For the past three years, Kara Hooser (PhD student, Department of Political Science) and Teri Murphy (Mershon Associate Director) have worked alongside Burundian researchers to analyze the root causes of gender inequality and identify the barriers to women’s meaningful participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. This summer, evidence from the project was used to launch a new UNPBF program, "Bakenyezi, dukenyerere amahoro": Promoting Displaced, IDP and Returnee Women’s Empowerment and Public Participation. In July, Kara and Teri travelled to Burundi to co-facilitate working groups consisting of national, provincial, district, and colline-level leaders. Representatives from the Burundi Ministry of Solidarity, Human Rights, and Gender participated. After mapping the interlocking systems of socialization, gender roles, norms, and beliefs, the groups workshopped strategies for transforming gender relations.

This summer, Dr. Kara also defended her dissertation, “Violence as Peace: Everyday Masculinities, Violence, and Peace After Armed Conflict,” supervised by Jennifer Mitzen. We wish Kara all the best as she begins her new position in the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago.