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  Building Holistic Security (Case Study: Iraq)

  Nesreen Barwari

  Highlighting patriarchal norms and lack of protection for women peacebuilders in Iraq.

  Women peacebuilders inevitably face risks and insecurity in their daily work. International partners have an important role to play in supporting their safety and protection. Understanding women peacebuilders’ roles and the types of risks they face is the first step in ensuring an adequate response. This case study forms part of the Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships report, focused on how international partners can better partner with women peacebuilders to address the risks and insecurity they face in the different facets of their work.

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women (Case Study: Morocco)

  Youssra Biare

  This case study is part of the Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration report created by the Women PeaceMakers program. In this case study, Woman PeaceMaker Fellow Youssra Biare explores the intergenerational peacebuilding of Mourchidate women, a group of religious leaders confronting violent extremism in Morocco. This research explores the ways in which Mourchidates work with people of different generations and backgrounds, as well as the challenges and strengths of the state-led program.

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  Addressing the Recidivism Challenge in San Diego County: Learning from Lived Experience Approaches

  Andrew Blum and Alfredo Malaret Baldo

  The problem is as old as the justice system itself—how to reduce the chance that an individual reoffends after they commit an offense and become involved with the justice system. This challenge of reducing recidivism remains critical. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are over 120,000 individuals in state prisons in California. Another 380,000 cycle through jails in California every year. In 2021, roughly 25,000 individuals were released from prison in California each year. This is the scope of the challenge.

  In San Diego County, a wide variety of agencies and organizations are working to address the recidivism challenge. In addition, although there is no way to measure this accurately, there is a willingness across the spectrum to experiment with new approaches and solutions. This report focuses on one area of relatively new and promising approaches—those that elevate the talent and expertise of individuals with “lived experience” with the justice system.

  Support for lived experience approaches is growing both nationally and in San Diego. Beyond the rising number of lived experience initiatives, this type of work in San Diego has become largely normalized. There is broad agreement that lived experience work should be part of the portfolio used to reduce recidivism, with clear demand from stakeholders involved in reentry, including law enforcement officials, service providers, community members, and, crucially, justice-involved individuals. Given the growing prevalence of and support for lived experience approaches in San Diego, it is important to create a deeper understanding of how to increase the impact of these approaches. Toward that end, this report identifies strengths of lived experience approaches to amplify, challenges of lived experience approaches to mitigate, and lessons from lived experience approaches that can be applied more broadly.

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  Building Holistic Security (Case Study: Syria)

  Slava Shikh Hasan

  Highlighting how unequal partnerships exacerbate risks for women peacebuilders in Syria.

  Women peacebuilders inevitably face risks and insecurity in their daily work. International partners have an important role to play in supporting their safety and protection. Understanding women peacebuilders’ roles and the types of risks they face is the first step in ensuring an adequate response. This case study forms part of the Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships report, focused on how international partners can better partner with women peacebuilders to address the risks and insecurity they face in the different facets of their work.

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  How Scared Are You? A Literature Review Contextualizing the Environment of Threats and Harassment of Local Officials in the United States over the Last 10 Years

  Rachel Hodel

  Targeted threats, harassment, and the perpetration of physical violence against elected officials are becoming increasingly commonplace around the world. Sadly, the United States and our own backyard of San Diego is no exception. Local leaders - the most foundational representatives of the democratic processes that undergird our system of government - are facing unprecedented levels of uncivil and anti-democratic threats, harassment, and attacks. By nearly all measures, political violence is considered to be more acceptable in the U.S. than it was five years ago.

