WPS-HA COMPACT
Accountability
Report 2022
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Reflections from Board Co-Chairs
Why Women, Peace and Security AND Humanitarian Action?
Historically, “women, peace and security” and “humanitarian action” have been two separate portfolios of work. However, they require a coordinated approach to achieve long lasting, sustainable peace and reduce risks and vulnerabilities. Conflicts today last 30 years on average – twice as long as during the 1990s because negotiated settlements often fail to resolve root causes of instability.[2] For example, we can’t have true peace when conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is being used as a weapon of war against women and girls. Economic growth and recovery does not reach its full potential when women do not have equal economic participation. Resiliency is compromised when decision-making processes block the participation of over half the population. Building on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, the Compact contributes to efforts to ensure that conflicts and crises are comprehensively addressed from beginning to end, with gender equality at the core.
the Compact's thematic areas
Financing: Member States prioritize gender-sensitive budgets, funding contributions to WPS and gender equality in humanitarian action in order to meet existing and agreed targets, and by a significant increase in funding to local women’s rights and women-led organizations.
Participation: Peace processes at all levels reflect actions taken by the United Nations, Member States, regional organizations, and civil society, to have women in all their diversity meaningfully and fully participating at all stages of the process.
Leadership: Women’s representation, participation and leadership in all public institutions and consultations, including in peacekeeping, security sectors, peace building and humanitarian assessment, analysis, programming, planning, response and monitoring, is accelerated with parity as the end goal.
Economic Security: Women and girls affected by conflict, crisis and displacement have attained increased economic security, autonomy and empowerment through improved access and control of resources, skill sets, education and employment opportunities.
Protection: Women and girls in all their diversity in conflict and crisis-affected contexts experience significantly fewer violations of their human rights, and threats, attacks and reprisals against women and girls in these contexts are reduced and their consequences mitigated to the greatest possible extent.
In 2022, Signatories spent an estimated $958 million to implement Compact actions and reached 22.1 million women and girls.
Executive Summary
Since its launch at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in 2021, the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA) has gained remarkable traction, welcoming over 205 Signatories. Together they have invested in 1,017 specific actions to address challenges that women and girls face in conflict and crisis contexts. A cornerstone of the Compact’s work is its voluntary self-reporting mechanism, a collective effort by Signatories to assess annual progress on these actions.
This report reviews the implementation of Signatory actions in 2022 and comes at a time when the world is experiencing the highest number of conflicts since the creation of the UN. Additionally, military expenditure continues to skyrocket, and financing for gender equality in conflict and crisis contexts and women’s organizations remains severely inadequate in proportion to the need.[7] Seventy-one per cent of Signatories to report implemented actions in a country experiencing fragility.[8] Fifty-nine per cent implemented actions in a country where peace has declined from 2021 to 2022.
To date, Signatories have made commendable progress, and their reporting contributes to increased accountability, stronger coordination and evidence-guided strategies for sustainable peace. Seventy-one per cent reported on the Compact’s principles of transformation, which foster localization, intergenerational action, inclusivity and intersectionality, a multistakeholder action across the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus.
The report includes the following findings:
There is strong endorsement and engagement from Signatories
Signatories who have reported
Status of signatory reporting
At the time of publication in September 2023, 174 Signatories were eligible for reporting – with nearly half providing assessments of their work. This is an important achievement Signatories who have reported since the Compact brings together stakeholders from across the peace and security and humanitarian architecture – some of whom are engaging with reporting on this scale for the first time, such as small local CSOs.
Compact Signatories include some of the world’s largest economies and biggest donors to gender equality, particularly in conflict and crisis contexts. Six Member States rank in the top 10 of the world’s largest economies according to GDP. Another five Signatories rank in the top 20.[9] Leading regional organizations who reported include the African Union (AU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Reporting was also received from key actors in the UN’s peace and security architecture including the UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO), the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), UN Women, and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF).
Summary of progress made per thematic area
All progress is based on the reports of the Signatories who were eligible for reporting at the time of this publication.
Financing the WPS agenda and gender equality in humanitarian programming
Sixty-eight Signatories (39 per cent) signed up for actions under this thematic area, representing some of the largest donors globally to gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly in conflict and crisis contexts. In 2022, Signatories spent an estimated $958 million[10] to implement Compact actions and reached 22.1 million women and girls. Member State Signatories report success in contributing direct assistance to local women’s organizations, including through UN-led peacebuilding mechanisms. CSO Signatories report helping national and local women’s organizations access funding and navigate complex donor requirements. However, more needs to be done to strengthen internal systems to allocate and track financial resources for women, peace and security and gender-responsive humanitarian action, and to include gender equality objectives in national budgets.
Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion of gender-related provisions in peace processes
With 131 Signatories (75 per cent) signed up for this thematic area, this is the most popular thematic pillar of the Compact. Signatories report actively investing in regional networks of women mediators to contribute to a pipeline for women’s participation in peace processes. Civil society Signatories have made strides in including marginalized and underrepresented women and youth in their initiatives, fostering a more diverse and equitable landscape for social progress. UN Signatories are actively working to ensure that women are included in delegations and in senior roles in peace processes, with substantial increases from previous years. Positively, two women served as UN lead mediators in a UN-led or co-led peace process during 2022 – in Libya and the Geneva International Discussions – and women constituted 43 per cent of UN mediation support teams. However, more effort is needed to ensure gender-balanced delegations in peace processes, especially among Member States, and to advocate for a change in the gendered and unequal power relations that underpin patriarchal systems.
