UN Women continues to support integration of the gender perspective into inclusive peace processes and negotiations

Studies show that a peace agreement that includes women is 35 per cent more likely to last at least 15 years, and peace agreements signed by women ensure a more durable peace. Consequently, the meaningful participation of women is essential for achieving sustainable, positive peace.

Promoting inclusive peace processes and integrating a gender perspective into the negotiations is relevant for Georgia, where the participation of women in peace processes and negotiations remains low. This is why UN Women continues to support awareness-raising about gender-sensitive conflict analysis and the gender perspective in inclusive peace processes and negotiations.

One of the directions of this support is training mediator women and increasing their awareness about gender analysis of conflict. For this purpose, UN Women continues its partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the LEPL Levan Mikeladze Diplomatic Training and Research Institute. A three-day training course designed for the representatives of various governmental agencies and civil society organizations working on peace issues was developed.

This year, as usual, the training was conducted from 27 to 29 April. Thirteen employees from various government agencies attended the training, learning the normative and political frameworks of gender-inclusive peace processes and gender-sensitive conflict analysis, as well as the specifics of gender-inclusive peace negotiations.

“The training helped me to clearly see the importance and necessity of women’s participation in peace negotiations,” said one of the participants, Ms. Keti Chikhladze, a senior specialist in the Department of Affairs of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and Former Autonomous District of South Ossetia at the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality. “I learned about various negotiation techniques that allow for achieving goals effectively for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Simulations and role play offered during the training were essential and key, as they allowed us to apply the knowledge we acquired during the training. The experience I gained will help me to correctly identify the goals or needs of parties to the negotiations and achieve the desired outcome.”

It should be highlighted that those women who were trained during the first series of courses in 2020 served as the trainers this year.

The training was conducted within the project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, generously funded by the UK Government.