  Current data indicates that the majority of threatening and harassing behavior directed against local officials is non-physical and occurs through online spaces. However, permissive rhetoric can both harm our democracy as well as escalate into physical violence targeting democratically elected leaders. A high-profile example of this is the brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, in October 2022. David DePape broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home with the intention of kidnapping the former speaker of the US House. Instead, DePape encountered Paul Pelosi, an 82-year-old man, who he attacked with a hammer. DePape left Pelosi unconscious, with a fractured skull and injuries on his hand and harm. Officials who investigated the attack found that DePape had an extensive history of online engagement with right-wing conspiracy theories and angry rants against women. In his blog, DePape described how Gamergate, an online forum filled with far-right conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric against women, was the catalyst for much of his worldview. Joan Donovan, who recently co-authored a book examining Gamergate’s role in the rise of alt-right political movements, stated that Depape’s move from an online space to an attempted real-world attack on a female public figure is unsurprising. Incidents like this highlight the danger of violent rhetoric leading to physical violence, as well as demonstrate the need for further analysis of the connection between violent political rhetoric and violent outcomes.

  While high-profile incidents such as the Pelosi attack provide crucial context for the broad scope of threats, harassment, and violence directed at public officials, this literature review will focus on the less prominent, but nonetheless critical, issue of threats and harassment directed at local elected officials. In particular, this literature review centers around school board officials, members of city councils, and mayors located within San Diego County as well as across the United States. The literature review will consider the current research on the scope of the threats and harassment faced by local officials, the drivers of threatening and harassing behavior, and its impacts on local officials and the democratic process. In addition, this literature review will provide an overview of current recommendations for reducing the level of threat to local officials and improving the civil discourse. Finally, the literature review will conclude with recommendations for further research around threats and harassment directed at local officials.

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women (Case Study: Botswana)

  Ramatoulie Isatou Jallow

  This case study is part of the Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration report created by the Women PeaceMakers program. In this case study, Woman PeaceMaker Fellow Ramatoulie Isatou Jallow explores the state of intergenerational peacebuilding and coalition-building for women-led civil society organizations in Botswana. This research demonstrates that there is a need for dialogues around positive peace in Botswana, as well as for more synergy and trust between different generations of women. Furthermore, with more extensive education on the concept of intergenerational coalition-building, women and women-led CSOs can form these coalitions across generations more deliberately.

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  “HOW SCARED ARE YOU?” Mapping the Threat Environment of San Diego’s Elected Officials

  Rachel Locke and Carl Luna

  Democracy cannot function without individuals stepping up to serve as representatives of their community. The presence and growth of threats and harassment directed towards elected representatives poses a direct risk to our democracy, weakening community cohesion and our ability to address collective challenges. While our research found threats and harassment to be present across political parties, it identified women as far more likely to be on the receiving end both in terms of quantity and severity. If under-represented groups are pushed out of the processes of debate and decision-making, solutions will not be oriented around the diversity of our society.

  Without clear data on the scale of the problem, the rise in threats and ad hominem attacks are too easily discounted by public officials, the media and the public at large. Possible consequences range from an increased potential for physical violence and the resignation from public life of elected officials. The research outlined in this report helps to expose the scale of threats and harassment, while in turn providing recommendations from those directly impacted, concerned community members and scholars on how to reinforce safe and non-threatening local governance.

  While several studies have shown that cities, counties and states across the country are experiencing an increased level of hostility towards elected officials, very few geographically designated areas are measuring incidents in any structured way. The research outlined in this report aims to set a clear baseline on the extent of aggressive behavior towards nearly all categories of elected office in San Diego County. Our research looked at all County School Boards, Community College Boards, City Councils, Mayors, and the County Board of Supervisors.

  Using a mixed methods approach that included surveys, interviews, a traditional media review and social media review, our team was able to get a clear picture of the problem both objectively and subjectively. Our findings confirm that the rise in threats and harassments targeting elected officials identified in national studies is also occurring at the local level in San Diego County. This rise in hostile threatening behavior towards elected officials is having a measurable impact on a) the ability of elected office holders to effectively participate in the public policy process; b) the likelihood of elected officials seeking to encourage others to enter public life or remain in public life themselves; and c) the psychological and physical health of office holders and their families. The vitriol we are seeing risks significantly and negatively impact the vitality of local democracy, civic engagement and effective policy making on across the policy spectrum.

