The Women, Peace & Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA) Compact commends the tireless work of governments, women’s rights advocates, peacebuilders, and institutions whose dedication has expanded the reach and influence of the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. Looking ahead, we reaffirm our focus on Prevention, Solidarity and Support, and Action in addressing root causes of conflict, fostering partnerships across regions and generations, and advancing rights and freedoms for women and girls in all their diversity.
2025 marked a historic moment – the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. These pivotal milestones underscore decades of unwavering commitment by diverse stakeholders to advance women’s rights in peace, security, and humanitarian action. At this critical juncture, marked also by backlash against women’s rights, the WPS-HA Compact celebrates the progress achieved while recognizing the urgent need for transformative action.
Today, more than 240 Signatories are taking concrete steps to ensure that women and girls are fully represented in peace processes, humanitarian responses, and decision-making that shapes their lives. This collective effort reflects a shared vision: safe, peaceful, and equitable communities worldwide.
Key Achievements in 2025
- Signatory Growth: The Compact welcomed 14 new signatories, bringing the total to 244, more than double the number since its launch in 2021.
- Accountability: For a third year, Signatories reported on progress of their Compact commitments to inform the 2025 Compact Accountability Report.
- Member State Engagement: 71% of Member State Signatories reported on 2024 implementation.
- Investment: Signatories collectively invested USD $2.12 billion in 2024, a 35.9% increase from 2023 despite widespread funding cuts.
- Impact: Initiatives reached 27.5 million women and girls globally.
Here are some key highlights from last year:
On 7 March 2025, the WPS-HA Compact Board held its first meeting of the year, welcoming Namibia as the new Board Chair and setting priorities for a milestone year marking the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325. Chaired by Ms. Paivi Kannisto, Chief of the Peace, Security and Resilience Section at UN Women, Board members expressed appreciation to outgoing Co-Chairs, Norway and the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), who served a two-year term. Representing Namibia, Ambassador Morina Muuondjo, then Acting Director of the International Women’s Peace Centre at Namibia’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation reaffirmed the country’s longstanding leadership on the WPS agenda.
Following the Board meeting, on March 10, during the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in New York City, Namibia represented the WPS-HA Compact at the high-level Generation Equality event on Multistakeholder Partnerships. The event showcased how Generation Equality is delivering tangible results toward the Beijing Platform for Action through collective efforts across the WPS-HA Compact and the six Action Coalitions. The event underscored the Compact’s role in upholding women’s rights and promoting the leadership and full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in preventing and ending conflicts and crises, as well as its commitment to protect the rights of women and girls and to advance accountability for conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.
Ms. Helena Kuzee, then Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Namibia to the UN, delivered closing remarks stating that “The Compact has proven to be an effective space for collective action. As we harness the power of multilateralism and global networks to advance women’s rights, equality and empowerment particularly in conflict and crisis contexts, we must reinforce a simple yet profound truth: when women lead, peace follows.”
Access the blogpost here.
In April, the WPS-HA Compact Secretariat convened a thematic knowledge session on Strengthening Compact Results Reporting: Enhancing Accountability and Showcasing Results aimed at enhancing the quality and impact of 2025 reporting to the WPS-HA Compact Accountability Report. Participants engaged in a guided virtual tour of the updated online self-reporting portal, gaining practical insights into its new features and functionality. The session also focused on how to effectively use Compact’s reporting process to showcase key results, achievements, and contributions to collective outcomes. In addition, participants exchanged best practices and approaches for clearly communicating results, supporting more consistent, outcome-oriented, and impactful reporting across Compact members.
Find the presentation slides here. Find the self-reporting portal tutorial videos here.
In May, the WPS-HA Compact convened the second session of its Inside Look series, focused on advancing women’s economic empowerment within the women, peace and security agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. The session co-hosted by UN Women and UNDP brought together 80 participants with speakers representing Namibia, UN Women, UNDP, the World Bank, Women for Women International and Jago Nari Unnayon Sangsta. Building on findings from the 2024 WPS-HA Compact Accountability Report, which identified economic empowerment as the least reported pillar despite US$7.1 million in related investments. The session addressed critical gaps between action and reporting.