Women’s economic security, access to resources and other essential services
Seventy-four Signatories (42 per cent) have signed up for actions under this thematic pillar. Signatories report success in including gender markers in relevant reconstruction and recovery instruments. However, CSO Signatories report limited progress in promoting women-owned and women-led social enterprises, and governments have made limited progress on including women and women’s organizations in decision-making on economic security. Signatories noted barriers to documenting good practice examples of women-owned and women-led social enterprises and businesses taking part in post-conflict economic recovery. These included the challenges of operating in conflict settings and reaching appropriate stakeholders. More work needs to be done to ensure that gender equality and women’s economic empowerment is a priority in national, regional and global action plans and strategies.
Women’s leadership and full, equal, and meaningful participation across peace, security, and humanitarian sectors
Ninety-four Signatories (54 per cent) have signed up for actions under this thematic area, which is the second most subscribed area of the Compact. Member State and UN Signatories report overall progress in supporting gender parity targets for women’s leadership in their respective countries and entities, and civil society Signatories report successfully documenting and sharing examples of women’s and young women’s leadership across peace and security and humanitarian action. All 26 Member State Signatories have adopted NAPs on women, peace and security, including the 17 Member States which were eligible for reporting. Member States and UN entities provided examples of increasing women’s participation and role in crisis management and peacekeeping. However, more work needs to be done to design and implement strategies to support women leaders and ensure protection strategies. Additionally, the Compact needs more private sector stakeholders to join who can have enormous impact on women’s empowerment in conflict and post-conflict settings, particularly in developing countries, where they provide 9 out of 10 jobs.[11]
Protecting and promoting women’s human rights in conflict and crisis contexts
Sixty-eight Signatories (39 per cent) have signed up for actions under this thematic pillar. Signatories report progress in providing survivor-centred services in emergencies. Additionally, commendable progress has been maintained to ensure both that prevention and response to CRSV are included in the mandates of UN missions and that all UN-mandated investigations have gender and protection expertise. However, there is limited progress on reducing military expenditures in favour of economic and social development. In 2022, global military expenditure rose for the eighth consecutive year to reach an estimated $2.24 trillion.[12] Signatories did not report progress on disarmament and provided limited reporting on improving justice for human rights abuses.
Regional progress
COMPACT SIGNATORIES TOP 10 COUNTRIES OF IMPLEMENTATION
NO. OF SIGNATORIES REPORTING IN EACH REGION PER THEMATIC AREA
- Member States reported on all five Compact thematic pillars in the Americas and the Caribbean
- The highest number of Member States reported on Participation followed by Financing.
- The least number of Member States reported on Economic Security and Leadership.
- CSOs reported the most on Leadership and Participation.
- UN Entities reported the most on Protection and the least on Economic Security.
- Thirty-nine per cent of Compact Signatories provided reporting on implementation in Guatemala.
- Signatories have reported implementing in all countries in the region that are on the OECD States of Fragility List.
- The highest number of Signatories are implementing actions in Egypt followed by Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
- Signatories have subscribed to the most actions under the thematic pillar of Participation followed by Protection and Financing.
- The least subscribed thematic area is Economic Security.
- 42 per cent of reporting stakeholders were CSOs while 36 per cent were Member States.
- Seventy eight per cent of Compact Signatories reported implementing specific actions in Afghanistan, which ranks number three on the OECD States of Fragility List as extremely fragile and also as the number one country of implementation for Signatories in the region.
- The countries where the highest number of Signatories implemented actions were Bangladesh followed by Myanmar, Cambodia and Timor-Leste.
- 63 per cent of CSOs reported on specific actions under the Leadership thematic pillar, the highest across all thematic pillars in the region, while the least reported pillar for CSOs was on Economic Security.
- Most Member States reported on actions under the Financing thematic pillar, while the least reporting by Member States was under the Economic Security and Leadership thematic pillars.
- The region’s top ten countries of implementation reported by Compact Signatories are all countries included in the OECD States of Fragility List.
- The highest number of Compact Signatories reporting in the region reported on implementation in Burundi, followed by South Sudan and Ethiopia.
- Most Member States reported on the Financing thematic pillar, followed closely by Participation.
- The least reported thematic pillar by both Member States and CSOs was Economic Security.
- The most reporting by CSOs was on the Participation thematic pillar followed by Leadership.
- Compact Signatories reported the most on implementation in Georgia, followed by Belgium and Albania.
- The highest number of Member States reported on implementation under the Financing thematic pillar.
- CSOs reported the most on implementation under the Leadership thematic pillar.
- The least reported thematic pillar was Economic Security for both Member States and CSOs.
- The top 10 countries of implementation reported by Compact Signatories are listed on the OECD States of Fragility List.[13]
- 93 per cent of Signatories reported implementing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo followed by 73 per cent in Cameroon and 47 per cent in Nigeria.
- 57 per cent of Signatories that reported in the region were CSOs.
