The Suzanne Mubarak Womens International Peace Movement (SMWIPM) was founded by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak to address the challenges of a world captured by violence and where the empowerment of women generally, and the promotion of peace specifically, are urgently needed. It was the first international initiative in the Middle East that seeks to enhance the active participation of women in the decision and peace making processes. With women working alongside men, the Movement also aims to find alternative solutions to conflict and promote the Culture of Peace throughout the world.

The Movement very quickly established itself as the most effective such force in the Arab World. Within the short span of two years, it effectively organized national and regional training for young women leaders, imparting skills, raising awareness and publicizing the meaning and scope of the UNSC Resolution 1325. The Movement then launched international conferences in Paris (at UNESCO in June 2004) and subsequently in Geneva in November 2004, in collaboration with the Swiss government. That conference created the Global Coalition for Women Defending Peace. Other actions followed, including the participation of a high level mission of women leaders to support women in the Palestinian electoral process, and give assistance to traumatized children as well as support the post-conflict situation in the Sudan. Several peace camps for young people and, other outreach programs, have started to materialize throughout Egypt. In short, the movement is now active, locally, nationally and internationally.

The first collaboration between the Movement and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) was when the BA hosted the first group of the Suzanne Mubarak Peace Fellows, an outcome of the conference held at UNESCO in 2004. Subsequently, the idea of more systematically grounding the efforts of the Movement in an effective research and study institute led to the idea of the BA and the SMWIPM jointly establishing an Institute for Peace Studies, to be created in Alexandria and to be formally affiliated with the BA and benefit from its special legal and administrative structure