Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign ServiceGeorgetown University

Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

“The way the international community tries to build

peace and security today just isn’t getting the job

done...more than half of all peace agreements fail

within five years. At the same time, women are

too often excluded from both the negotiations that

make peace and the institutions that maintain it...

too few [women] are empowered to be instruments

of peace and security.”

— Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State 2009–2013

The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) is setting a course for a more stable, peaceful and just world. Specifically, the Institute seeks to enhance U.S. national and global security by elevating and exam-ining the effect of women’s participation to improve peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding; strengthen conflict prevention and resolution initiatives; mitigate humanitarian emergen-cies; foster democratic political transitions; and enhance the capacity of national security and multi-lateral forces.

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced GIWPS at Georgetown on December 19, 2011 when the Secretary unveiled the historic United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. In her speech, the Secretary said that the Institute “will help us elevate public understanding of this important matter. It will be a home for primary source material such as oral histories and quality analysis that will help activists and leaders as well. I can’t wait to see it up and going.”

A University-wide endeavor, GIWPS is housed at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) and guided by the President’s Office, SFS Dean Carol Lancaster and internal and external advisory boards. The inaugural executive director

of the Institute is Melanne Verveer (I’66, G’69), who previously served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. It complements and draws on the work of the Georgetown Law Center; the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs; Georgetown’s Conflict Resolution Program; and other research hubs at SFS, including the Center for Security Studies, the Institute for the Study of International Migration, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, the Master of Science in Foreign Service Program and the Global Human Development Program. GIWPS is a member of the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.

At the broadest level, the Institute is a continua-tion of the mandate articulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, which reaffirmed “the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building.” The Institute is also inspired by Secretary Clinton’s 1995 proclamation that women’s rights are human rights. GIWPS stands ready to provide the essential analysis, expertise and leadership on these critical issues.

To learn more, visit giwps.georgetown.edu.

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Institute for Women, Peace and Security

As a home for innovative research and training, GIWPS examines and illuminates how women’s participation can enhance peace, security and sta-bility worldwide and how threats to women are essentially threats to all.

Research repository: Launched in the fall of 2012, the GIWPS online research repository is grow-ing to become a ‘go-to’ research hub for scholars, policymakers and practitioners. It is populated with more than 800 items, including reports by governmental and non-governmental organizations, journal articles, oral narratives and documents of international law.

Oral histories: The Profiles in Peace oral histories project is capturing best practices, lessons learned, effective strategies and persistent challenges through video interviews with leaders making significant impacts at the nexus of women, peace, and security, from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia to Ela Bhatt of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India.

Original research: GIWPS is intent on closing the gender-data gap by generating original research and analysis. Subjects will include the impact of all-female U.N. peacekeeping units and the inclusion of women in decisions related to the establishment and functioning of refugee and resettlement camps.

Support for National Action Plans: GIWPS is collaborating with the Institute for Inclusive Security to participate in the implementation of Resolution to Act, a groundbreaking program announced at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative that will extend support and expertise to countries creating or implementing national action plans on women, peace and security.

Leadership training and mentoring: Preparing and empowering future women leaders is a central goal. GIWPS is preparing to bring together young university women from developing and conflict-affected countries that are preparing to take on new responsibilities in their communities for an annual training and mentoring program.

Convening of women peacemakers: Georgetown is uniquely positioned to bring together women peacemakers, leveraging its reach diplomacy, secu-rity, policy and academia. GIWPS is sponsoring seminars and lectures featuring women who are actively making contributions to peace and security and will convene a major international conference.

The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), founded in 1919, is a premier

school of international affairs. At Georgetown University’s Washington, D.C. and Qatar campuses, SFS provides a rigorous education combining theory and practice and instills the values of service. For more information about SFS, visit sfs.georgetown.edu.

SFS embodies the values and spirit of Georgetown University. A Catholic and Jesuit, student-centered research university, Georgetown educates women and men to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life and to live generously in service to others. For more information about Georgetown University, visit georgetown.edu.

GIWPS – February 2013

Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

301 Intercultural CenterWashington, DC 20057

202/687-5696giwps.georgetown.edu

Twitter @giwps

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