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  One Pager - “How Scared Are You?” Mapping the Threat Environment of San Diego’s Elected Officials

  Rachel Locke and Carl Luna

  This one pager includes data summary points from survey sent to San Diego County elected officials.

  Targeted threats and the perpetration of physical violence against elected officials have been increasing steadily around the world. Democracy cannot function without individuals serving in elected governance. The presence and growth of threats and harassment undermines community cohesion, further undermining our ability to address our collective challenges.

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  Building Holistic Security (Case Study: Yemen)

  Muna Luqman

  Highlighting the need for increased and flexible funding for women peacebuilders in Yemen.

  Women peacebuilders inevitably face risks and insecurity in their daily work. International partners have an important role to play in supporting their safety and protection. Understanding women peacebuilders’ roles and the types of risks they face is the first step in ensuring an adequate response. This case study forms part of the Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships report, focused on how international partners can better partner with women peacebuilders to address the risks and insecurity they face in the different facets of their work.

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women (Case Study: Egypt)

  Nermine Mounir and Hassnaa Tamam

  This case study is part of the Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration report created by the Women PeaceMakers program. In this case study, Woman PeaceMaker Fellow Nermine Mounir explores the state of intergenerational peacebuilding for women in Egypt. Day by day, women peacebuilders are discovering new spaces within which to make themselves heard. The power of these women and their impact can be further magnified by joining efforts and drawing on their diversity. This research demonstrates the deep desire women peacebuilders in Egypt have for intergenerational collaboration but also how rare this sort of intergenerational collaboration currently is in their work.

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  Building Holistic Security (Case Study: Tanzania)

  Ambassador Liberata Mulamula and Tatu Mkiwa Nyange

  Highlighting how recognition and common vision can help mitigate security risks to women peacebuilders.

  Women peacebuilders inevitably face risks and insecurity in their daily work. International partners have an important role to play in supporting their safety and protection. Understanding women peacebuilders’ roles and the types of risks they face is the first step in ensuring an adequate response. This case study forms part of the Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships report, focused on how international partners can better partner with women peacebuilders to address the risks and insecurity they face in the different facets of their work

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  Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships

  Neslihan Ozgunes, Eva Dalak, Sandra Melone, Natalija Gojković, Nesreen Barwari, Slava Shikh Hasan, Muna Luqman, Tatu M. Nyange, and Ambassador Liberata Mulamula

  Women peacebuilders inevitably face risks and insecurity in their daily work. International partners have an important role to play in supporting their safety and protection. Understanding women peacebuilders’ roles and the types of risks they face is the first step in ensuring an adequate response. The diversity of roles that women peacebuilders play, as well as the multiple factors that impact the types of risks they might face, need to be taken into account by international partners from the very beginning of a partnership.
  
  Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships addresses how international partners who wish to work with women peacebuilders and support them in addressing the risks and insecurity they face need to recognize the scope and nature of peacebuilding work, which is often cross-cutting, overlapping with humanitarian response and development work. Understanding the nuances and breadth of women peacebuilders’ work is crucial to identifying the risks they face and providing them with effective legal, political and financial protection — and is thereby essential to creating partnerships that mitigate and address these risks. Through case studies, the report identifies challenges and opportunities drawn directly from the lived realities of women peacebuilders and their partners, as well as from experts working in the Women, Peace and Security field.

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  Executive Summary: Building Holistic Security

  Neslihan Ozgunes, Eva Dalak, Sandra Melone, Natalija Gojković, Nesreen Barwari, Slava Shikh Hasan, Muna Luqman, Tatu M. Nyange, and Ambassador Liberata Mulamula

  Women peacebuilders inevitably face risks and insecurity in their daily work. International partners have an important role to play in supporting their safety and protection. Understanding women peacebuilders’ roles and the types of risks they face is the first step in ensuring an adequate response. The diversity of roles that women peacebuilders play, as well as the multiple factors that impact the types of risks they might face, need to be taken into account by international partners from the very beginning of a partnership.
  
