Sixteen days of activism is a global campaign which takes place in the period 25 Nov and 10 Dec to raise awareness around gender based violence. The Peshawar team of AAWAZ  Voice and Accountability Programme organized a provincial conference on ‘ Women & Peace’ on 25 November, 2013 at Pearl Continental Hotel Peshawar. The conference was a collective initiative of AAWAZ consortium partners i.e. Aurat Foundation, South Asia Partnership Pakistan, Strengthening Participatory Organisation, Sungi Development Foundation and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute. The speaker guests included Ms Bushra Gohar, Senior Vice President of Awami National Party, Ms Sadia Khan, senior journalist & member Provincial Commission on the Status of Women KP, Dr Anush Khan,  gender specialist and Arshad Haroon, SPO

Key points discussed on the forum were:

·         Raising awareness about  gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels;

·         Strengthening local work around violence against women;

·         Establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women;

·         Providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies;

·         Demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organizing against violence against women; and

·         Creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women.