9 & 10 March 2016. A workshop for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, activists and advocates. Limited access.

2015 was an auspicious year for transnational women’s rights movements. It marked the 15th anniversary of the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which formed the foundation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. It was also the 20 th anniversary of the formation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Beijing Platform offered one of the earliest articulations of the need to recognise the gendered dynamics of peace and conflict and the significance of women’s participation in peace and security governance, as well as the protection of women’s rights and bodies in conflict and post – conflict environments.

This workshop on the future of the WPS agenda takes up those issues – and the debates around them – afresh. The High – Level Review of Implementation of UNSCR 1325, culminating in the publication of the UN Women report Preventing Conflict, Transforming Peace, Securing the Peace , identified a number of significant achievements under the auspices of the WPS agenda that should be celebrated. There remain, however, manifest challenges in the conceptual organisation of the WPS agenda, its implementation, and its constitution in practice.

This workshop will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, activists and advocates with a mutual interest in the Women, Peace and Security agenda to share insights and further understanding of this complex terrain, to envision post – 2015 engagement with the principles and practice of WPS. Participants will have the opportunity to present ongoing research, practical challenges, or policy problems, and engage with each presentation in a series of short discussion sessions. Crucially, the schedule will place academics, practitioners and policy – makers together in the same sessions, to encourage constructive and critical dialogue.

Themes for discussion include:

• What are the as yet unexplored or under – theorised dimensions of the WPS agenda?
• Which implementation strategies have been most effective and why?
• What are the best ways of measuring progress towards WPS goals?
• What are some of the key barriers or obstacles that WPS advocates or practitioners face in the coming years, and how might these be overcome?
• What conceptual work is pressing, in order to facilitate more productive engagement with WPS at local, national, and international levels?
• How does gender figure in the W PS agenda today? What space exists for the consideration of varieties of female experience, for men and masculinities, for sexualities and other markers of identity in peace and conflict?
• What are the limits of the WPS framework? Is there a case for refini ng, abandoning or moving beyond key pillars of the agenda?

Papers are encouraged on all aspects of WPS, and on the many institutions that have taken up WPS as part of their policy or practice. As well as attention to the United Nations and the Security Co uncil, we seek papers that deal with new initiatives and agents (such as the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative and NATO’s recent integration of the gender perspective), national level implementation (through National Action Plans and beyond), civil society action (directly on, complementary to, or against WPS themes), comparisons between sites of implementation (e.g. different peacekeeping missions), and in the relevance of WPS themes to multiple country situations (peacetime, conflict – affected, an d post – conflict).

The workshop welcomes perspectives from any relevant discipline (including, but not limited to, Sociology, Law, Peace Studies, Development Studies, Gender Studies, International Relations, Anthropology and Economics).

Planned outputs for the workshop include:

• a themed symposium of short pieces in the journal Critical Studies on Security drawn from the workshop presentations;

• the launch of the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security Working Paper Series, a pre – production outlet for WPS articles, position papers and policy briefs; and
• an edited volume: Handbook on Women, Peace and Security .

Registration
The workshop will be held 9 – 10 March 2016, at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The workshop is free to attend but spaces are very limited and so early registration is encouraged. Registration priority will be given to those wishing to present research, challenges, or policy problems. We expect to be in a position to offer some travel and accommodation support for PhDs, early career scholars, and practitioner – activists where needed, but will not be able to confirm details under closer to the workshop date.

To register, please email Laura Shepherd (l.j.shepherd@unsw.edu.au) and Paul Kirby (p.c.kirby@lse.ac.uk). Those looking to present their research (or the experience of their organisation) are asked to include an indicative title and brief (1 – 2 sentence) description of their presentation topic.

Registration emails must be received no later than Monday 18 January 2016. Successful registration will be confirmed by 1 February 2016.

Download as pdf from http://www.lse.ac.uk/WomenPeaceSecurity/pdf/2016/0309cfp.pdf

Source http://www.lse.ac.uk/WomenPeaceSecurity/Home.aspx

December 14, 2015