Women, Peace, and Security

Our Program

The mission of the Earth Institute’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program is to contribute to greater global and regional understanding of the diverse roles women play to successfully influence sustainable peace and promote human security through everyday activism.[1] Through education, public service and research, the WPS program advances visibility and knowledge exchange among women peace builders and practitioners – domestically and internationally – and disseminates lessons learned from their experiences. The three key goals of the WPS program reflect a commitment to producing real-world impacts through education and research:

Visibility: To increase the visibility of grassroots women peace builders as experts without increasing risk.
Education: To expand and transform the approach to women, peace and security at Columbia, the UN and beyond.
Research: To document, foster and forward innovative and participatory women, peace and security research, policies and practices.

[1] The Women, Peace, and Security team uses the term “woman” to describe any individual who self-identifies as a woman, including but not limited to cisgender and transgender individuals.

Recent Projects

Leymah Gbowee, ED of the WPS Program, with Fellowship participants at the Columbia Global Center in Nairobi.

Fellowships

The Peace and Social Change Fellowship is designed to generate knowledge, build skills, strengthen relationships and exchange strategies among frontline women changemakers

Speakers at the Public Event for the launch of "Women, War and Peace II" Series

Public Outreach

The WPS program hosts regular in-person and online forums for engagement among a diverse range of interested parties—including policymakers and the general public.

Cover of the Mozambique Report entitled "Public Spaces Should Belong to Us"

Research

The WPS program creates, undertakes and partners on cutting-edge research to support evidence-based knowledge about women’s formal and informal contributions to processes of peacebuilding.

Our People

Leymah Gbowee

Executive Director of WPS Program, Nobel Peace Laureate

Mikaela Luttrell-Rowland

Director of the WPS Program

Meredith Forsyth

Program Coordinator of the WPS Program

Whitney Okujagu

Program Associate, WPS Program

News

March 30, 2021

Local commitments, transnational solidarity: African Women Activists' Deep Commitments in Doing Women, Peace, and Security Work

The Women, Peace, and Security Program published a report on transnational solidarity across five African women’s organizations, highlighting the deep commitments in grassroots women’s peace work across a range of countries and contexts.