Interactive Research Agenda on Gender and Armed Conflict

• What do we still need to learn about gender and armed conflict?
• What kinds of knowledge would be useful to women confronting armed conflict or engaged in post conflict reconstruction?
• What do policy-makers need to know in order to support the construction of gender-equitable post conflict societies?
• To achieve sustainable peace, what kinds of policies should be designed for men? What kind of policies should be designed for women?

This page of the Boston Consortium website will be the home of a new Interactive International Research Agenda on Gender and Armed Conflict.  In it, we will formulate critical research questions in the field of gender and armed conflict, and highlight research projects that are beginning to provide answers.

The purpose of the Interactive International Research Agenda on Gender and Armed Conflict is to enable researchers, policy makers, and women “on the ground” to articulate their own knowledge needs; to find out what research may answer their questions; and to identify areas where new research and deeper interrogation is urgently needed.

The Research Agenda will be interactive in two different ways:

• First, we will create a draft research agenda, by asking scholars, policy-makers, and NGO activists: “what do we really need to know in order to effectively prevent armed conflict, to protect women and girls in areas of armed violence, and to resolve armed conflicts in ways that lead to sustainable peace with greater gender equality?”  We will then post the draft agenda, and visitors to our site will be invited to identify and submit their own questions to further develop the research agenda.
• Second, we will ask researchers to post short descriptions of the work they have done or are currently doing, linking that research to the specific agenda questions. Users of the site will then be able to click on any question, and get a good picture of the research that is (or isn’t) being done on it around the world.

The hope is that this interactive research agenda would, when up and running, serve multiple functions:

• Researchers internationally would be better able to create connections with researchers doing related work.
• Policy makers would be able to find empirical studies to help shape effective policy and program design.
• Activists and advocates would have better ways of learning from the experiences of women in other countries, as well as marshalling evidence to support their demands.
• Graduate students, post-docs and other researchers would be able to identify important questions on which research is lacking, and design projects to fill those gaps.

Currently, we are consulting with scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners in the field.  If you have questions that you think would like to see on the Interactive International Research Agenda on Gender and Armed Conflict, please submit them to: carol.cohn@genderandsecurity.org.

The Boston Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights relies on the assistance of friends in a number of capacities. First, it is a collaborative scholarly venture; a conversation between people with similar interests and different expertise. Second, it is a research project funded by individuals and foundations with like minds and an interest in the advancement of the study of gender, security and human rights. Third, it likes to provide its members with as much various and up-to-date information as possible, which it can only do with your help. The Boston Consortium would be grateful for your participation, contribution, and conversation.