Gender and Confidence Building Measures

The document defines confidence-building measures (CBMs) as actions intended to increase trust and transparency between conflict parties. It categorizes CBMs into five types—political, economic, environmental, societal, and cultural—and outlines ten characteristics of successful measures, emphasizing the need for gendered conflict resolution analysis. The briefing highlights specific cases where women's engagement influenced peace processes in Yemen, Kenya, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslavia, concluding with recommendations for gender-inclusive, multi-track approaches to peace.

• Confidence-building measures (CBMs) are defined as processes or actions used throughout a conflict cycle to increase trust and transparency between parties; while they do not address root causes, they are essential for short- to medium-term peace efforts.
• CBMs are classified into five distinct types: political (creating trust for political solutions), economic (using cooperation to remove mistrust), environmental (focusing on interdependencies during disasters), societal (people-to-people connections), and cultural (showing respect for local traditions and authorities).
• Successful CBMs share ten common characteristics: they are reciprocal, incremental, long-term, transparent, reliable, consistent, well-communicated, third-party verified, locally owned, and multi-level.
• In Colombia, women's participation increased accountability, leading the FARC to implement CBMs such as the release of child soldiers and the start of an apology process. Additionally, women's roles in the UN Verification Mission in Colombia have been critical for accessing women, including former combatants, despite women making up only 20% of the mission.
• In Northern Ireland, the development of trusted institutions and the work of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition—which conducted cross-community dialogues between Catholic and Protestant communities—helped humanize the conflict and build the trust necessary for the Belfast Agreement.
• In the former Yugoslavia, anti-war women's groups worked with survivors of sexual violence from different ethnic backgrounds to establish mutual respect and rebuild social networks by sharing memories of pre-war coexistence.
• Women's engagement in confidence building during election cycles in Kenya, Senegal, Liberia, and Sierra Leone resulted in the creation of "women’s situation rooms" to monitor elections, resolve threats of violence, and provide early warnings.
• Yemeni women's groups have proposed CBMs for all parties, including the government and the Houthis, specifically recommending the development of maps for areas affected by explosive devices and landmines.

APA

Ahmad, N., & Tank, P. (2021). Gender and Confidence Building Measures. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/128329f7-0b4a-4987-b2ff-5f9b3a5fc85d/Backgrounder 3 Ahmad and Tank 2021 _ Gender and Confidence Building Measures.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Ahmad, Neven, and Pinar Tank. Gender and Confidence Building Measures. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2021. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/128329f7-0b4a-4987-b2ff-5f9b3a5fc85d/Backgrounder 3 Ahmad and Tank 2021 _ Gender and Confidence Building Measures.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ahmad |first1=Neven |last2=Tank |first2=Pinar |title=Gender and Confidence Building Measures |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=25 January 2021 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/128329f7-0b4a-4987-b2ff-5f9b3a5fc85d/Backgrounder 3 Ahmad and Tank 2021 _ Gender and Confidence Building Measures.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ahmad2021gender, author = {Ahmad, Neven and Tank, Pinar}, title = {{Gender and Confidence Building Measures}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/128329f7-0b4a-4987-b2ff-5f9b3a5fc85d/Backgrounder 3 Ahmad and Tank 2021 _ Gender and Confidence Building Measures.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }