On 12 August 2026, ACCORD participated in the Gertrude Shope Women Mediators Network (GSWMN) General Assembly Meeting, at the South African Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) in Pretoria. This hybrid meeting drew participation from government partners and civil society organisations for a day dedicated to operationalising the Network.
The Assembly followed the commemoration of national women’s day, seventy years since women marched to the Union Buildings in protest against the pass laws, and preceded what would have been the one hundred and first birthday of the Network’s patron, Mama Gertrude Shope. Convenors read the closeness of these dates as instructive rather than coincidental, framing the Assembly as the point at which commemoration gives way to a mechanism capable of growing into a national tool for peace and conflict prevention.
Participants traced the origins of the Network to the Gertrude Shope Annual Dialogue Forum, launched in 2015 and anchored by DIRCO; the Departments of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPWD), and Defence, and civil society. More than a thousand women have since been trained in mediation. What distinguishes the South African experience is the presence of both a domestic and an international angle, from peacekeeping deployments abroad to peace tables and election observation at home.
The discussions, reminded the members that the Network already exists in the work they do in their communities, and that structure is what will give that work identity, credibility and continuity. Its mandate is to promote the meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention, management, resolution and peacebuilding at local, national, regional and continental levels. The measure, members agreed, is not the number of women counted but the leadership they exercise.
The proposed structure was tabled. The Assembly stands as the main decision making body, supported by a steering committee and co-chairs drawn from both government and civil society, with a secretariat housed within DIRCO. Membership carries no fee and is open to trained mediators, practitioners, academics, traditional leaders and community peacebuilders. The Network has been recognised by FemWise-Africa as the South African chapter, and anticipates recognition by SADC as a national chapter by the end of August 2026.
ACCORD has accompanied this journey from its early years, having been present at the first African Union training for women mediators and having brought to the Network the experience of women building peace across the continent. As the Network takes its place within regional and continental mechanisms, ACCORD remains committed to supporting it through capacity building, partnership and the documentation of practice, so that the expertise of South African women mediators is recognised where decisions about peace are made.