- The most regional reporting was under the Participation pillar with the least reporting on Economic Security.
Recommendations per thematic area
Financing the WPS agenda and gender equality in humanitarian programming
- Signatories, including donors, multilateral organizations and foundations should adopt concrete strategies and policies to prioritize sustained increases of ODA dedicated to GEWE – the United Nations suggests 15 per cent of ODA[14]), particularly in fragile contexts where it has been stagnating, and implement more effective methods of integrating gender-responsive humanitarian activities and spending.
- Signatories should strengthen internal coordination processes and capacity building, including through gender markers, to better track and report on financing allocated to WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action across all programmes and initiatives.
- Signatories should consider enhancing their monitoring and evaluation processes to avoid potential duplication of funds, and more clearly track old versus new investments. Additional funding markers for youth and local women’s organizations should be added to clearly track whether certain groups or initiatives remain underfunded.
- Signatories allocating funding to women peacebuilders, women’s rights organizations and women’s groups engaged in humanitarian response should consult with these groups and adopt and implement policies to enable easier access to flexible, multi-year funding, including core funding, to reduce operational shocks and other vulnerabilities that these groups often face during conflicts and crises.
- Signatories are encouraged to strengthen internal tools, analyses and mechanisms to institute gender-responsive budgeting and ensure that all peace and security and humanitarian actions are gender-responsive, resourced and sustainable.
Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion of gender-related provisions in peace processes
- Signatories should strengthen transformative multilateral partnerships and engage all peace process actors – formal and informal – to ensure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation, and protect women’s rights.
- Member States who support peace processes must commit to upholding women’s leadership and participation, as well as allocating sufficient funds to address women’s inclusion. Furthermore, Member States must encourage conflict parties to include women leaders with the right skills in their delegations and provide support for this inclusion.
- Regional organizations and Member States should support the institutionalization of women mediator networks to offer regional, contextual support. They should also harness the skills and support the deployment of women mediators to prevent and respond to conflicts.
- Signatories should support efforts that connect peace actors engaged in informal peace processes to those that are part of formal peace processes, to ensure that local women and other leaders in local communities affected by conflicts and crises can contribute meaningfully to peace negotiations and sustainable peace outcomes.
- Signatories that support mediation could set ambitious and measurable targets for women’s direct participation in delegations and negotiating teams in line with international norms and standards; nominate and appoint women as lead mediators and mediation experts and set gender balance and the inclusion of gender expertise as a norm for their own mediation teams; earmark a minimum 15 per cent of funds on mediation support to women’s participation; track and report publicly and in real time on the number and percentage of women directly participating in these peace processes; and ensure that gender equality and women’s human rights are a central part of peace agreements.[15]
Women’s economic security, access to resources and other essential services
- Member States should reduce military expenditure and support gender-responsive social protection programmes for vulnerable groups and for displaced and host communities. They should also dedicate resources to reinforce a key objective of the WPS agenda to prevent conflicts rather than trying to make war safer for women.
- Signatories to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and the UN Global Compact and other private sector entities should also become signatories of the WPS-HA Compact to support women’s economic security and help stabilise economies in fragile settings.
- Women’s economic empowerment and women’s economic rights must be intentionally integrated into peace agreements and WPS NAPs and all humanitarian response plans to address discriminatory legislation and to ensure women’s access to finance and other resources, including agricultural inputs.
- Signatories should particularly sign up for actions in this thematic area, which is the second least subscribed to and least reported on pillar of the Compact, to ensure that the economic needs of women and girls are addressed, and to enable local and affected communities to fully recover from crisis and conflict shocks and benefit from post-conflict economic recovery and economic revitalization.
Women’s leadership and full, equal, and meaningful participation across peace, security, and humanitarian sectors
- Signatories should support innovative programming to invest in women’s participation and leadership in local conflict resolution, including local ceasefires, political transitions, humanitarian planning and implementation, early warning, prisoner exchanges, and natural resource management in conflict-affected settings.[16]
- Signatories should urgently act to break down silos within and across political, social, and economic work to strengthen initiatives that address patriarchal norms and gender biases at all levels of society in all regions.
- Signatories should ensure that WPS NAPs are well-designed for practical implementation, coordination, and resourcing. Furthermore, NAPs should position women’s leadership to address existing and new challenges to peace and security across thematic areas including climate security.
- Signatories should invest in social movements that engage women and men who are allies, and which champion the plight of women and girls in conflicts and crises, particularly those experiencing complete social exclusion that amounts to gender persecution, women with disabilities, women belonging to indigenous and minority groups, widows, migrant women, and those that identify as LGBTQI+.
- UN entities, regional organizations, Member States and donors should strengthen linkages across the HDP nexus and support the work of women’s rights organizations and women peacebuilders acting as first responders and providing long-term support in their communities to address conflicts, humanitarian crises, climate disasters, crisis recovery and resilience.
Protecting and promoting women’s human rights in conflict and crisis contexts
- Member State Signatories should adopt legislation, where relevant, to protect and promote women’s human rights including on multisectoral GBV response services, reparations for survivors of CRSV, gender persecution and refugee and asylum rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights in conflict-affected settings.[17]
- More Member State Signatories should sign up for actions to address reprisals by facilitating emergency support – in the form of physical accompaniment, political advocacy, financial grants, and security arrangements, as needed – to women leaders under threat.
