It appears easier to talk about protecting women than it is to fully include women at all decision-making levels in peace talks and post-conflict planning.

War is nothing but a microcosm of peace... it shows you life in a more intense way and that's how I continue to live it... for good or bad reasons.

My message to the world is that until we recognize that peace is not just the absence of war but the revival of life on the "backlines," where women are keeping kids in school, caring for the sick and injured, and daily negotiating space for the continuation of critical life processes of this nature, we're going to continue to miss the point.

Do you know that people fall in love in war and go to school and go to factories and hospitals and get divorced and go dancing and go playing and live life?

From joblessness to lack of education and professional skills to sexual and gender-based violence, women face a multi-faceted oppression.

I dont want to be someone in my sixties holding on to a group that I created when I was in my twenties.

I don't have a child, so Women for Women is like my child. But I always said I would step down after 20 years. I didn't want to be a 60-year-old woman holding on to something I created when I was 23.