WHY THIS PROJECT

The peacebuilding process in Cyprus is marked by the extreme lack of women’s active involvement in the negotiation table and decision making. This is in addition to the very limiting participation of the civil society overall which creates an elitist process of negotiations limited to the active participation of the political leaders of each side and a handful of―almost exclusively male―technocrats. The alienation of the people from the peacebuilding process became particularly evident during the historic year of 2004, when an Agreement designed by the UN (known as Annan’s Plan) was finally accepted by all the official actors (negotiators, involved countries, etc.) yet it was rejected by the majority of the G/Cypriots in a referendum. 

Since then, both the lack of women’s inclusion and the overall lack of democratic and grassroots involvement in the process has been repeatedly reported by both intellectuals and activists as a fundamental part of the problem. Yet not much has changed. Although there has been notable activity by women’s CSOs as well as the establishment of the Technical Committee on Gender Equality, the problem remains that the official negotiations continue to side-line both women as actors as well as gender issues and perspectives. 

This is the reason for this project. The implementing organizations (Center for Gender Equality and History, and the Cyprus Peace and Dialogue Center) have been working with women both inside and outside the “usual suspects” (by this term we mean the women who are very active; usually well educated middle-class women, already involved in political parties or in the leadership of civil society organizations). From our experience working with women in peace education and gender equality workshops, we have detected extreme feelings of helplessness, alienation, and disappointment expressed by women, especially with reference to the Cyprus problem and the peacebuilding process. This has convinced us that now is the time for a well-planned and organized intervention for women to reclaim their fair participation.

WHY NOW 

The Cypriot society seems to become more and more open to discussing gender equality as an issue and as a goal; the issue of women’s exclusion from key political positions including the negotiation processes is no longer as acceptable as it has been in the past. On the other hand, women seem to be very receptive to work for this cause. In our experience, we have witnessed that feelings of disappointment and alienation would very easily turn to feelings of great enthusiasm and solidarity once women had the opportunity to share some honest conversations, do some trauma healing work, and eventually share their hopes and aspirations for the future of Cyprus. In this context, our objective is to mobilize and empower a group of Cypriot women to take ownership of the peacebuilding process, and offer them the space and the way to build their capacities, and communicate their message. This way, we aspire to contribute in creating a gender inclusive and gender equal peace process in Cyprus where women’s voices, perspectives, and needs will be respected and represented.

WHAT THIS PROJECT INCLUDES PRACTICALLY

For this to happen, this project includes a series of women’s interactive, experiential workshops targeting women from different backgrounds and ages. The workshops will take place across the island (north-south, rural-urban) with the aim of creating safe and accessible spaces for women to share experiences, thoughts, concerns, and visions regarding the issues of the Cyprus problem, the peacebuilding procedures, and women’s role in it. This will be accomplished through carefully designed lesson plans which will be informed by a thorough research study which is included at the initial stages of the project. The lesson plans will be inspired by the fields of transformative education, peace and diversity education, gender equality and women’s history (herstory) education, and will build on trauma healing perspectives, non-violent communication, and good peacebuilding practices across the world. 

After this, the women participants will be invited to a large-scale meeting based on the principles of the structured dialogue method. Here all the participants will be invited to co-create a policy paper with actionable suggestions for the peacebuilding process that will represent their collective views and aspirations. At this point, the action will also include an advocacy training ―which will cover subjects such as strategic planning, effective communication, and fundraising― to help the women participants and the project team advocate their message, and maximize their impact in their local communities or in their professional and political environments i.e. the council of their village, their NGO, their professional circle, their political party, their trade union etc. The training will be followed by an application phase when the project team will support each woman who will have participated in the Advocacy Training to take one step of action towards their advocacy goals (e.g. an intervention in their community council or women’s organisation or trade union or workspace). 

In the end, the women participants along with the project team will participate in a dissemination campaign to transfer their messages and concrete suggestions to selected stakeholders, duty-bearers, and the general public. This will include one-on-one briefings with key stakeholders (e.g. high-level UN officials, community leaders, chief negotiators and their teams, members of the Technical Committees), public presentations and meetings with target groups and stakeholders (e.g. women’s organisations, NGO representatives, educators and duty-bearers in public education, including primary, secondary, and university students and scholars―as the project team recognises education as crucial to creating a culture of peace and security). At the same time, the project team will coordinate an intense, organized campaign during the last three months of the action using both traditional media and new media (podcasts, digital channels and platforms, social media, newspaper articles, radio, TV, etc.).

Moreover, in order to transfer the knowledge to other potential educators, NGO workers, gender professionals, peace activists etc. who may wish to implement a similar methodology, the project team will publish an e-booklet which will include a theoretical and methodological framework, lessons learned from our experience, tips to facilitators, step-by-step lesson plans, educational materials and structured dialogue activities. For this purpose, the team will also organize two training sessions on implementing the project’s methodology (one in person for Cypriot facilitators, and one online for international facilitators). Finally, a large (hybrid) open event which will take place in all the three official languages of Cyprus (TR, GR, EN) will close the official procedure of this project, but will hopefully open up many new initiatives to ensure its cause.