Discussions highlighted how economic exclusion and insecurity exacerbate protection risks and undermine recovery in crisis settings. The session reinforced the need for gender-responsive, nexus-based approaches that bridge humanitarian, development, and peace efforts, and for sustained, flexible financing that supports women-led and locally driven initiatives. Key outcomes included strengthened policy and programming coherence, greater emphasis on removing structural barriers to women’s economic participation, and renewed commitment among Compact signatories to advance women’s economic empowerment as a core WPS priority.
Read the event press release here.
In July, the WPS-HA Compact marked its fourth anniversary by launching the social media campaign #CompactAt4, calling on signatories and partners to highlight the progress made amid intensifying conflict and growing backlash against gender equality. The campaign underscored that, in challenging times, the Compact remains a powerful reminder that collective action endures and that partners are standing firm in advancing women’s rights, peace, and gender equality.
Additionally, in July, the WPS-HA Compact played a key role in the interactive multi-stakeholder hearing convened by the President of the General Assembly, with support from UN Women, as part of preparations for the Beijing+30 High-Level Meeting. Bringing together Member States, UN entities, civil society, youth, the private sector, philanthropy, and academia, the hearing renewed global commitment to the Beijing+30 Agenda. The Compact amplified frontline perspectives, including a powerful call to action delivered by Hanin Ahmed, women’s rights advocate and External Relations Officer of Sudan’s community-led Emergency Response Rooms, who urged the international community not to forget Sudan’s worsening humanitarian crisis. Highlighting mass displacement, sexual violence, and the leadership of women and youth-led Emergency Response Rooms, she called for inclusive peace processes, localized funding for women’s organizations, and stronger protection for frontline humanitarians, reinforcing the centrality of women’s leadership in peace, humanitarian action, and recovery.
Read the full statement here.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 in October, the WPS-HA Compact convened a high-level event under the leadership of Namibia, Chair of the Compact Board. The event which brought together close to 360 participants, featured high-level interventions from H.E. Dr. Emma Kantema, Namibia’s Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, H.E. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly, Ms. Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, and Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security.
Interventions focused on the impact of the Compact as reflected in its 2025 Accountability Report. Discussions also highlighted the critical importance of UNSCR 1325 amid growing conflicts and setbacks to women’s rights, while reaffirming women’s leadership as central to sustainable peace and gender responsiveness in humanitarian action. Panelists included senior representatives from Norway, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, the African Women Leaders Network, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, and the Network for Religious and Traditional Leaders.
Key outcomes included institutionalizing women’s participation through quota and parity measures, promoting women-led and locally driven interventions across the triple nexus (Humanitarian-Development-Peace), and strengthening intergenerational and cross-regional collaboration. The event also marked the launch of the 2025 WPS-HA Compact Accountability Report and fostered cross-regional dialogue to accelerate implementation of WPS commitments, including the Windhoek+25 Declaration, to promote women’s full and meaningful participation in peace processes.
Find the recording of the event here.
Welcoming new WPS-HA Compact Signatories
The WPS-HA Compact welcomed 13 new signatories in 2025 including Bosnia and Herzegovina as a member state, and organizations such as Association Snaga Zene, Action for Women Initiative Network (AWIN), Crisis Resolving Centre (CRC), Emergency Response Rooms, Foundation “Lara” Bijeljina, History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nalafem, Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, Sophia’s Grove, University of Manchester (Politics), University of Sarajevo – Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security Studies, University of Sarajevo – Faculty of Political Science.
As we reflect on 2025, the collective commitment of WPS-HA Compact signatories has driven tangible progress, even amid an increasingly complex and fragile global context. Yet, the scale of today’s challenges demands renewed urgency and sustained action. Now more than ever, we must stand united in advancing WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action through Prevention, Solidarity and Support, and Action.
The Compact remains a platform to champion women’s rights in peace, security, and humanitarian action and to advocate for women’s equal, meaningful, and safe participation at every level of decision-making. By strengthening multistakeholder partnerships, fostering learning and collaboration, and holding ourselves accountable to our commitments, we can translate ambition into transformative impact for women, communities, and the world.
Staying Connected
To contribute to our newsletter, the Compact Dispatch, please contact wpsha.compact@unwomen.org. Access past editions of the Dispatch here.
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