In 2021, the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda turns 21. The 20th anniversary year brought renewed commitments by member states, but the engine, ingenuity and commitment to this agenda has always come from the frontline peacebuilders, practitioners, and advocates.

In this, the first 'In Conversation with' event, the director of the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, will delve into the real world experiences and efforts to bring the vision and promise of the WPS agenda to life. Sanam will have an in-depth conversation with HRH The Countess of Wessex, Visaka Dharmadasa, Founder of the Association of War Affected Women, Sri Lanka, and Abir Hajibrahim, Co-Founder of Mobaderoon, Syria, about their entry into the policy and practice of peace and security; their personal reflections and motivations, their analysis of the issues, the persistent challenges, their achievements to date, and their hopes for the future.

Meet our speakers and chair

A full-time working member of the Royal Family, The Countess of Wessex splits her time between work in support of The Queen and work with a large number of her own charities and organisations. Her Royal Highness is passionate about supporting women and championing gender equality and devotes much of her time to supporting the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI). Since announcing her commitment to champion this work in 2019, The Countess has met regularly with women peacebuilders, survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, activists and academics to further the agenda, draw attention to the issues and deepen her knowledge of the international effort.

Visaka Dharmadasa (@venuwan) is the founder and Chair of the Association of War Affected Women and Parents of Servicemen Missing in Action.

Abir Haj Ibrahim (@ab_hajibrahim) is a Syrian peacebuilder and co-founder of Mobaderoon (a network of 4000 social activists), with 6 years experiences in the development sector, working closely with international NGOs, such as ICAN, UNICEF, ASC, Aflatoun, RTC, and Sida Sweden.

Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini (@sanambna) is the Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security.

More about this event

The Centre for Women, Peace and Security (@LSE_WPS) is a leading academic space for scholars, practitioners, activists, policy-makers and students to develop strategies to promote justice, human rights and participation of women in conflict-affected situations around the world.

This is the first in a series of events aligned with key themes in the UN Security Council Women, Peace and Security agenda. Each event will feature three guests who are active on the issues, bringing practical hands on knowledge to share with a public audience. Baroness Minouche Shafik, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, will deliver welcoming remarks for the series at this event.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series of debates about the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Warfare and Peacemaking in the 21st Century: who's taking responsibility to protect and promote peace.

A video of this event is available to watch at Warfare and Peacemaking in the 21st Century: who's taking responsibility to protect and promote peace.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.