Paper Title:
When Norms Fall Short: The WPS Agenda and the Realities of Conflict

Date:
08 July 2025

Publisher: 
LUGARIT

Author: 
Dima Shehadeh + Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj

Summary:
This article critiques the gap between the Women, Peace and Security agenda and women’s lived realities in conflict zones. It calls for moving beyond tokenistic inclusion and checklist-driven aid toward strengthening grassroots networks, recognizing informal leadership, addressing systemic vulnerabilities, and mainstreaming gender across all sectors to achieve transformative, community-rooted empowerment.

Link:
https://link.lugarit.com/sEl7

Photo: 
A defiant woman carrying a young girl in a Syrian refugee camp near the Syrian-Turkish border; an everyday symbole of resilience and agency amid displacement.  Idlib, Syria. 19 January 2023.  Photo © Mohammad Bash - via ShutterStock.


When Norms Fall Short: The WPS Agenda and the Realities of Conflict

العنوان 
محدودية المعايير: أجندة المرأة والسلام والأمن وواقع النزاع

تاريخ النشر
٨ تمّوز ٢٠٢٥

الناشر 
لوغاريت 

المؤلفون
ديما شحادة  + عمر عبد العزيز الحلاج

الخلاصة
تنتقد هذه المقالة الفجوة بين أجندة المرأة والسلام والأمن وواقع النساء المعيشي في مناطق النزاع. وتدعو إلى تجاوز المساعدات الرمزية نحو دعم الشبكات المجتمعية، والاعتراف بالقيادات النسائية غير الرسمية، ومعالجة الهشاشة البنيوية التي تحيط بحياة النساء، وإدماج النوع الاجتماعي في جميع القطاعات لتحقيق تمكين مجتمعي حقيقي.

الرابط 
https://link.lugarit.com/sEl7

الصورة
امرأة تحمل طفلة صغيرة في مخيم للاجئين السوريين قرب الحدود السورية التركية؛ رمز يومي للصمود والفاعلية في مواجهة النزوح. إدلب، سوريا. ١٩ يناير ٢٠٢٣. تصوير © محمد باش - عبر شترستوك.


محدودية المعايير: أجندة المرأة والسلام والأمن وواقع النزاع

Article Title:
From the Promises of Glass Towers to the Reality of Informal Settlements and Refugee Camps: Will Foreign Investment Solve Syria’s Housing Crisis?

Date:
12 August 2025

Publisher: 
LUGARIT + The New Arab

Author: 
Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj

Summary:
Foreign investments and mega-projects cannot resolve Syria’s housing crisis. They are not scalable, elitist, and risk fuelling inflation and inequality. Real recovery requires urgent, people-centered solutions: incremental self-help housing, secure rights, accessible finance, and empowered municipalities to meet immediate needs and prevent further marginalization.

Link:
https://link.lugarit.com/glXU

Photo: 
Dense urban fabric of Rukn al-Din, Damascus.  An area shaped by rapid unplanned growth, and formal and informal housing. Like many neighborhoods, it reflects the challenges of inadequate planning, fragile tenure, and social upheaval that make community-led solutions vital for addressing the housing crisis.  Image sourced from Google Earth.


From the Promises of Glass Towers to the Reality of Informal Settlements and Refugee Camps

العنوان 
من وعود الأبراج الزجاجية إلى واقع العشوائيات ومخيمات اللجوء:  هل تحل الاستثمارات الخارجية أزمة السكن في سوريا؟

تاريخ النشر
١٢ آب ٢٠٢٥

الناشر 
لوغاريت + العربي الجديد

المؤلف
عُمر عبد العزيز الحلّاج

الخلاصة
الاستثمارات الأجنبية والمشاريع العقارية الضخمة لن تحل أزمة السكن في سوريا، فهي غير قابلة للتكرر ومخصّصة للأثرياء فضلاً عن أنها تفاقم التضخم وعدم المساواة. الحل يكمن في الإسكان الذاتي التدريجي، وتأمين حقوق الملكية، وتوفير تمويل محلي ميسر، مع تمكين البلديات والمجتمعات من قيادة عملية التعافي

