Café Diplomatico 2022: A Guide to Strengthen the Role of Women in Peacebuilding Launch Event
The Café Diplomatico project is a collaborative initiative between the Forum of Federations (the Forum), the Organization of American States Department for the Promotion of Peace (OAS DPP), and the Conflict Analysis Research Centre at the University of Kent (CARC) designed to facilitate institutional strengthening in the field of conflict resolution through educational and training opportunities for stakeholders in the peacebuilding community of practice. Its aim is to enhance capacity and institutional expertise in the field of conflict management in order to better prepare relevant actors for future participation in managing conflict, peace negotiations, and peacebuilding in the Americas and beyond.
In April 2022, the partners convened the second annual iteration of the Café Diplomatico Mediation and Negotiation Training Workshop. This year, in order to recognize the invaluable role that women play in peacebuilding and conflict management and the importance of including women at all decision-making levels within the global and regional peace and security agendas – aligning with UN Resolution 1325 – the 2022 Café Diplomático Workshop focused on Women in Peace Mediations: A Gender Perspective. The goal of the Women in Peace Mediations workshop was to promote and reinforce the full involvement of women in conflict resolution and in formal peace and reconstruction processes at all levels — local, subnational, national, and regional — and to integrate a gender perspective in these processes.
Following the completion of the 2022 workshop, the partners jointly produced A Guide to Strengthen the Role of Women in Peacebuilding: Developing Practical Negotiation Skills and Mediation Networks in the Americas. This publication offers a comprehensive analysis on women’s contributions to peacebuilding efforts both in the Americas and internationally, as well detailing existing action plans and frameworks. It details the Café Diplomatico approach to negotiation and mediation skills development, includes expert contributions on select case examples, and provides recommendations concerning the importance of developing and sustaining women mediators’ networks.
To mark the occasion of the publication of the guide and to draw attention to the unique realities, contributions, and challenges of peacebuilding efforts in the Americas, on 18 October 2022 the Forum, OAS DPP and CARC convened a panel of experts to discuss these topics, as well as to reflect on the conclusions and recommendations suggested by the guide.