- Signatories should focus on preventing and eliminating all forms of violence, including GBV that occurs through or is amplified by the use of technologies and engage social media platforms and social media monitoring entities to combat the spread of gender-based hate speech and disinformation, in partnership with women’s and feminist organizations.[18]
- Signatories should create an enabling environment for women active in public life, including women human rights defenders, journalists and peacebuilders and those working directly on CRSV and GBV in emergencies; protect politically active women from any form of reprisals and ensure that risks, including those stemming from digital platforms, are duly addressed and perpetrators prosecuted; and establish protection measures and timely responses for civilians at imminent risk of CRSV, including those in detention, displacement or migration settings.[19]
- Signatories should develop and strengthen disaggregated data systems to track funding and investment supporting young people, and particularly young women.
- Donors working through intermediaries should set targets for the level of programming and financing that should be dedicated to young women peacebuilders and young women human rights defenders.
- Signatories should widely disseminate and localize good practices on the intersection of the WPS/YPS agendas and young women’s contributions to gender-responsive humanitarian action, to inform programming and initiatives for and beyond NAPs.
- Signatories should develop and enact initiatives for intergenerational co-leadership in peacebuilding efforts and processes, mediation, and negotiations, including documentation of these initiatives at local, national and international levels.
Conclusions
Accountability for the implementation of commitments remains at the heart of realizing the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. The Compact is the first global mechanism of its kind to monitor the specific commitments made by a diverse group of stakeholders across many regions through self-reporting on the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. It tracks gaps, good practices and efforts that aim to intentionally integrate principles of transformation.
At a time when strong political will and coordinated, strategic efforts are needed to halt the erosion of women’s human rights, mechanisms such as the Compact, which bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, are especially critical. More stakeholders, including Member States with WPS NAPs and the private sector, should join the 205 Signatories that have already become part of this movement for action and accountability and to invest in peaceful and stable societies.
Compact Signatories have already indicated significant momentum toward transformative action in this first year of reporting. With nearly 50 per cent of eligible Signatories submitting data, it is a positive sign that Signatories are not only reporting on their concrete and measurable progress in implementing Compact actions, but that they are also sharing the challenges they face in partnership-building, tracking and monitoring activities within their institutions, securing flexible core funding, and the risks and uncertainties of operating in a conflict/crisis environment.
The reporting reveals many positive initiatives being implemented across the five thematic areas of the Compact. Due to the technical and capacity challenges Signatories face to comprehensively collect and track information on their initiatives, it can be concluded that much more work is being done than is reported to the Compact and other mechanisms. There is a critical need for all Signatories to report on their committed actions to the Compact, to institute stronger tracking and monitoring mechanisms to report on and quantify the full breadth and depth of their work, and to strengthen evidence-guided decision-making on policy, financing, programming and advocacy for WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action.
Compact Signatories are doing commendable and impressive work to tackle the current challenges our world faces globally and locally while placing women and girls at the centre of solutions. In an era of disinformation, the need for closer ties to local women’s organizations is ever more critical to address the root causes of conflicts and crises. However, many initiatives are thinly spread, activity-focused, unevenly resourced and short-term. An important opportunity exists through the Compact to strengthen coordination and collaboration among the various initiatives to scale up impact and address the magnitude of issues facing women and girls in conflict and crisis settings, and to advance and advocate for their active role and leadership in these areas.
The WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action should not be regarded as niche issues within international peace and security discourse and action. As we approach the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (UNSCR 1325), Compact Signatories should collectively advocate for mainstreaming the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action through legislation, NAPs and foreign and domestic policies that neither entrench existing and new global inequalities and patriarchal systems nor discriminate against specific groups of people, but instead advance systems of gender justice that ensure women’s participation, protection and rights.
“When I think of women, I see individuals, I see communities, and I see our essence. Excluding women is like leaving your heart outside your body. Your body cannot function if the heart is not there.”
Hibaaq Osman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Karama
Introduction
Background
Generation Equality is an unprecedented global effort to accelerate investment in gender equality at a time when women’s rights are under increased threats globally and progress has stalled and reversed on more than 30 per cent of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Convened by UN Women, the Generation Equality movement includes a Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA) and six Action Coalitions, all of which are dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls. In 2023, Generation Equality celebrates its midpoint moment, taking a hard look at the progress made so far, and charting a course for the future.
Since its launch at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in 2021, the Compact has gained traction, with 205 Signatories20 committed to implementing 1,017 specific actions. A cornerstone of this commitment is the Compact’s voluntary self-reporting mechanism, a collective effort by these Signatories to assess annual progress.
The Compact accepts new members on a rolling basis. Once Signatories are verified, they are not tasked with reporting on their selected Compact Framework actions until the following year. At the time of this report, 174 Signatories were eligible for reporting. The following report reviews the implementation of actions in 2022. In the years to come, the Compact Secretariat will monitor the changes in Signatory data in order to track impact and the achievement of Framework objectives.
In this first year, however, the report assesses to what extent the Compact has galvanized support for women’s empowerment in peace and security and humanitarian action; to what extent Signatories have implemented their actions; and what steps need to be taken to address those factors which are hindering progress.
