Mr David Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon have been urged to arrange a meeting of all the pro-Belfast Agreement parties in the North to come up with "home-grown" solutions to problems.
Ms Monica McWilliams, an Assembly member for South Belfast, told the Women's Coalition conference in Belfast on Saturday: "Sad to say, the last time the pro-agreement party leaders sat down together was in Washington on St Patrick's Day while we waited for President Clinton."
It was time to stop waiting for American presidents or British or Irish prime ministers to take the lead, she said.
"We cannot go on like this where Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists have become so dependent on the two governments to deal separately with each of their problems . . . They have failed to engage with the rest of us in finding our own solution," she said.
She added: "Politicians need to learn not to bring their own internal solutions to the table but focus on the bigger picture, a stable prosperous and peaceful future for Northern Ireland."
A key aspect of this, she said, was building consensus on the future of the police in Northern Ireland. It was regrettable that, so far, the focus had been on the name change of the RUC.
The Women's Coalition supported the name change and the implementation of the Patten Report. "We look forward to the focus shifting to issues of community policing, accountability, training, recruitment and composition," she said.
The issue of gender should be taken as seriously as religion in the recruitment of officers, and the proportion of women on any new police board must also be taken seriously.
Also, the expertise of the police service in areas such as complicated child abuse cases should not be overlooked.
Speaking about the new programme for government, she said the Women's Coalition had argued for more pluralism, integrated education, mixed housing and more safety and security for children. She said the Women's Coalition was to introduce a Private Member's Bill in the Assembly to establish a Children's Commissioner.
Ms Jane Morrice, an Assembly member for North Down and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, told the conference: "We have become more than a permanent fixture at Stormont. Every day we are actively taking part in the decision-making process."