The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) presents the Women Building Peace Award (WBPA) annually to an extraordinary international woman peacebuilder. During this International Women’s Day event, Dr. Kathleen Kuehnast, Director of Women, Peace, and Security at USIP, will discuss gender-inclusive peacebuilding and present the work of 2023’s WBPA finalists.

Dr. Kathleen Kuehnast is the director of the Women, Peace, and Security portfolio at USIP, where she oversees the Institute’s work on the gendered impacts of violent conflict, drawing upon U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325, emphasizing the critical role women play in all aspects of peacebuilding. Since 2012, Kuehnast has served as a founding partner of the Missing Peace Initiative, which is focused on ending conflict-related sexual violence by bringing a survivor-centered focus to research, policy, and practice. Since 2010, she has also spearheaded the U.S. Civil Society Work Group on Women, Peace, and Security, of which USIP is the secretariat.

Cosponsorship between the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council and the Iowa City Public Library.