About Generation Equality
Learn more about Generation Equality
Read the Generation Equality 2023 Accountability Report
Thematic Pillar Analysis
Thematic Area
Financing
Financing the WPS agenda and gender equality in humanitarian programming
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
A lack of adequate, sustained, and flexible funding has been a serious and persistent obstacle to the implementation of commitments to women, peace and security and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian action.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Member States prioritize gender-sensitive budgets, funding contributions to WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action to meet existing and agreed targets, including by the consistent inclusion of gender analysis and recommendations in all humanitarian appeals, and by a significant increase in funding to local women’s rights and women-led organizations. WPS-HA commitments have adequate, sustained, flexible funding and local women’s rights and women-led organizations have sustained, core funding.
Official development assistance (ODA) is government aid that promotes and targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.[27] These funds can either be transferred from one government to another (bilateral aid) or from governments to multilateral agencies such as intergovernmental institutions like the United Nations (multilateral aid).
Between 2020 and 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that a yearly average of $49.9 billion of bilateral allocable ODA was committed to fragile contexts,[28] but less than 50 per cent of these funds included gender equality objectives. ODA for GEWE in the conflict, peace and security sector in fragile contexts was less than $1 billion on average between 2020 and 2021.
Perhaps most critical, funding to women’s rights organizations and institutions – typically frontline responders engaged in long-term work in their communities – remains at only $198 million on average in fragile contexts – less than a tenth of a per cent of total ODA.
In 2020 and 2021, on average $13.4 billion of humanitarian assistance was committed to fragile contexts and only 19 per cent (or $2.5 billion) of this amount integrated gender equality objectives.
Additionally, research by Development International[29] shows persistent underfunding of programming that targets GBV needs. Only 28 per cent of funding requests were awarded in 2021. In contrast, overall humanitarian appeals received 51 per cent of requested funding. This finding complements previous research by UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)[30] that also found only 39 per cent of gender-targeted programming funding was allocated in four case study crisis contexts compared to 69 per cent of overall appeals.
These numbers indicate that ODA and humanitarian funding for GEWE is not keeping up with escalating global demands. The collective failure to prioritize gender-focused financing in conflict and crisis contexts jeopardizes critical progress on gender equality and hampers sustained peace and effective humanitarian programming.
However, it is equally important to note that the international aid community is not and should not be the only source of financing for GEWE. Diaspora communities can have immense impact on sustainable development. In 2020, remittances represented an impressive 46 per cent (USD 115 billion) of the total external financing mix reaching fragile contexts, presenting an opportunity for diaspora communities to increase investments in conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts that support the work of women peacebuilders and women human rights defenders in fragile contexts.
The Compact Framework provides an opportunity for Signatories to strengthen coordinated efforts against regressive trends on WPS and humanitarian issues through a number of dedicated actions, including through support of donor efforts to include gender as a key component of their financing programmes.
Several Compact signatories – such as Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom – have already committed significant shares of ODA to advancing gender equality. The Framework also highlights the need to strengthen South-South and triangular cooperation mechanisms and includes actions to ensure that financial intermediaries, CSOs and academic institutions also help to dismantle critical barriers to funding for women peacebuilders and gender-integrated humanitarian planning and programming.
Signatory Overview
Under this pillar, Signatories indicated that they spent approximately 1.6 billion USD, with 87.9 million being distributed at the local level,[31] to implement actions on WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action. Noting the challenges Signatories face in maintaining robust systems that track resources allocated to GEWE in conflict and crisis situations, this amount can be considered an undercount of actual monies spent.
Sixty-eight out of 174 eligible Signatories signed up for actions under the financing pillar, thus tying with protection as the least subscribed thematic pillars. At the time of reporting, 41 of those Signatories (60 per cent) submitted data under the financing thematic pillar. This includes 16 out of 17 (94 per cent) Member States, three out of four (75 per cent) UN entities, 20 out of 39 (51 per cent) CSOs and two out of three (66 per cent) regional organizations. Academic and research institutions did not report.
Additionally, in terms of investment areas, 54 Signatories signed up for programmatic actions, 21 financial, 11 advocacy and four signed up for policy actions. While programmatic efforts are critical, more Signatories need to sign up for financial and policy actions over the next three years if the Compact is to achieve its goals.
Compact Signatories signed up and reporting on financing specific actions
Number of Signatories signed up per investment area
The total number of Signatories reporting on financing specific actions across all regions is relatively low with between 20 and 26 Signatories reporting in each region. The highest number of Signatories reported in West and Central Africa (26) and the lowest in the Americas and the Caribbean (20). However, in each region, the number of Signatories 30 – 31 reporting on financing specific actions represent approximately 50 per cent of overall Signatories reporting in that particular region. In all regions, civil society only reported on programmatic investments in the financial thematic pillar while Member States reported on all four areas of investment with the most reporting on financial investments followed by programmatic and advocacy and lastly by policy investments. Programmatic and advocacy investments received approximately the same amount of reporting, but reporting on policy investments was substantially lower.
Allocate specific funds for the identified needs of affected women and girls, in all their diversity, in conflict and crisis-affected settings.
