How did you come to choose your research topic — impIementing gender-equal peace?

The research topic came out of nearly a decade of my work as a peacebuilding practitioner and policy advocate prior to undertaking the PhD. It was in Colombia, while working with women peacebuilders, that the question “What makes peace agreements work or not work?” first came to me. At the time, I was the Director of Programs at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, and in this role, I coordinated a collaboration between my organisation and New York University to try to find an answer to the question. However, it quickly became apparent to me that the question would benefit from a more in-depth, critical reflection and extensive empirical research, which was particularly well-suited to a PhD.

Can you describe your thesis questions?

My thesis questions were two-fold. First, I was asking what are the mechanisms behind the implementation of gender provisions, or the so-called “gender perspective” in peace agreements. In other words, what are the pathways through which peace agreements become implemented, who are the actors involved in their implementation, and how do they work together and relate to each other? Second, I questioned what it means to implement — how are the concept and the process understood by the different actors involved in it, and what do these different meanings tell us about the process itself?

What was your methodology?

Methodologically, I built on two pillars:

1. Participatory action research (PAR) in Colombia. I used co-design techniques to ensure that the main research participants — Colombian women peace activists at the national and local level — had strong ownership of the research, and that the results of the research would be useful to their work. The research reached over 150 participants through in-depth interviews, interactive workshops and roundtable discussions in Bogotá, Cauca and Valle del Cauca.
2. Creation and analysis of a unique dataset containing over 300 gender provisions from over 20 peace agreements signed around the world between 1991 and 2020. The dataset, which can be explored here, includes information about the provisions’ content, type and implementation level. I created it using a methodology adapted from the Kroc Institute’s Peace Accords Matrix.

What are your major findings?

The central finding, or the central contribution, of my thesis is that it uncovers the political nature of implementation. What I mean by political nature is the fact that implementation relies on cycles of collaboration and contestation among diverse actors. I argue that implementation is more than a box-checking exercise, and is in fact embedded in relationships between different actors. This opens the door to a very interesting analysis of who those actors are and how they approach implementation. As such, my thesis reframes peace agreements: it moves away from viewing them as contracts between two parties to see them as complex, multipronged and multilevel policy documents. In this sense, my findings about how implementation works can also be applied to other policy documents. To help make sense of this novel way of viewing peace agreements, I develop a framework of four implementation “logics” or different ways of thinking, interpreting, understanding and measuring implementation. 

A second important finding, which stems from the first one, is around the role of informal actors — in particular social movements and feminist and women activists — in implementing peace agreements. I document this role, and show that they are key agents in (re-)shaping the meaning and content of peace agreements — even when they are not included in official negotiations.

What could be the social and political implications of your thesis — in other words, how can your findings help ensure a more effective and durable implementation of peace agreements? 

The question of the social and political implications of my research was really at the centre of my research design. I developed a methodology that followed the PAR approach, which means that I both recognised the agency of my research participants by inviting them to shape the research questions and methodology, and that I also committed myself to continuing to make this research useful to them by obtaining some practical outcomes. So, very practically, I hope the implications of this research will be twofold:

1. Better understanding how peace agreements work after they are signed can inform how peace negotiations are designed. In fact, I am currently working with some of my research participants in Colombia to translate the findings into policy recommendations as the country is undergoing a number of negotiations with other armed groups.
2. By bringing to light the political nature of implementation, my research can also change the way we think about and assess peace agreements. Who do we pay attention to when we measure implementation? Which actors and which actions do we provide with visibility and with funding? What kinds of policies do we think about and advocate for as part of peace agreement implementation?

What are you doing now, in your life after the thesis?

Right now, I am splitting my time between two postdoctoral projects. The first one, which I lead here at the Geneva Graduate Institute, looks at (post)conflict economic recovery in Ukraine through a feminist lens. The second project, which is hosted at the University of Bern, looks at the impact of digitalisation on labour rights and access to dignified work for women in Kenya.

Each of these projects builds on my PhD, in different ways. They provide me with an opportunity to continue exploring the mechanisms and meanings of implementation, by considering different types of policies — be it recovery policies or policies around digitalisation. They broaden my horizons because the context includes not only war but also other types of violence, such as economic and structural violence.

In parallel, however, I am also still pursuing work in and on Colombia. I am working with some of my research participants to develop a policy brief based on my findings, which could help them advance their advocacy. I am also hoping to transform the thesis into a book and working on a few articles to share my theoretical framework more broadly. Finally, I recently applied for an Agora grant, which I hope could help me disseminate the findings of my research and, equally importantly, give visibility to the tremendous work of Colombian women, feminists, and women’s movements in peace agreement implementation. 

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Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos defended summa cum laude her PhD thesis in International Relations/Political Science, titled “From Gender-Responsive Provisions to Gender-Equal Peace: Exploring the Implementation of Gender Provisions in Peace Agreements through the Lens of the Final Agreement to End Armed Conflict and Build Stable and Lasting Peace in Colombia”, on 13 December 2024. Associate Professor Sung Min Rho (right) presided over the committee, which included Professor Elisabeth Prügl (left), Thesis Director, and Senior Lecturer Claire Duncanson, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

Citation of the PhD thesis: 
Fal-Dutra Santos, Agnieszka. “From Gender-Responsive Provisions to Gender-Equal Peace: Exploring the Implementation of Gender Provisions in Peace Agreements through the Lens of the Final Agreement to End Armed Conflict and Build Stable and Lasting Peace in Colombia.” PhD thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 2025.
Access:
Members of the Geneva Graduate Institute can access the thesis via this page of the repository. Others can contact Dr Fal-Dutra Santos.
Those interested can also visit this page where Dr Fal-Dutra Santos summarises some of her research findings in a more widely accessible manner.
 

Banner image: part of a photo by Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos showing a meeting space in a community centre owned and ran by Indigenous women in Cauca, Colombia.
Interview by Nathalie Tanner, Research Office.