As the Women, Peace and Security years stands at a critical crossroads after 25 years, this Returning to the Radical Roots report unpacks the WPS trajectory in the South West Asia (SWA) region – amid genocide, escalating violence and shrinking civic space due to authoritarian backlash and donor-driven technocratic containment. The report is based on physical gatherings of over 50 feminist peacebuilders from Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen and research with 147 interviewees asking: How can the WPS agenda be reimagined, re-understood, and reapplied in a region scorched by settler colonialism, authoritarian collapse, and military occupation, while funding for WPS has diminished so substantially?
This Returning to the Radical Roots report calls for an unequivocal return to radical feminist praxis and support thereof, with accountability as a new foundational pillar. The report elevates visionary practices—shadow action plans, legal reforms, care networks, and transnational coalitions—as the real blueprint for peace and justice. It urges movement actors, donors, policymakers, and advocates to recognise that inclusive and sustainable peace is unattainable without confronting root causes such as settler colonialism, militarisation, and the erasure of feminist knowledge, by centering those most affected in future proofing the WPS agenda – from the ground up.