The Compact’s 26 Member State Signatories represent some of the world’s largest economies and largest donors to gender equality. Six rank in the top 10 of the world’s largest economies according to gross domestic product (GDP).[32] Another five Signatories rank in the top 20. Twelve of these donors have signed up for actions under the financial thematic area. Increasing funding to local women-led and women’s rights organizations Over the past few decades, the international community has struggled to deliver funding into the hands of local women-led and women’s rights organizations which are often on the frontlines of conflict and crisis response. As a result, peacebuilding efforts have been hindered and the perspectives of women and girls often left out of humanitarian action. Under the historic Grand Bargain Agreement, launched in 2016, donors pledged to directly give at least 25 per cent of humanitarian funding to local and national stakeholders, yet globally many still miss this target. To address this pressing need, several of the Compact actions directly tackle financial assistance to local women’s organizations. During this first reporting period, 11 of the Compact’s 26 Member States signed up to contribute direct assistance to local women’s organizations, including through United Nations-led peacebuilding mechanisms. All 11 signatories – Australia, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Germany (including both the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office (FFO)), Ireland, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom – reported on this action. For example, Irish Aid has signed a multi-year partnership from 2022 to 2024 with another Compact Signatory, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), that provides €5.6 million in funding to support local women’s organizations in five countries – Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan – that target primarily refugee and displaced women and girls. In 2022, BMZ contributed €57 million to UNFPA, which ensures the forwarding of funding to women-led organizations. The FFO contributed €2 million to the UNFPA Humanitarian Thematic Fund. In 2022, Norway used over NOK 50 million for WPS work in countries around the world. Through a specific call for applications, Norway provided NOK 25 million for local and international civil society efforts on women’s participation and rights in peace processes. In 2022, the United Kingdom launched a £10 million fund to support Ukrainian CSOs, including women’s rights organizations. The country also co-hosted an international pledging conference for Afghanistan with the United Nations, Germany, and Qatar that raised $2.4 billion for the humanitarian response. Additionally, the United Kingdom committed £286 million in aid to Afghanistan from 2022 to 2023, with 50 per cent designated for women and girls. Mobilizing resources through intermediaries Several Member State Signatories noted that they successfully provided funding through intermediaries, including the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) which is also a Compact Signatory. In 2022, the efforts of WPHF’s Secretariat led to a significant growth of the Fund with $43.8 million in resources mobilized from eight government donors and the private sector, thereby exceeding the annual target by $23.8 million and representing an increase of $6.6 million from the previous year – the highest amount mobilized in a single year since the WPHF launched in 2016. Germany provided €24.8 million to the WPHF in 2022. Norway committed NOK 20 million in funding last year in support of the WPHF’s Rapid Response Window and Women Human Rights Defenders Window, both of which provide financing for strategic, short-term and urgent services needed in rapidly evolving contexts of crisis and conflict. Canada contributed a total of $4.5 million through the WPHF’s Rapid Response Window ($1.5 million), COVID-19 Emergency Response Window ($1.5 million) and earmarked funding to support women’s organizations in Ukraine and Moldova to address threats resulting from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine ($1.5 million). Austria increased its commitment to the WPHF from 2022 to 2025, pledging €9,74 million. In addition to support for the WPHF, Signatories also dispersed funds to local women’s organizations through other intermediaries. The United Kingdom has committed £38 million over 6 years for women-led and women’s rights organizations. In partnership with the Equality Fund (also a Compact Signatory), this includes £33 million for grant support and bespoke capacity-building for women’s rights organizations, including those working in conflicts and crises, as well as for local and regional networks. It also includes £5 million in funding for Women of the South Speak Out (WOSSO), which is managed by a consortium of two prominent women’s rights organizations from the Global South: Gender Links and ARROW. Furthermore, under the Resourcing Change project, Saferworld, Women for Women International and the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom receive funding from the UK Government’s Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF) to support women’s rights organizations in Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen. From FY22/23, the UK government has committed to a three-year project to provide £4.3 million in core and flexible funding, alongside capacity-building and technical support. Spain contributes to the Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPF) of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which prioritize funding for local organizations, including women’s organizations. In 2022, the country contributed to the State of Palestine (€750,000), Venezuela (€1M) and Syria (€1M). Additionally, Canada continued to advocate to OCHA for enhanced transparency on funding to local actors, including through their Pooled Fund Data Hub which would enable a better understanding of the localization of GBV risk mitigation programmes helmed by women-led organizations. While Signatories have committed a commendable amount of funds to local women’s organizations, tracking data on financing to women and girls in conflict and crisis situations remains a challenge and requires stronger internal coordination mechanisms and systems. It was not possible to calculate the total amount of money given by Signatories to local women’s organizations – either directly or through intermediaries. While some Signatories reported exact budget figures, others provided percentages or stated that they provided an undisclosed amount of funds. Some Signatories also noted contributions to United Nations agencies, but it was not clear if this money was earmarked for local women’s organizations. Prioritizing gender-responsive national budgets Budgets are a clear indication of government priorities and a critical policy tool for GEWE. The Compact Framework values gender-responsive national budgets, designed in collaboration with women and CSOs.