International civil society Action Network

What International civil society Action Network does

International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2006 by Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE, to advance the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda globally. The organization operates three core programs: the Women's Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL), a network of 99 independent, locally rooted women-led peacebuilding organizations in 39–42 conflict-affected countries; the Innovative Peace Fund (IPF), a multi-donor grantmaking mechanism that has disbursed $11,132,037 through 235 grants to 65 organizations in 26 countries since 2013; and the She Builds Peace campaign, launched in 2020, which provides advocacy frameworks and community mobilization tools for women peacebuilders. Supporting offerings include an annual ICAN Forum, a Resource Library of research and policy publications, the 2026-launched Holistic Security Menu, and formal safeguarding and whistleblowing policies. Geographically, ICAN operates in 24 documented countries across the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, East, West, and Central Africa, Latin America, North Africa, and Europe.

ICAN's business model is grant-funded rather than revenue-generating: it receives contributions from foundations, governments, and multilateral organizations (notably the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the UN Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund) and channels those funds to women-led peacebuilders in conflict-affected countries, alongside technical assistance, capacity-building, advocacy support, and convening services. Services to grantees and beneficiaries are provided free of charge. The organization employs a small 1–10 person professional staff based in Washington D.C., supplemented by a board chaired (on an interim basis) by André Mundal and including Kavita Ramdas, Terry Greenblatt, and Sawsan Chebli following the 2024 departure of long-serving Chair Mobina Jaffer.

ICAN's go-to-market approach is community- and movement-led: it combines direct advocacy at the UN and other multilateral bodies with grassroots capacity building through the WASL network and resource dissemination via a website, research publications, and an active social media presence on Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. The organization holds no proprietary technology, generates no software or AI products, and has no patents or trademarks disclosed; its intellectual capital resides in thought leadership, convening power, and the WASL network brand it stewards.

Name

International civil society Action Network

Legal name

International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)

Website

https://icanpeacework.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ICAN is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2006 that advances the Women, Peace, and Security agenda by stewarding the WASL network of 99 women-led peacebuilding organizations across 39+ countries and operating the Innovative Peace Fund, which has disbursed over $11 million in grants to women peacebuilders since 2013.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Peacebuilding Advocacy and Grantmaking Services

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Peace, Security & Arms Control Organizations (BPADAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)

Keywords

• Women peacebuilding
• Peacebuilding advocacy
• Grantmaking programs
• Network coordination
• Policy research

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Government Grants: ICAN operates as a nonprofit organization funded primarily through grants from foundations, governments, and multilateral organizations. Funding supports the Innovative Peace Fund (IPF) grantmaking to women-led peacebuilding organizations globally.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ICAN is a nonprofit organization that promotes inclusive and sustainable peace by shaping peace and security policies, fostering a global movement of women peacebuilders through the WASL network, and disbursing grants and technical assistance through the Innovative Peace Fund (IPF). Its core offerings are grantmaking to women-led peacebuilding organizations, advocacy on the Women, Peace and Security agenda at UN and government levels, network coordination across 99 organizations in 39-42 countries, and the production of research publications and training resources.

Product overview

ICAN (International Civil Society Action Network) is a civil society organization, not a technology company. Its offerings consist of advocacy campaigns, networks, grantmaking programs, conferences, and knowledge resources focused on advancing the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. The core programs include the She Builds Peace Campaign (a global mobilization initiative), the Women's Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) network of women peacebuilders across 39+ countries, the Innovative Peace Fund (IPF) grantmaking mechanism, the annual ICAN Forum, and a Resource Library of publications and tools. These offerings work together to promote inclusive peacemaking, protect women peacebuilders, and influence global peace and security policies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Women's Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL): A network of 99 independent, locally rooted women-led organizations and women peacebuilders active in 39 countries affected by violence and war.
• Innovative Peace Fund (IPF)
• She Builds Peace

