INTERNATIONAL: New Research Tool's Focus: Women, Peace and Security

An innovative online research tool just launched by Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) will provide practitioners, researchers, students and advocates with a wide range of information on women, peace and security.

The online repository can be accessed via http://iwpsd.georgetown.edu/repository.

Part of a Georgetown initiative aimed at developing an institute to support scholarship, research and outreach in these fields, the repository aligns with a broader effort to close the data gap on the impact of women's participation in conflict prevention, peacemaking, mitigation of humanitarian emergencies, political transitions and post-conflict reconstruction.

“I hope this web-based research tool will become the go-to place for policymakers, practitioners, thought-leaders, academics and students seeking information on women, peace and security,” said SFS Dean Carol Lancaster.

“We invite other actors working in this space, including NGOs, academic institutions, governmental agencies and international organizations, to contribute content to this unique repository,” Lancaster added.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Georgetown's plans to establish an Institute for Women, Peace and Security in her address at the university in December 2011. Clinton's speech unveiled the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, the result of a U.N. resolution suggesting that each of the world's nations adopt such a plan. Georgetown's institute will formally launch in January 2013.

Clinton has also remarked on the importance of closing the “gender data gap” that persists in this area and that the new repository is designed to close. “Just as investing in women and gender equality has a multiplying effect that brings about positive results for entire societies, investing in collecting and analyzing data on women and gender equality can exponentially increase those benefits,” she said at a July 2012 event on the subject.

A formal partnership has already been established to expand the repository with the Institute for Inclusive Security, which uses research, training and advocacy to promote the inclusion of all stakeholders, particularly women, in peace processes.