الرابط 
https://link.lugarit.com/glXU

الصورة
النسيج العمراني الكثيف في ركن الدين، دمشق. منطقة تشكّلت بفعل النمو العشوائي السريع وتداخل السكن النظامي وغير النظامي. وكغيرها من الأحياء، تعكس تحديات التخطيط غير الكافي، وضعف حقوق الملكية، والاضطرابات الاجتماعية التي تجعل الحلول المجتمعية ضرورة لمعالجة أزمة السكن. صورة من Google Earth


من وعود الأبراج الزجاجية إلى واقع العشوائيات ومخيمات اللجوء

Dive into this inspiring overview of #UnityNet's weekly Event Planning Zoom calls and discover why your active participation is the key to co-creating a regenerative future. These calls are not just meetings; they are the vital platform for shaping our Livingry Calendar and fostering global collaboration for initiatives like the upcoming Youth Peace Weeks (Oct 4-16). We aim for efficient, focused discussions, ideally within 40 minutes.
We emphasize the power of your voice and stories. Through our Edutainment Hub Network, #Wenelto ('We Need to Listen to Each Other'), and AI-enabled #StoryPODs, we are building spaces for artists, storytellers, musicians, and youth leaders to co-create content that uplifts communities and strengthens climate resilience and peace-building. This also includes archiving languages and cultural wisdom to ethically train AI with human values, countering misinformation with creativity.
Your insights, energy, ideas, and proposals are crucial for advancing our Regenerative Development Initiatives, moving us towards an #AbundanceEconomy. We believe in making solutions as fun and exciting as possible, fostering intergenerational exchange, and showcasing stories of hope to build a bright, awesome, and fantastic future.
Join our global family, use your voice, share your dreams for a better world, and contribute to a story-driven, community-first transformation. Together, we carry a piece of the world, making it lighter, more joyful, and more resilient for everyone. Find out how you can lead local initiatives and connect with partners worldwide!

UnityNet: Your Voice, Our Future - Peace, Stories & Regenerative AI

On Episode 601 of Impact Boom, Gaby Arenas de Meneses of Catalyst Now discusses why leading with trust and patiently co-creating solutions is vital for advancing peace building efforts and transformative impact globally, and the key mindset shifts enabling social entrepreneurs to tackle complex problems and drive systemic change.

If you are a changemaker wanting to learn actionable steps to grow your organisations or level up your impact, don't miss out on this episode!

If you enjoyed this episode, then check out Episode 378 with Jeroo Billimoria on impact led entrepreneurial networks catalysing systems change -> https://bit.ly/46wS3JV

The team who made this episode happen were:
Host: Indio Myles
Guest(s): Gaby Arenas de Meneses
Producer: Indio Myles

We invite you to join our community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram to stay up to date on the latest social innovation news and resources to help you turn ideas into impact. You'll also find us on all the major podcast streaming platforms, where you can also leave a review and provide feedback.

Episode 601 (2025) Gaby Arenas de Meneses On Social Enterprises Catalysing Systemic Change

For the October 2025 episode of the International Gender Champions podcast, we are joined by Edit Schlaffer, Founder and Chair of Women Without Borders. She highlights how engaging parents and particularly women as architects of peace within families and communities is essential to building resilience, preventing violence, and shaping peace far beyond formal negotiation rooms.

Resilience Starts at Home: Women as Architects of Peace

Entry points to peacebuilding - Tanja Miškova

Tonight, Wednesday, November 26th, at 6 pm on The Brian Crombie Hour I interview ✅ Meredith Preston McGhie. 👉 ALL my 🎤 podcasts and 🎦 video casts can be accessed any time on my web site https://briancrombie.com which holds repository of all my shows. 📌 I speak with Meredith Preston McGhie, Secretary General of the Global Centre for Pluralism and one of the world’s most experienced peacebuilders, about why pluralism is a strategic advantage in a time of polarization and democratic strain. Drawing on decades of work from India to Kenya and Sudan, she shows how diversity becomes strength when countries invest in dialogue, shared belonging, and inclusive institutions. We explore how pluralism works in practice, what real-world conflicts teach about managing differences, and why ordinary people often drive the most powerful change.

