Gender and Peace in the Balkans: Sites of Challenges and Hopes

This editorial publication emerges from the International Conference Gender and Peace in the Balkans: Charting the Way Forward, held in Sarajevo in February 2025. The conference brought together scholars, activists, and practitioners from the Western Balkans and beyond to examine the intersections of gender, peacebuilding, and feminist approaches in conflict and post-conflict contexts.

Advancing Regional and Global Debates

Building on the conference discussions, this publication contributes to critical debates on gender, peace, and security. It highlights persistent structural challenges as well as emerging opportunities for transformative peacebuilding. Offering reflections that bridge academic research and lived practice, the publication places particular emphasis on:

• Feminist perspectives in post-conflict recovery.
• The essential role of civil society in grassroots peacebuilding.
• The importance of inclusive, gender-responsive approaches to peace and reconciliation in the Western Balkans.

Bridging Academia and Civil Society

The editorial process involved close collaboration with contributors to develop conference presentations into a cohesive academic volume. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, practitioner experience, and regional dialogue, the publication reflects a wide range of perspectives and strengthens connections between academia and civil society. In doing so, it contributes to knowledge production on gender-responsive peacebuilding grounded in local and regional realities.

Organizers and Partnerships

• The conference and resulting publication were organized within the regional UNIGEM Project (Universities and Gender Mainstreaming) by:
• The TPO Foundation
• The University Gender Resource Center
• The Center for Human Rights of the University of Sarajevo
• The ZATO Foundation (Zagreb)

The publication was produced with support from the project Women Lead the Way Towards Peace and Security in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This initiative is jointly implemented by UN Women, IOM, and UNFPA, in partnership with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and funded by the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund.