to increased security and women’s participation. To identify what made these mediation processes successful and how it can be replicated in other areas and conflicts.   

Target group: Women peace actors, civil society organisations, academics and local policy makers from Colombia and the MENA region 

How: The project started with an inventory of mediation experiences and knowledge, through interviews and digital research. The project created a reference group of experts and decision-makers in peacemaking. As part of the project, a central mediation conference was organised for the empowerment of women as peacebrokers. The aim of this conference was to exchange experiences, knowledge and create shared learning. In each participating country, smaller conferences were held where partner organisations shared new insights and disseminated mediation skills in their context. Lessons learnt and tools from the project were disseminated digitally, including through the creation and publication of a report and a handbook on the topic. An advocacy letter was sent to, among others, the UN Security Council and the UN Member States Support Unit.   

Results: Women’s and peace organisations have shared experiences and increased their knowledge of mediation in other contexts to draw lessons for their own peace work. Through the conferences, the publication of a report and a handbook on women, peace and security, knowledge has reached beyond the primary target group. Through contact with decision-makers, participants were able to influence at a higher level.   

• Handbook on peace negotiation Mediation Lab – Women Pacemakers as mediators’ was created  
• Report ‘Mediation and Influence Insightse’ released  
• Letters of influence sent to, among others, the UN Security Council and the UN Member States Support Unit. 

Publications: 

Mediation Lab – Women Pacemakers as mediators (eng)

Mediation Lab – Women Pacemakers as mediators (arabic)

Mediation Lab – Women Pacemakers as mediators (español

Mediation Lab –  Women Pacemakers as mediators (türkçe)

Mediation and Influence

Project: The women peace and security agenda in Turkey.

Country: Turkey

Partner organisation: Raoul Wallenberg Institute

Donor: Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey

Project period: Nov 2014 – Feb 2025

Purpose: To raise awareness of UNSC Resolution 1325 among Turkish politicians, civil society activists and academics to influence how UNSC Resolution 1325 can be implemented in the Turkish context.

Target group: Turkish women peace and security representatives and media actors

How: Through capacity building and networking activities with the target group, culminating in a major conference with activists, policy makers and other stakeholders to launch a panel of experts to implement the women, peace and security agenda in Turkey. This was shared with the public via media reporting.

Results: A workshop with more than 40 participants to discuss UNSC Resolution 1325 and its use in Turkey.

Participants saw great use for UNSC Resolution 1325, hence the Raoul Wallenberg Institute decided to translate Resolution 1325, subsequent resolutions on women, peace and security, and a draft national action plan into Turkish and Kurdish.