  Building Holistic Security: Addressing Security Risks of Women Peacebuilders Through Partnerships addresses how international partners who wish to work with women peacebuilders and support them in addressing the risks and insecurity they face need to recognize the scope and nature of peacebuilding work, which is often cross-cutting, overlapping with humanitarian response and development work. Understanding the nuances and breadth of women peacebuilders’ work is crucial to identifying the risks they face and providing them with effective legal, political and financial protection — and is thereby essential to creating partnerships that mitigate and address these risks. Through case studies, the report identifies challenges and opportunities drawn directly from the lived realities of women peacebuilders and their partners, as well as from experts working in the Women, Peace and Security field.

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  FACE Peace Design Brief #1: Communities of Practice On/Offline

  John Porten

  The FACE Peace Initiative at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice intends to help peacebuilders answer questions about in-person and online collaboration with intention and care. This design brief combines desk research on best practices from other fields with observation of peacebuilding organizations to identify key debates and concerns and provide insight into how to navigate trade-offs between in-person and distanced peacebuilding activities and events.

  Peacebuilding organizations often attempt to gather members of the field into “communities of practice” (“CoPs”), which intend to increase skills and knowledge among members through long-term information-sharing and reciprocal mentorship. Facilitators of practice communities in peacebuilding and other fields frequently complain that the community falls moribund over time.

  This FACE Peace design brief considers the question of practice community success from the perspective of hybrid work and the tensions peacebuilders have come to feel between digital and in-person interactions in a truly global field.

  What does in-person interaction between practice community members accomplish? When are these benefits essential for success? When are they simply “nice to have”? What are the best ways to recreate the benefits of in-person meetings at a distance? Are there benefits only distanced work can provide?

  Answers depend in part on the goals, constraints and characteristics of the practice community. This design brief offers insights on two related questions. First, how should the facilitators of practice communities decide what happens in person and what happens at a distance? Second, how can facilitators administer the in-person and online aspects of their practice communities to maximum effect?

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  FACE Peace Design Brief #2: Education and Training Programs in the Digital Age

  John Porten

  This FACE Peace Design Brief considers education and training programs among peacebuilders in the digital age. Recent advances in technology, and cultural shifts brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, have allowed program and event designers to consider a wide variety of tools and practices that allow education to happen at a distance or asynchronously.

  Peacebuilding organizations often facilitate programs designed to train or educate. In some cases, these programs seek to impart specific technical skills to professional members of the peacebuilding community; in others, the seek to impart broader skills and knowledge to informal, grassroots peace practitioners. In some cases, facilitators implement these programs in face-to-face sessions. Increasingly, however, educational programing in the peacebuilding field takes place in whole or in part in distanced or even asynchronous settings.

  This Design Brief considers the issue of education and training programs from the perspective of participant recruitment and preparation. It discusses how certain participant needs are amplified by distance from instructors and other students as well as how program design might meet these needs.

  We focus on the problems associated with learning loss in distanced education. Which educational programs are best suited for distanced or asynchronous delivery? How can we choose which elements of hybrid learning programs can be distanced versus face-to-face?

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration

  Elena B. Stavrevska, Youssra Biare, Ramatoulie Isatou Jallow, Nermine Mounir, Zarqa Yaftali, Heela Yoon, Briana Mawby, and Hassnaa Tamam

  Compounding crises related to inequalities and violence, health, the environment and food and water insecurity affect people across generations, and solutions to build lasting peace require the involvement and leadership of people of all generations. This report focuses on how generation and age differences affect peacebuilding work among women by analyzing how women and women’s organizations are using intergenerational strategies and partnerships to build peace.

  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration argues that women’s and women’s organizations’ intergenerational peacebuilding efforts and potential must be better recognized, supported, developed and encouraged at the national and international levels alike. Through the case studies, the report shows examples of existing efforts, opportunities and challenges, with the goal of shaping and influencing how decision-makers and funders approach intergenerational partnerships and strategies as part of peacebuilding work.

