Jennifer L. Windsor
As the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit closed yesterday, many important commitments were made, but none as important as the agreement to place women and women’s empowerment at the centerpiece of the international response to humanitarian crises.
We know that women bear the brunt of conflict. Women for Women International was founded in 1993 in response to the rape camps in Croatia and Bosnia. And over the last two decades, we have worked with women survivors of war in countries including post-genocide Rwanda, eastern DRC (the rape capital of the world), South Sudan, and most recently with Syrian refugees in northern Iraq.
So we have seen on a daily basis the impact conflict has on women. Not only have they suffered unspeakable trauma themselves, but conflicts have torn their families apart. Women survivors often inherit greater responsibility for the financial and social needs of family members. Ensuring these women have the support they need is critical. The issue is what kind of support and how it is delivered. We have learning to share from our own experiences.
First, women affected by conflict face a myriad of obstacles that require an integrated program that addresses all of their social, political, and economic realities. Too often, the international community has taken a piecemeal approach providing disparate services to women. For example, narrowly crafted programs that only offer cash transfer payments often miss the opportunities to address the interconnected challenges that prevent women survivors from gaining new skills and rebuilding.
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