Religious diversity, tolerance, and pluralism are the norm in much of West Africa, though religious tensions have at times accompanied conflicts based on resources or ethnicity. As in the rest of the world, women in West Africa develop ties with other communities through their faith and religious practices; just as community building is fundamental to peacebuilding, so is religion a part of peacebuilding in West Africa.

Programs developed internationally by the United Nations and transnational NGOs to support women’s peacebuilding are designed to be secular or non-religious in an effort to be sensitive to political and social contexts. However, in prioritizing the social identity of gender and intentionally excluding values and practices based on faith and religion, international actors fail to recognize the connections women make among themselves that can be key to a more sustainable peace.

Based on research in Côte dʼIvoire, Guinea, and Mali, this paper asks: How do peacebuilders in local women’s organizations develop knowledge about their communities’ needs, incorporate religion, and build solidarity within and across religions? Semi-structured interviews and participant observation conducted with women peacebuilders reveal that religion is imbricated in their work in two ways: as instrumental and as personal. First, the women use faith and interfaith connections as a technique to advocate for peace by appealing to religious tenets that build communities. Moreover, women’s personal faith is often the source and driver of their work that allows them to advocate for sustainable peace; their religious beliefs motivate them.

Ultimately, international actors that embed assumptions about religion and women in their peacebuilding processes and programs overlook how religion is intertwined in public and private social life in West Africa. While local women’s peacebuilding organizations are often secular to be more attractive partners to the international community, the women working in the organizations promote religion and faith as tools to build solidarity and promote mutual understanding. International policies on women’s peace and security that do not take faith and religion into account, therefore, establish a world view that is largely incompatible with the knowledges developed by local women peacebuilders.

Dr. Carrie Reiling is an assistant professor in Political Science and International Studies at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. Her research and teaching interests include global governance, human security, development, NGOs, African politics, and feminist theory, particularly where they intersect in policy, namely the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security. Her research examines how this policy is implemented in West Africa and how local women’s NGOs work with the international community and national governments to achieve peace and security. She has conducted fieldwork in Côte dʼIvoire, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

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