In 2009, DAWN began a process of exploring women’s activism and agency in times of war, conflict and transition through a series of self-reflective case studies written by feminist activists from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India. These narratives revealed how women’s experiences of violence and (in)security were mediated through a range of constantly shifting social and economic structures – including culture, religion, family, the sexual division of labour and power, disparities in employment opportunities and incomes, trade, finance and development practices, identity, sexuality and gender. The referent of security was also not merely the individual, but the social relations that shape human life.
The women in these accounts encountered and challenged the complex nexus as they as they navigated daily life amindst war and conflict. Gendered risks were evident not only in the brutalisation of the body and impunity surrounding violence, but also in the disruption of everyday life, the intensification of women’s care burdens, and their exclusion from decision-making in the political sphere. These rich and complex insights compelled us to interrogate existing analytical frameworks used to understand violence against women in contexts of conflict and war.
Capacity Building
DAWN hosted two Online Training (DOTs), in 2022 and 2023, and one In-Person Training (DIPT), in Ghana in 2024, in collaboration with Masimanyane Women’s Rights International.
The purpose of these trainings is to collectively build knowledge and analysis on gender-based violence from a political economy lens, drawing from the everyday experiences of the participants who are involved in different capacities in responding to gender-based violence. The training programme, in its online or in-person edition, includes several intensive group work sessions as well as homework in between the sessions, to help the participants explore how a political economy lens might be applied and might be useful in thinking through their ways of working and future strategies. The training programme is also focused on developing advocacy tools for the local, national and regional levels in terms of policy recommendations to address structural causes of gender-based violence.
Organisers & Partners
Kholoud Al-Ajarma
DAWN’s organiser
Kholoud Al-Ajarma is researcher and lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. She has a Ph.D studies in Anthropology from the University of Groningen, MA in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution and Mphil in Anthropology and Development Al-Ajarma has worked for many years in the fields of migration, refugee rights, visual culture, gender, knowledge production, and environmental rights in Palestine, the Mediterranean region, and Europe. In addition to her academic research, Al-Ajarma is award winning photographer and film-maker who has various experiences developing and leading programs and projects among Palestinian refugee communities including innovative platforms for human rights research and media production among young people in Palestine.
Kumudini Samuel
DAWN’s organiser
Kumi Samuel heads DAWN’s Political Restructuring and Social Transformation (PRST) thematic analysis team. She is a co-founder and works at the Women & Media Collective, a feminist organisation advocating on legal and policy reform in relation to gender and sexuality, work, politics, and media. Her current focus is on post-conflict transitions and constitution-making. She has taken an interdisciplinary approach to her research and activism combining her interest in women’s rights, conflict transformation, gender, sexuality, and movement building. She has published on women’s engagement in peace processes, conflict transformation, and feminist movement building.
Sarala Emmanuel
DAWN’s organiser
Sarala Emmanuel is a feminist peace activist from Batticaloa, in Eastern Sri Lanka. Emerging from two decades of experience living and working through the war, her life and work now as a teacher, researcher and community activist are rooted in multiple marginalized communities in eastern Sri Lanka.
Lesley Ann Foster
Partner from Masimanyane
Lesley Ann Foster is the founder and Director of Masimanyane Women’s Rights International, an organization at the forefront of work to advance gender equality and the human rights of women in African societies and globally. Foster was elected the first African president of Amanitare, a Pan African network of organisations operating in 28 countries on the African continent.
Farida Myburgh
Partner from Masimanyane
Farida Myburgh is the Head of Administration at Masimanyane Women’s Rights International. She is responsible for the Public Education Programme which focuses on the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and for coordinating the Africa Regional Programme. She is also acting as the head of administration in the Office of the Executive Director.