News

KOFF gender experts Yasmine Janah & Dr Anna Antonakis wrote an article on the open debate meeting on Resolution 1325 under Mozambique's Presidency of the UNSC for the SGA-ASPE. The article highlights the importance of the UN Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda as a domestic and foreign policy agenda and concludes that civil society is a necessary condition to support gender-sensitive peace policies, not least in the context of Switzerland’s current seat on the UN Security Council and the forthcoming draft of the Swiss 5th NAP.

Read the article online (de)

A year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine and the outcome of this war remains uncertain. It is the first conflict of its kind and magnitude in Europe since the Second World War and highlights the divergence of views on peace, even within the peacebuilding practice. When a country is attacked, is military retaliation the way to peace? KOFF members share their views and commitment to peacebuilding in Ukraine in this first 2023 issue of à propos.

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The commitment of the Swiss Platform for Peacebuilding KOFF in 2022 thus extended from “practical peacebuilding on the ground” to “exchange and learning in the platform” and linking with the “policy level”

Read the annual report (de, fr, en).

More than a decade after the Arab Spring, the November issue of à propos explores the peace and conflict situation in the MENA region. It provides poignant stories of protracted conflict and illustrates the extent to which KOFF organizations and their partners are addressing urgent needs while promoting dialogue, institutional reform and local democracy.

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What are the different identities and positionalities represented within the KOFF platform? What impact do they have on existing conflicts and peacebuilding? This à propos issue engages with the demands for decolonization, racial and gender justice and how they have affected the work, power dynamics and values of KOFF organizations.

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How can our organizations cope with the shrinking spaces for civil society? This à propos issue provides an overview of the current space left to civil society and the approaches and methods used by KOFF organizations and their partners to create new spaces or defend existing ones.

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The KOFF 2021 annual report provides an overview of how KOFF has begun to implement its 2021 - 2024 strategy. A look back at 2021 - especially against the backdrop of Russia's war against Ukraine - shows how central the KOFF's strategic accents (political relevance, joint learning processes and internal networking) are.

 Read the annual report (de, fr, en)

This Policy Brief summarizes the reflections and recommendations of Swiss civil society and its partners on the question of how socio-economic barriers, and the conditions under which care work in particular is performed, hinder women’s participation in political and peace processes in Switzerland and abroad. It sheds light on three care-related obstacles to women’s participation: the underfunded care economy, the overburdening of women through care work and gender roles that promote stereotypes that “naturalize” and devalue the provision of care and hence minimize women’s predisposition to feel confident enough to participate in political processes.

Read the Policy Brief (en)

Humanitarian, development, peace, and human rights organizations provide crucial support to local civil society organizations and the general population in Central America. However, KOFF organizations report in this issue of à propos that the growing levels of authoritarianism and corruption in the region, particularly in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, are compromising their work.

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What kind of emotions do people affected by violence and conflict, including peacemakers, face? What impact do they have on their lives? Their work? And, on a larger scale, on peace processes? This edition of à propos highlights the role of emotions in grassroots and high-level political peace work.

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