Resource Library

This background paper is part of the Breaking Barriers, Making Peace project, led by the European Institute of Peace with support from the German Federal Foreign Office. It examines the intersection of gender and conflict in Sudan, with a focus on how and where women have been leading on and meaningfully participated in peacebuilding efforts. The findings highlight the persistent barriers that undermine women’s participation and set out concrete actions to enhance their role in conflict prevention and peace processes. These insights contribute to the “Status Quo or Bold Adaptation? Reclaiming the Women, Peace and Security Agenda” report, which aims to advance the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda globally by equipping policymakers and practitioners with evidence-based recommendations on how to promote women’s meaningful participation, including in evolving areas such as environmental peacebuilding.

This background paper is accompanied by a policy brief and by two other papers entitled “Confronting the Exclusion of Women in Ethiopia’s Peace Processes” and Navigating Barriers To Women’s Participation in Policy Spaces Intersecting with Environmental Peacebuilding in Myanmar. The papers have informed the findings in the global report, which is also backed by references included in a practitioner-friendly compendium of resources.