[33] Over 60 per cent of OECD countries reported having gender-responsive budgets. Among these nations are 12 of the Compact’s Member States.[34] Four Member State Signatories – Canada, Germany, Sierra Leone and Spain – signed up on and provided reporting for this action, highlighting the importance of gender equality policy markers. According to OECD reports on gender budgeting, seven Compact Signatories currently require gender budgeting information to accompany budget proposals; however, only two countries (Canada and Mexico) reported that these gender insights were always or often used in their decision-making.[35] While the increase in countries pursuing gender-responsive budgets is positive, there is still much work to be done to ensure that gender-sensitive data does indeed drive decision-making on inclusive policies. The German FFO has pledged to allocate 85 per cent of its project funding on a gender-sensitive basis and 8 per cent on a gender-transformative basis by 2025, taking the OECD criteria as a guide. German humanitarian assistance has set the goal of 100 per cent (where applicable) gender-sensitive funding. BMZ has also pledged to increase its share of new funding for measures promoting gender equality as a significant or principal objective to 85 per cent and 8 per cent respectively by 2025. Under Sierra Leone’s newly launched Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act, the country’s ministries, departments and agencies were tasked with undertaking gender-responsive budgeting with support from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs. In 2022, Canada released its new budget which included a Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) of over 200 budget measures. In addition to considering sex and gender, GBA Plus looks at many identity factors such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability, and how the interaction among these factors influences the way individuals experience government policies and initiatives. Financing gender equality in UN peacebuilding initiatives In 2019, the UN Secretary-General obligated all United Nations entities and country teams to allocate “a minimum of 15 per cent of programmatic budgets to gender equality” and to “improve the mainstreaming of gender in all areas of expenditure.”[36] In alignment with existing commitments, the Compact Framework includes two actions for the United Nations system in this regard. First, it calls for an allocation of at least 15 per cent of peacebuilding funds, as well as funds for preventing violent extremism, to programmes that advance gender equality as a principal objective. Second, it asks for increased investment in pooled funding mechanisms to support local women-led peacebuilding and humanitarian action, as well as transparent tracking of those funds. While a seemingly modest target, a 2022 assessment by UN Women found that “UN actors have struggled to establish baselines and systems for financial tracking, let alone reach or exceed the 15 per cent target.” Like Member States, the struggle to allocate and track financial resources for gender equality is a trend that is reflected among the Compact’s UN Signatories.[37] However two were able to provide reporting on this action. In 2022, the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) allocated $8.6 million towards advancing the WPS agenda. This accounts for 19 per cent of the entire $44.6 million Multi-Year Appeal budget in 2022 (above DPPA’s 17 per cent target).[38] The PBF, managed by the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), committed 47 per cent of its total allocation ($108,784,860) to support GEWE.[39] This was the fifth year in a row that the PBF allocated at least 40 per cent toward gender equality and the sixth year that PBF allocated at least 30 per cent (its target). These investments in spearheading women and youth engagement are larger than any other pooled fund in the United Nations system. Additionally, in 2022 the PBF launched a pilot programme to decentralize the Gender Promotion Initiative in the Gambia, Guatemala, Haiti and Niger, investing $2.5 million in each country, to encourage national ownership over the selection process of proposals while expanding funding access to national and local women-led CSOs. In 2022, the WPHF transferred over $35.7 million USD in 2022, or 95 per cent of its income from the previous year, directly to women-led and women’s rights organizations. Regional organizations have not signed up for actions on financing None of the Compact’s regional organization Signatories signed up for financing actions; however, this reflects current challenges faced by regional organizations to secure predictable, sustainable or equitable sources of financing, including for peacebuilding and humanitarian action. Under the New Agenda for Peace, as relates to the African Union (AU), the United Nations Secretary General has called for “a new generation of peace enforcement missions and counter-terrorism operations, led by African partners with a Security Council mandate, with guaranteed funding” from the United Nations Member State contributions.[40]Advocate to ensure inclusion of women’s civil society in peace and humanitarian initiatives.
Consistent inclusion of women and gender analysis in all humanitarian appeals
The Compact provides actions for Member States and regional organizations which task them with advocating the inclusion of women’s organizations in humanitarian appeals and crisis/conflict recovery programmes. Seven out of nine Member State Signatories who signed up for this action reported that they had met progress, including playing key leadership roles in fund mechanisms.
Notably, Canada, as chair of the Pooled Fund Working Group in 2021 and 2022, pressed for the inclusion of specific measures to strengthen the voice of local women’s organizations in decision-making and improve their capacity to access funds.[41] For example, when establishing the membership of a pooled fund’s Advisory Board, the revised guidelines mandate that at least one of the three candidacies for local organizations must be filled by a representative from a local women’s organization. There are also specific targets for the provision of training on CBPF funding processes to local women’s organizations to enhance their capacity to access resources and participate in decision-making.
Additionally, as co-chair of the Pooled Fund Working Group for 2022 to 2023, Switzerland leads localization efforts and facilitates common commitments of the Caucus on the role of intermediaries, which ensures the active participation of local actors in consultations and meetings.
As the chair of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence, Germany supports the creation and implementation of standardized frameworks, such as the GBV Accountability Framework, that facilitate the inclusion of local women’s organizations in policy processes as well as their access to funding. Furthermore, Germany restarted a process aimed at improving GBV funding to local women’s organizations.