Products and services

• She Builds Peace Campaign A global campaign and call to action to stand with women peacebuilders, ensuring their safety, government inclusion in peace decisions, and adequate resources. Built around the SOAR framework (Safety, Obligation, Appreciation, Resourcing) and includes activation kits for community mobilization. Designed for policymakers, advocates, and the broader peacebuilding community.
• Women's Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) A global network comprising 99 independent, locally rooted women-led organizations and women peacebuilders active in 39-42 countries affected by violence and war, providing solidarity, coordination, and movement building for peacebuilders.
• Innovative Peace Fund (IPF) The first and only independent, multi-donor, global grantmaking mechanism dedicated to providing financial support and technical assistance to women-led peacebuilding organizations in conflict-affected countries. Since 2013, has disbursed $11,132,037 through 235 grants to 65 organizations in 26 countries.
• ICAN Forum ICAN's annual forum bringing together women peacebuilders from around the world to discuss tactics, share experiences, and coordinate on preventing extremism through promoting rights, peace, and pluralism.
• Resource Library An online library containing ICAN's research publications, training tools, policy guidance notes, case studies from women's peacebuilding globally, and multimedia resources supporting the Women, Peace, and Security agenda.
• Holistic Security Menu A co-designed, partner-driven model providing practical and sustainable security support to women peacebuilders on their own terms.
• She Builds Peace Frameworks for Action Three frameworks providing analysis of women peacebuilders: Participation Framework, Protection Framework, and Funding Framework, offering actionable recommendations for states and multilateral organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Since 2013, disbursed $11,132,037 through 235 grants to 65 women-led peacebuilding organizations in 26 countries
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Norwegian Forum 1325coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNorwegian civil society network organizing the 25th Anniversary Conference of UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security in May 2025
• PloughsharesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSenior Advisor Terry Greenblatt serves as Senior Advisor at Ploughshares; organization focused on peace and security policy
• Women's Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerICAN-spearheaded global network of 99 independent women-led peacebuilding organizations active in 39 countries, serving as the primary network and movement building vehicle
• National Transformational Leadership Institute (NTLI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSouth Sudan organization receiving IPF grants to strengthen women's political participation and engagement in peace processes

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights: Independent feminist fund providing rapid-response grants to women's human rights defenders in crisis settings; directly comparable multi-donor grantmaker model for women-led peacebuilders (ICAN board member Terry Greenblatt previously served as ED here).
• Global Fund for Women: Global grantmaker advancing women's human rights, including gender and peacebuilding work; directly comparable as a multi-donor women's rights intermediary and IPF's closest large-scale funding analog.
• MADRE: Sister feminist organization partnering with women-led groups in conflict zones on human rights and peacebuilding; comparable in target beneficiaries, advocacy-plus-grantmaking model, and ideological alignment with ICAN's WPS work.
• Kvinna till Kvinna: Swedish foundation funding women's rights organizations in conflict-affected regions; directly comparable as a country-networked grantmaker advancing the WPS agenda and one of IPF's most similar European peers.
• Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF): The oldest women-led peace organization globally, pursuing disarmament and inclusive peace through advocacy and grassroots mobilization; directly comparable as a founder-led WPS advocacy and movement-building organization.
• International Alert: One of the world's leading peacebuilding NGOs working across 25+ conflict-affected countries with research, advocacy and capacity building; closest broad peer in conflict-zone programming scale and policy influence on peace and security.
• Peace Direct: INGO that funds and partners with local peacebuilders globally, emphasizing grassroots conflict resolution; directly comparable as a grantmaker-to-local-peacebuilders model and a complementary WPS donor intermediary.
• Conciliation Resources: Peacebuilding NGO working on inclusive peace processes, gender and power, and cross-border conflict resolution; directly comparable in WPS thought-leadership publications and field programming in conflict states.
• Women for Women International: INGO providing holistic support (economic, social, rights) to women survivors of war; comparable target beneficiaries (women in conflict zones) and movement-building/grantmaking adjacency to ICAN's frontline peacebuilder work.

Broad incumbents

• Ploughshares Fund: Large philanthropic fund focused on nuclear risk reduction and peace/security policy; comparable as a multi-donor peace intermediary and through ICAN board member Terry Greenblatt (Senior Advisor at Ploughshares), but with a broader defense-and-security portfolio rather than WPS-specific grantmaking.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/whatthewomensay
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@whatthewomensay
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/international-civil-society-action-network-ican-
• Instagraminstagram.com/whatthewomensay
• TikToktiktok.com/@whatthewomensay
• Facebookfacebook.com/international-civil-society-action-network-418502698238486

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about International civil society Action Network