Campaign celebrating women’s leadership in peacebuilding reaches 21 million Ukrainians

Through a series of video stories, campaign aimed to celebrate women’s leadership and to raise awareness of the significant peacebuilding efforts women have been making day in and day out since the beginning of the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

Doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, military veterans, community activists, students, and others - women at the center of the stories have successfully overcome challenges caused by the conflict and helped others do the same.

Over 21,7 million TV and online audiences in Ukraine have seen these stories:

Andriana Arekhta, who joined Ukrainian army as a volunteer now leads the Women’s veteran movement.

Olga Martynenko used to treat wounded soldiers during the active fighting and now she’s is on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response.

Iryna Dovhan shared her struggle for justice as the survivor of conflict-related sexual violence:

The campaigned underlined that meaningful participation of women in peace and security brings better outcomes. The evidence is clear:

• having women at the peace table generates greater buy-in and strengthens accountability for implementation;
• women’s inputs take agreements beyond the realm of power to account for the realities of people;
• while their participation as witnesses, signatories, mediators, and negotiators makes peace more durable, showing a 35% increase in the probability of peace agreements lasting over 15 years.

When women take part in protests, they usually remain peaceful. There are examples nearby: right now in Belarus, it is women who are leading the peaceful protest in response to the actions of authorities. Women have led marginalized groups in Chile, Lebanon and Sudan, promoting social change and promoting peace.

As shown by Iryna Kovalenko’s story, empowering women in conflict-affected communities leads to faster economic recovery and poverty reduction. Women are often the first ones to respond to problems in their communities and are more focused on restoring the physical, social, economic and psychological damage caused by conflict and rebuilding communities.

To see all stories and learn of the key contributions of women to peacebuilding in Ukraine visit the Women Are Key to Peace website.