1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 - Global

This initiative involves making visible the work of women around the world who promote justice, equity, and peace as a response to poverty, inequity, militarisation, and armed conflict. An underlying strategy involves bringing women's peace work, through recognition, from the informal into the formal sphere and strengthening their influence on official actors. The focus of this effort is on women worldwide from all walks of life - farmers, teachers, artists, politicians, and others - who have perhaps emerged from constrained or challenging circumstances to fight violence and support human security. Criteria that each woman of peace should fulfil include:

• using and/or promoting active, non-violent responses to conflict.
• engaging in work that is sustainable and long-term.
• pursuing work that is exemplary and worthy of emulation.
• leading by example: acting with moral courage and responsibility.
• working in a way that is transparent and based on tolerance.
• conducting activities for the cause of peace and not for political or personal gain.

The women of peace will come from regions of crisis as well as non-conflict areas. The coordinators have agreed that at least one woman from every country in the world (225) should be nominated. The project team has specifically decided to nominate mainly (35%) unknown women at the grassroots level, without excluding more prominent women. These women will be involved in different fields of activity, including:

• human rights and political change for justice (racism, identity, politics, democratisation, etc.)
• basic needs, alleviating poverty, social and economic justice
• gender-based and domestic violence and discrimination
• wars - violent and armed conflicts (refugees, etc.)

Making the world aware of these women's histories and their work, organisers say, will also involve profiling their 1000 strategies for constructive conflict management - providing impetus, they hope for conflict research and peace policies. Documentation - in the form of such media as exhibitions, films, photographs, and books - will be made available to schools and universities worldwide in an effort to instigate further academic exchange and evaluation of the material. The project will therefore be backed up academically: doctoral candidates are following the project and conducting in-depth research in the form of dissertations that deal methodically and theoretically with these women's peace work. It is hoped that the insights and instruments gained from these dissertations will lead to fruitful theoretical discussion of conflict management.

Another aim is that new peace networks will be established and existing ones strengthened. To get the word out and to stimulate interaction among women's, feminist, and conflict transformation networks, organisers are using the Internet (visit the 1000 Women website) and an online newsletter.

As of this writing, the Swiss women who led the initiative have formed an international network of coordinators to find the 1000 women, organised an academic team to research the women's strategies for peace building, formed an association to ensure accountability and responsibility for the project, and secured initial funding. They have also articulated their intentions at a meeting with the Nobel Committee in Oslo. The association and the international coordinators have determined the official criteria for nominees and are finalising the nomination form for dissemination.

Women, Peace.

Nominations (including self-nominations) are welcome; please see contact information below.