Focus
Building Resilience in the Eastern Neighbourhood (BREN)
BREN supports civil society and women’s rights organisations in Eastern Neighbourhood countries.
Years active: BREN I: 2021-2025 - BREN II: 2025-ongoing
The BREN I project, delivered by IWPR in partnership with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), was designed to build the resilience of CSOs to promote human security, peace and stability in the Eastern Neighbourhood countries, focused on women and other marginalised groups. Its successor project - BREN II - launched in summer 2025.
Societies in the South Caucasus and Moldova face a range of systemic internal and external threats, including protracted conflicts leading to internally displaced people. These conflicts have a disproportionate impact on women and other marginalised groups, yet their voices are often excluded in security and stabilisation processes.
The BREN II project builds on IWPR’s regional experience to support these excluded voices and build resilience among civil society (CSO) and women’s rights organisations (WRO) to foster peace, security and stability for all.
The BREN project is designed to deliver these outcomes:
- CSOs have strengthened women’s and marginalised groups’ agency in achieving relevant Women, Peace and Security objectives in the Eastern Neighbourhood. CSOs are more effective and resilient in their internal operational and external delivery capacities.
The project activities include:
- Awarding grants to CSOs to support projects to increase the participation of women in the peace and security processes across the region.
- Providing technical assistance through training and mentoring to build the capacity and strengthen the resilience of civil society.
Featured
Moldova: Roma Women Driving Change
Capacity-building programme aims to ultimately increase participation in wider peace and security decision-making processes.
Latest
Armenia: Women, Peace and Security
For the first time, civil society groups have directly contributed to building future government strategies.
Moldova: Roma Women Driving Change
Capacity-building programme aims to increase participation in wider peace and security decision-making processes.
Armenia: Ensuring Women’s Voices Are Heard
Civil society groups participate in building future strategy for peace and security.
BREN Hague Fellowship Week
“We are going to share what we learned with our community and change some lives.”
"Instead of Holding Guns, Let’s Hold Hands"
Regional event brings NGOs together to counteract conflict, instability and insecurity.
Building Resilience Across the Eastern Neighbourhood
BREN aims to strengthen civil society and enhance the inclusion of women and marginalised groups.
Boosting Women’s Role in Peace and Security
Eastern Neighbourhood scheme aims to empower projects in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova.
Moldova: Hire Me
Testing workshops explore a fun way to encourage girls to enter the IT sector.
Azerbaijan: Peacebuilding for Women
Training, mentorship and network-building contribute to creating a more equal and inclusive society.
BREN was launched in October 2021 and continued until May 2025 . The project was supported by the Integrated Security Fund of the United Kingdom and was implemented in partnership with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP). As of September 2025, BREN II is supporting programming in Armenia and Moldova only.
