Women’s Leadership in the Pursuit of Peace and Security

Women's Leadership in the Pursuit of Peace and Security

Our International Development Week 2023 kick off event explored women’s lived realities and leadership in the intersecting areas of food security, gender equality, the climate crisis and peace in different regions of the world.

How have the climate crisis and food insecurity (the former significantly exacerbating the latter) affected gender equality and peace? What progress has been made to address this, and who is leading the change? What forms of solidarity or support can Canada provide? We explore these questions and more in this recorded panel discussion.

Meet the Panelists

Pilar Garcia, Country Representative for Peru, Cuso international

Pilar has over 16 years of experience in international development programs and interaction with local and multinational stakeholders. Her capacities are with large projects, human resources and volunteer management in which she has developed partnerships and led programs on gender equality, economic opportunities for women and youth, sexual and reproductive health. Among the many programmes and projects that she manages in Peru at Cuso International, includes the Mujeres Unidas por la Seguridad Alimentaria y Ambiental (MUSA) /Women United for Food and Environmental Security project supporting the needs of urban Peruvians around food. She has also worked in Nicaragua, Honduras and Colombia. Pilar has a deep understanding of the region and world´s development context and enjoys working in multicultural settings. She has a bachelor’s in law and a master’s degree in international development.

Peggy Edwards, Grandmothers Advocacy Network

Peggy Edwards is a consultant, policy analyst and writer specializing in issues related to aging, social justice, voluntarism and gender, and an activist for the rights of older people. She has worked with Health Canada, the Canadian Public Health Association, and the World Health Organization. Peggy is a co-founder of the Grandmothers Advocacy Network (GRAN) whose mission is to advocate for the human rights of older women, children and youth, and gender-diverse persons both globally and locally. She is also active in the Grandmothers-to-Grandmothers Campaign, which supports African grandmothers raising young people orphaned by AIDS. Peggy is a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Voluntarism and a popular speaker. Currently she is working with GRAN to develop a background document on the intersection of food insecurity and age, gender and family responsibility in Africa. Peggy lives in Ottawa and is passionate about the importance of intergenerational solidarity. She has 11 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

Natalia Marsicovetere, Gender Justice Lead for Oxfam Central America

Natalia Marsicovetere is a Guatemalan psychologist and holds an MSc in social and cultural psychology from the London School of Economics and political Science. She supported programs aiding in transitional justice procedures in Latin America during her time at the Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala. Her current work at Oxfam focuses on reducing gender inequality in Central America, working closely with women’s and LGBTIQ organizations in addressing root causes of inequality, promoting women’s leadership, and influencing public policies, including at the intersections of migration, food security and prevention of violence against women and girls. She has then specialized in gender and women’s rights in different spheres including sexual and reproductive rights, women’s economic empowerment and care work.

Facilitated by:

Crystal Tremblay, Director of CIFAL Victoria and Assistant Professor, Department of Geography at UVic

Dr. Crystal Tremblay is a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Director of CIFAL Victoria at the University of Victoria, Canada. CIFAL Victoria is part of the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) providing training and research addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). She is a social geographer and community-based scholar specializing in participatory community-based research and arts-based methods for engagement, capacity building and program evaluation working across sectors with higher education institutions, governments, private sector and civil society. She is the academic lead for the Salish Sea Hub, an initiative of the Knowledge for Change Global Consortium founded by the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.

This initiative is delivered with support from the Government of Canada.

Resource Topic: Climate, Feminism & Gender Equality, Global Goals, Global South Expertise

Resource Type: Webinars & Trainings

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