📻 The Brian Crombie Hour airs nightly at 6 PM on Sauga960AM
🎧 Podcasts: https://briancrombie.com/podcasts-the-brian-crombie-hour
📺 Videos: https://briancrombie.com/video-gallery
📌 Subscribe to Brian’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/2Oioec8

#BrianCrombie #Pluralism #Peacebuilding #Democracy #Diversity #ConflictResolution #GlobalAffairs #Leadership #MeredithPrestonMcGhie

Meredith Preston McGhie | Pluralism

Widely recognized as one of the most influential and beloved figures in the field of peacebuilding, John Paul Lederach embodies both the rigor of the scholar and sensitivity of the poet. A pioneer of the concept of conflict transformation (as distinct from resolution), his work has redefined peacebuilding as a moral and relational art rooted in empathy, moral imagination, and the human capacity for connection across divides. Join TNS Host Serena Bian for this intergenerational conversation exploring John Paul's enormous body of work in building the fields of conflict transformation and collective trauma healing--as well as his love for poetry and haiku.


John Paul Lederach
Dr. John Paul Lederach is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in the fields of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He is widely known for the development of culturally based approaches to conflict transformation; the design and implementation of integrative, strategic approaches to peacebuilding; and for carving a robust integration of the arts and social change. Over the course of his career, Lederach has garnered extensive experience working with non-governmental organizations, community-based initiatives impacted by cycles of violence, and national peace process design. He has worked extensively as a practitioner in conciliation processes in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast and Central Asia. He is the author or editor of 30 books and manuals (translated into a dozen languages), and numerous academic articles and monographs on peace education, conflict transformation, international peacebuilding, and conciliation training. He currently serves as Senior Fellow for Humanity United and Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Host Serena Bian
Serena is pursuing a life that remains attentive to the tenderness of a snail’s soft body and reverent to the miracle of its spiraled shell. She is a Chinese-American peacebuilder, storyteller, and community weaver devoted to the belief that intergenerational connection is vital for the future of our peace and justice movements. She recently completed six years as a Special Advisor in Design & Innovation to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, bringing a spiritual and systemic understanding to the public health crisis of loneliness and isolation. She is a Zen chaplain-in-training and serves on the boards of CoGenerate and Commonweal.

#commonweal #commonwealnewschool #peacebuilding #conflict #transformation #virtuouscycle #haiku

Find out more about The New School at Commonweal on our website: tns.commonweal.org. And like/follow our Soundcloud channel for more great podcasts.


The Art of Peacebuilding: Haiku, Accompaniment, and Courageous Love - John Paul Lederach

LUGARIT is a small think tank active in international development.

The New School presents conversations, book signings, art, and lectures with thought and action leaders of our time. We are a learning community of 4,000 people in the Bay Area and around the world dedicated to learning what matters. 

TNS focuses on the emergent, seeking out the thought and action leaders who are bringing discussion, beauty, and change to the world. We present events and podcast them in many areas: arts and sciences, health and the environment, and inner life. We follow streams of inquiry, including our End-of-Life Conversations, and series on Resilience, Archetypal Psychology, and Healing Circles.

IRC is an international think-and-do tank that works with governments, NGOs, entrepreneurs and people around the world to find long-term solutions to the global crisis in water, sanitation and hygiene services. At the heart of its mission is the aim to move from short-term interventions to sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services.  

With over 50 years of experience, IRC runs projects in more than 25 countries and large-scale programmes in seven focus countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Impact Boom searches the globe to find the people, stories & inspiration to help you create maximum positive impact.

We interview world-leading social innovators, entrepreneurs, changemakers, designers, educators, thinkers and doers who share Insights, ideas & inspiration. As long as these leaders are focussing their efforts on creating positive social and environmental change, we'll make sure you hear about it.

Brian Crombie has 20 years of corporate experience, a depth of knowledge in all facets of finance, strategic planning and corporate / business development for a wide breadth of companies in several industries. Brian has deep political, community and charitable involvement as well.

New tracks tagged #Peacebuilding