Education and Training

ACWPS has conducted education and training for select clients, including graduate education, flag and general officers in the U.S. and international militaries, Congressional staff and federal agencies on the WPS agenda, counter-trafficking, counter-terrorism, religious freedom, international law, women’s economic empowerment, women’s role in warfighting and the security sector.

Want to learn more? Please contact us at experts@wpscouncil.org.

  • Origins, Evolution, and Analysis of International and National WPS Law & Policy

  • Human Considerations in US Security Cooperation

  • Human Considerations in Domestic Military Operations

  • Women’s Economic Empowerment and National Security

  • International Religious Freedom & the Double Persecution of Women of Faith

  • Demographics and International Security

  • Countering Sexual Violence and Support for Children Born of War

Training Expertise

The Defense Department selected ACWPS in partnership with Country Intelligence Group to design, develop and implement Congressionally-mandated WPS education for the 20,000-strong U.S. Security Cooperation Workforce at the Defense Security Cooperation University.

Dr. Susan Yoshihara served as a subject matter expert and instructor at the university where she taught WPS in the flagship course for security cooperation officers, the Ministry of Defense Advisors course, the Executive-level course for General and Flag Officers and Senior Executive Service. She worked to develop and launch the university’s online “Women Peace and Security for Security Cooperation.”

She is senior advisor to US Northern Command WPS team. ACWPS is partnering with Q2 Impact to design, develop and implement sexual assault prevention programs for partner nations. Dr. Yoshihara’s team is researching the protection of women and girls in US national guard domestic operations, such as disaster response.

What Our Clients Say

“Your presentation was a great example of how change happens with a global agenda like WPS: international norm setting, country-specific initiatives to bring it home, creation of a national laws/mandate, institutional change, rigorous training and many more efforts that need constant nurturing by many actors including civil society.  And even then, change comes slowly and with occasional backsliding.  What an important lesson to learn!  Thank you for all that you do to promote WPS at the American Council and DOD.”

“On behalf of our faculty and students, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to the class yesterday. I thought the lecture was a really nice fit for what we were looking to accomplish, and several students revisited their maritime security strategies as a result. We had some really interesting conversations today about diverse topics with WPS angles: fisheries management, economic equality in coastal communities, and even the meaning of ‘good governance.’ This is exactly what we needed. While there were some struggles with topics like MDA and building naval capacity, I was really happy to see the students at least pause to consider the problem from a perspective that many had not considered before.”

The only thing harder than getting a new idea into the military mind is to get an old one out.

Sir Basil H. Liddell Hart