Programs
As the novelist Virginia Woolf once put it, “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” Overlooked if not ignored entirely, women’s experiences, stories and contributions have gone unnoticed and uncelebrated for far too long. As a network of more than 300 Sites of Conscience in 65 countries, we engage tens of millions of people every year in correcting this historic erasure. Through powerful participatory programs that highlight the lost histories of women across the globe and provide platforms for them to engage in furthering peace and justice in their communities today, the Women of Conscience Initiative takes a multifaceted approach to its work, securing women’s place past and present through a combination of activities, including grants, mentorships and truth-telling projects.
Truth-Telling and Healing
Isolation and trauma often go hand in hand, particularly with women. Historically, the human rights abuses aimed at women are considered shameful in most cultural settings and so, consequently, women often suffer in silence. One of the most powerful ways to break this cycle is through truth-telling projects that provide safe environments for women to come together and slowly and carefully begin to look at the violence done to them, its effects on them individually, and its role in the conflict at large. Through art-based processes, memorialization projects and dialogue, ICSC brings together hundreds of women each year in this way, providing them with avenues to confront their experiences on a personal level and then, when they’re ready, share those experiences with others in similar situations - leading to collective healing and creating a strong foundation for a more peaceful future.
Grants
Getting a new public program off the ground requires funds, technical know-how and promotional marketing - resources many women’s organizations do not necessarily have. ICSC’s Project Support Fund (PSF) aims to rectify this problem by providing financial and programmatic assistance to Sites of Conscience that want to elevate the voices and build the capacity of women in their communities. In recent years, PSFs have been awarded to intergenerational theater projects that highlight the experiences of Cambodian victims of forced marriage and sexual and gender-based violence and exhibitions that uncover the stories of female detainees in Argentina.
Mentorship and Exchange
Women are uniquely positioned to be effective community leaders. An International Peace Institute study found that when women participate in peace processes, there is a 35 percent greater chance a peace agreement will last 15 years or more. And yet, too many women are left out of such processes. To facilitate women’s engagement in these realms, Women of Conscience offers training and women-to-women mentoring programs that give women the skills they need to advocate to governments and engage communities in post-conflict rebuilding.
