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print versionAbout the Community Conversations:
How do you take discussions about security, conflict, militarisation and governance outside elite security policy circles? How do you bring more women’s voices into this discussion? How do we integrate their experiences and concerns into the security discourse? Brainstorming around these questions generated the idea of Community Conversations (CCs).
The “Community Conversations†process initiated in 2011 was one of the first activities undertaken by the Women’s Regional Network. It evolved organically in each of the three WRN countries, adapting to different ground realities. The resulting documents reflect this diversity clearly—the methods are different, the questions are different, the perspectives vary.
At the core, however, a few things remained the same in every country. We sought out women who live and work in remote and insecure areas to understand their experiences, fears and insecurities. Our objective was to document the impact of militarisation, extremisms and corruption on their ability to access rights and justice. The CCs emphasise women as survivors and make visible their agency in everyday life and in resistance movements. The Conversations acknowledge women’s contribution to the post-conflict processes of justice, peace and social reintegration.
This process has generated rich and detailed accounts from Afghanistan, India and Pakistan of the gendered social impact of politicised violence, militarisation and corruption in conflict-affected areas. It anchors WRN’s work firmly in the real world of women’s experiences. While the findings of each Community Conversation process remain context-specific, by identifying the common threads and themes, WRN will create cross-border strategies and seek common solutions.
Women’s Voices Quotes:
“My brothers took all my father’s properties and did not
give anything to me and my sisters. I complained but
my brother’s bribed the court to take all the properties
for themselves.†—Health care worker, Kunduz Province, Afghanistan“Life is hell when you live so close to the border. The soldiers
never leave us in peace. They use us as protective
shields. They are the first to run for their lives in case of
a landmine blast. They don’t care whether we survive
or bleed to death, in fact death would be a better option
for us than this daily drudgery.†-Woman villager, border
districts of Rajouri Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir, India“I wear the burqa covering every centimeter of my skin
except my eyes so no one can see my skin and recognize my
ethnicity. On my eyes I wear dark glasses.
I wear gloves and socks even in the unbearable
Quetta heat, otherwise I am a walking target.
My brother takes me to work. He wears a helmet
on his head so his face can’t be seen.
I cannot breathe in that get up.
But it’s a choice between that and not working, so I take it.â€
— Young working Hazara Woman, Balochistan, Pakistan
Across the region, the security agenda of states has undermined the rule of law and accountability. Escalating defence expenditures, declining social funding and predatory development models that exploit national resources and marginalise and displace communities have deepened structural inequalities. The growing democratic deficit and rampant corruption are reinforcing extremist, militant and fundamentalist ideologies. As such, the region has become a playground for private and state actors with global geo-strategic interests, and people, especially women, pay the price.
The Women’s Regional Network
Founded in 2011, the Women’s Regional Network (WRN) is a network of individual women civil society leaders from Afghanistan, India and Pakistan working together to strengthen women’s rights to ensure peace and security in the region. WRN is animated by a vision of women working collaboratively within and across borders, to listen to and learn from each other to construct a common agenda towards equitable and sustainable development with full participation of women in building a just peace. At its launch, members of the Network identified interlinked areas of concern—militarisation, extremisms, corruption and lack of security—as a priority for all three countries.
For the executive summaries, full reports and the regional overview as well as recommendations: please see our website: http://www.womensregionalnetwork.org/publications/
News:
The WRN will soon be launching a Regional Report which draws commonalities of the community conversations from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India while presenting regional recommendations for regional strategizing and joint advocacy
