Our Story
Women Peace Makers (WPM) is a leading organization working on the intersection of peace, gender and development. Originally starting up as a women and youth-led peacebuilding network in 2000 and establishing itself as an NGO in 2003, WPM envisions a peaceful and gender just society where everyone, regardless of identity and ability, can reach their full potential and live free from violence. To achieve that, WPM works to support the empowerment of women and youth, transform conflict, and prevent violence, including gender based violence, by providing creative tools and space for dialogue, deeper understanding and strategic intervention into issues of gender and peace. Today’s WPM is the culmination of more than two decades of actions and learnings in the field with a longstanding and well-recognized history of intervening in violent situations for women in Cambodia. WPM has developed a strong base of programming to raise awareness, empower women/youth, and advocate for change in the community and conflict settings. WPM thematic programming are Gender and Women Issues Program which includes initiatives related to gender equality, women and girls’ empowerment, feminist leadership, gender-based violence prevention, gender sensitive mediation, and minority inclusion, while the Peace and Conflict Transformation program includes initiatives such as women, peace and security, interethnic peacebuilding, peace education, freedom of religion and belief, and among others, peace and feminist participatory action research. WPM is grounded in its approach and community voices inform all of its continued learning and strategic directions.
Currently, WPM works at the local level with grassroots communities, at the national level with civil society and national key stakeholders, and at the regional level with other NGOs, universities and gender and peacebuilding networks.
Our Values
WOMEN ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO POSITIVE CHANGE
Women’s participation is absolutely necessary at every step of positive social change, peacebuilding, decision making, leadership, and sustainable development. We partner together with women, men, and everyone on any spectrum of gender identity, particularly with young people, in the journey towards equality.
PEACE IS NOW AND BEGINS WITH US
Finding peace in oneself allows us to contribute towards finding peaceful solutions to all conflicts, big and small, and we ultimately strive to transform conflict focusing on relationship building and through nonviolence.
MINDFULNESS IS KEY
We use nonviolence principles that are constantly reflected upon to ensure our approach is human and in line with our own value and belief as gender advocates and peacebuilders working in participation with our partners and accountable to those we serve. We continue to learn, reflect and share our approach and commit to making mindfulness part of our work, and the way we work with each other and others.
