November 2004

Women Waging Peace and International Alert collaborated to produce this toolkit, which outlines the components of peace building from conflict prevention to post-conflict reconstruction, highlights the role that women play in each phase, and is meant for women peace builders and the policy community.

The main goals of the Toolkit are to:

• overview critical information and strategies for addressing key peace and security issues;
• bridge the divide between the realities of peace activists in conflict, post-conflict, and transition areas, and the international practitioners and policymakers responsible for designing and implementing programmes in these contexts;
• present issues in a user-friendly manner and demystify the "policy speak" and terminology used by the international community;
• describe how women are affected by and contribute to peacemaking, peace building, and security processes; and
• highlight practical examples of women's contributions and offer concrete, feasible steps for fostering their empowerment.

The Toolkit has been developed specifically for women peace activists, advocates and practitioners in conflict-affected and post conflict countries.

There are a number of ways the publishers foresee this toolkit being used. It may be useful as a reference guide providing information on internationally agreed laws and standards governing the protection of women during conflict and their participation in peace and security processes. It also provides information on strategies for the prevention of conflict. As a tool for advocacy and action, this toolkit may encourage women to adopt and adapt the examples of women's strategies and advocacy initiatives for inclusion into peacebuilding and conflict prevention processes such as peacekeeping support operations or disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration and post conflict processes such as elections. The toolkit may be used in training and awareness-raising activities on issues such as HIV/AIDS, the need to ensure that refugee and internally displaced populations have adequate access to affordable and accessible health provision and care and that the camps in which they are housed are made as secure as possible. It also may be useful to enhance the understanding and effective use of Resolution 1325 as a tool to hold governments, policy-makers and those involved in the development of budgets accountable. According to the authors, enhanced understanding of 1325 can strengthen advocacy initiatives and provide openings for strategic action. In-depth knowledge of the tool can facilitate access to policy-makers and influence decision-making related to peacemaking and post conflict reconstruction.

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