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration (Executive Summary)

  Elena B. Stavrevska, Youssra Biare, Ramatoulie Isatou Jallow, Nermine Mounir, Zarqa Yaftali, Heela Yoon, Briana Mawby, and Hassnaa Tamam

  Compounding crises related to inequalities and violence, health, the environment and food and water insecurity affect people across generations, and solutions to build lasting peace require the involvement and leadership of people of all generations. This report focuses on how generation and age differences affect peacebuilding work among women by analyzing how women and women’s organizations are using intergenerational strategies and partnerships to build peace.

  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration argues that women’s and women’s organizations’ intergenerational peacebuilding efforts and potential must be better recognized, supported, developed and encouraged at the national and international levels alike. Through the case studies, the report shows examples of existing efforts, opportunities and challenges, with the goal of shaping and influencing how decision-makers and funders approach intergenerational partnerships and strategies as part of peacebuilding work.

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women (Case Study: Afghanistan)

  Zarqa Yaftali

  This case study is part of the Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration report created by the Women PeaceMakers program. In this case study, Woman PeaceMaker Fellow Zarqa Yaftali explores the state of intergenerational peacebuilding for women’s rights activists in Afghanistan. This research demonstrates that women of different generations must work together with mutual trust and respect to challenge the dominant narrative that women are not involved in peacebuilding. Leveraging the strengths of the younger generation in Afghanistan and the older generation abroad is vital for successful partnerships.

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  Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women (Case Study: Eastern Afghanistan)

  Heela Yoon

  This case study is part of the Intergenerational Peacebuilding Among Women: Leveraging the Power of Collaboration report created by the Women PeaceMakers program. In this case study, Woman PeaceMaker Fellow Heela Yoon explores the state of intergenerational peacebuilding for women in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. This research demonstrates that there are significant barriers to intergenerational peacebuilding in the Eastern Zone, due to limited funding and capacity in the face of security and social constraints that prevent young women from participating fully.

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  Rise Up Industries and the Challenge of Reentry for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

  Andrew Blum

  Rise Up Industries provides reentry services and support to formerly incarcerated individuals who were previously in gangs through an intensive job training program, offered alongside a holistic set of support services. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Executive Director, Andrew Blum, provides a deeper understanding of this approach and the results it has produced to date, while situating it in the context of other initiatives focused on reentry and reducing recidivism.

  This case study concludes that RUI’s reentry program is a promising approach and likely makes a small-scale contribution to solving a very hard problem – successfully fostering the reentry of formerly gang-involved, incarcerated individuals into society.

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  Youth Empowerment: Case Study and Learning Strategy

  Andrew Blum and Nohelia Ramos

  The U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is invested in preventing violence and reducing recidivism. To achieve these objectives, PSN has committed to supporting lived experience mentoring, often called credible messenger mentoring, through grants made to community organizations in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

  This document consists of two separate research products that align with these two objectives. The first is a case study of Youth Empowerment. The case study has several goals: first, to document the work of Youth Empowerment and allow others to learn in a detailed way about lived experience programming; second, to place the lived experience work of Youth Empowerment in the context of other violence prevention and anti-recidivism programming; and, third, to provide an opportunity for Youth Empowerment and its stakeholders to reflect on its approach and ways it can continue to increase its impact in the community.

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  Investing in Equity: Creating Equitable Funding for Women Peacebuilders

  Jennifer Bradshaw, Ruth Buffalo, Rina Kedem, Mossarat Qadeem, Lilian Riziq, Rebecca Besant, Paulina Chiwangu, Jennifer Hawkins, Nia Jones, Elin Miller, Andrew Blum, Christiana Lang, Necla Tschirgi, and Carolyn Williams

  Although women are vital to the success and sustainability of peace efforts, and despite progress made by the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda over the past two decades, women peacebuilders remain severely underfunded — and the funding that is available to them is often unresponsive to their needs and characterized by a power disparity between funder and funded. In order to advance women’s inclusion in peace and justice processes, this report examines what equitable funding partnerships are, why they are essential to peacebuilding, and how they can best be cultivated, providing evidence from the field to support its findings, conclusions and recommendations.

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  Peace Incentive Fund 2021-2022

  Peace in Our Cities and Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice

  Launched in September 2020, Kroc IPJ's Peace Incentive Fund supported cities and local organizations as they worked to advance health while simultaneously reinforcing public safety amidst the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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  Compilation of Mentoring Programs in San Diego and Imperial Counties

  Nohelia Ramos, Caitlyn Lauchner, and Andrew Blum

  This document compiles information on mentoring programs in San Diego and Imperial Counties. The goal is to provide a clear picture what mentoring programs are being implemented and to give basic information about those programs as of June 2021.

  The purpose of the document is three-fold. First, as a deliverable under the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative (PSN), it is designed to provide basic information to the US Attorney’s Office and others involved in the PSN on the range of mentoring programs that exist. Mentoring programs have proven to be an effective program strategy for producing a range of positive youth development outcomes, including reducing violence and recidivism. Therefore, it is useful for those working on PSN to have an understanding of the number and nature of mentoring programs that exist.

  Second, and similarly, the compilation is for others working on issues of youth development, violence prevention and reducing recidivism. The goal is to provide a continually-updated compilation of mentoring programs for those who wish to access these programs, those who wish to support these programs, and those who wish to ensure they are working in a complementary instead of a duplicative way. This includes the organization currently working under the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, many of which are implementing mentoring programs.

  Third, the compilation serves as a foundation for our own and for others’ future research efforts regarding youth development, violence prevention, and reducing recidivism in San Diego. Part of our work under the PSN initiative will be a comprehensive report on youth development as a strategy to reduce violence and recidivism in San Diego and Imperial Counties. This will serve as a foundation for this research and for similar research conducted by others working on these issues.

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  Tell Them Our Names: The Life of Pauline Dempers of Namibia

  Jenna Barnett

  In the following pages, you will find narrative stories about a Woman PeaceMaker, along with additional information to provide a deep understanding of a contemporary conflict and one person’s journey within it. These complementary components include a brief biography of the peacemaker, a historical summary of the conflict, a timeline integrating political developments in the country with personal history of the peacemaker, a question-and-answer transcript of select interviews, and a table of best practices in peacebuilding as demonstrated and reflected on by the peacemaker during her time at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.

  Pauline Dempers is a human rights activist from Namibia and co-founder and national coordinator of Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS), a grassroots group that advocates for the rights of those affected by imprisonment, torture and enforced disappearances during the Namibian war of independence.

  Dempers grew up in the country formerly known as South West Africa when it was ruled by South Africa’s apartheid regime. Encouraged at an early age by her father’s personal resistance to white-minority apartheid rule, she developed a powerful yet painful awareness of the injustices in her community. Dempers became involved with student and community political protests, eventually joining South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), the leading voice of the liberation movement, which would dramatically alter the course of her life.

  When the political tension in her country intensified, Dempers fled to Angola in 1983 to receive military training with SWAPO. Along with many hundreds of young SWAPO recruits, she was later arrested by her fellow comrades, tortured and held underground in the “dungeons” of Lubango on suspicion of spying for the South African government. Dempers writes, “I experienced political violence at the hands of my own comrades. I was betrayed in the cause for justice and self-determination.” The personal losses and human rights abuses took a devastating toll on her life. She was separated from her daughter for three years and lost her fiancé, the father of her two children, who was one of the many Namibians whose fates and whereabouts are still unknown.

  After independence finally came to Namibia in 1990, Dempers was determined to continue her fight for peace, justice and freedom. She made it her mission to raise awareness about what transpired in exile, and co-founded BWS.

  Under her dedicated stewardship, BWS has forged links with the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). Her work with the national and international movement against gun violence is greatly influenced by her imprisonment and torture. She says, “That was done by the power of the gun. It made me realize the power that lies in a gun. I feel that there are people out there who are vulnerable, especially women. And I feel that I have the chance to make a difference.”

  Dempers is also a former politician with the Congress of Democrats and was chairperson with NANGOF Trust, an umbrella organization of Namibian NGOs that promote and protect human rights and strengthen democracy.