In 2022, UN Women and CARE International carried out the Rapid Gender Analysis of Ukraine, which drew attention to the gender dynamics in the humanitarian crisis resulting from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It also proposes recommendations for humanitarian leadership, actors and donors to ensure consideration of the gendered dimensions of risk, vulnerability, and capabilities in response to this crisis.
Enact policy that ensures financing and gender-responsive budgeting for national action plans on WPS and other relevant national mechanisms on WPS and humanitarian action
Under the sole policy action, Member States were tasked with strengthening cooperation initiatives to secure funding for NAPs on WPS and humanitarian action or other relevant national mechanisms.[42]
Five Member States – Germany, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay – signed up for this action and demonstrated how they had strengthened South-South and triangular cooperation mechanisms, with a specific focus on implementing national and regional WPS and humanitarian action mechanisms. Though not all Signatories were able to quantify the funding disbursed and secured through these partnerships, Member States engaged in bilateral discussions with other governments to share best practices and lessons learned, supported NAP development and implementation in other countries, and funded women-led organizations and networks in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa.
In 2022, Uruguay continued to support the Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network launched by Spain. Uruguay previously co-chaired the mechanism together with Canada. It is also part of the Network of Women Mediators of the Southern Cone and the Ibero-American Network of Mediators, an initiative of Mexico.
Invest in system-wide gender capacity, including by addressing barriers for women’s rights and women-led organizations to successfully apply for and use funds, by creating and coordinating tracking mechanisms for gender-focused funding, and by investing in gender advisory capacity.
Dismantling barriers to financing The numerous requirements that local organizations and women peacebuilders face to access funds have severe impacts on the types and quality of funding they receive. Although studies have been unable to identify significant evidence of corruption and misappropriation of funds by local organizations, women peacebuilders are often required to manage demanding donor requirements regarding proposal, implementation, and reporting processes, taking time away from their critical peacebuilding and crisis response work.[43] The Compact Framework seeks to reduce barriers to funding for local women’s organizations. Actions target the elimination of complicated application processes, thereby ensuring funds are readily available while improvements in tracking funds help Signatories make better investments. These actions alleviate donor concerns about giving money to women peacebuilders. International CSOs often play an important intermediary role in this context. This role has been reflected in the Compact Framework with 37 civil society Signatories having pledged to partner with national and local women’s organizations to strengthen capacity and address barriers to funding. Thirteen Signatories reported on this action. For example, Karama, as a regional network in the Middle East and North Africa, has secured funding for over a dozen local women’s organizations. In addition to ongoing support for specific projects, the network helped four local women’s organizations link up and jointly apply for one fund; together they secured significant, medium-term funding for initiatives across four different countries. In 2022, seventeen local women-led organizations from the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon were selected to access funding under the United States-funded project, She Wins. This selection was done in consultation with Hope Advocates Africa, with clearly defined criteria to ensure local women’s organizations in Cameroon are direct beneficiaries. The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) provided direct support to national women-led organizations from Sudan and Ukraine to develop project proposals for WPHF’s country calls; these received positive funding decisions in 2022. The Equality Fund’s Activate programme supports 23 feminist funds that provide grants to 183 women’s organizations. These feminist funds are the first funders for 38 per cent of their grantee partners. First funders build the capacity of organizations to manage donor funding and help to secure subsequent funders. Furthermore, the Activate programme, and direct grantmaking, support unregistered organizations through fiscal sponsors (23 per cent of the total portfolio), thus overcoming lack of registration as a barrier to funding. IRC’s policy and advocacy unit partnered with 12 women-led and women’s rights organizations across Afghanistan, the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Ukraine to explore their ability to access pooled humanitarian funding for GBV programming. The resulting report Why Wait? outlines tangible recommendations for United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations and donor states to improve the access of women-led organizations to international humanitarian funding. In addition to these civil society Signatories, four Member States signed up to improve coordination among donors and address barriers that keep local women’s organizations from addressing critical funding. While each of those Signatories reported undertaking Grand Bargain localization commitments and supporting CSOs and intermediary funding mechanisms like the WPHF, Global Fund for Women, the Urgent Action Fund, MADRE, Kvinna till Kvinna, and others, there was limited reporting on how these efforts translated into specific policy changes to increase funding application opportunities for local women’s organizations. For the United Nations system, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conducted a mapping exercise to ensure an up-to-date repository of organizations interested in UNHCR funding opportunities, and the drafting of guidance on identification, engagement and funding of these organizations. This initiative was based on the recommendations of 130 individuals from UNHCR’s workforce and local women’s organizations. Prioritizing gender advisory capacity in humanitarian response and peace processes Six Member States signed up for actions to prioritize gender analysis and dedicated gender advisory capacity for humanitarian response and peace processes. The four Signatories who provided reporting – Australia, Germany, Norway and Spain – indicated success in this area. In Germany, gender analysis is a mandatory procedure for all development cooperation, stabilization, and humanitarian assistance projects. Humanitarian assistance projects also take age and disability dimensions into account, in addition to gender, by using a specific (additional) marker. Under its Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action Roadmap, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade prioritizes gender analysis and supports deployment of gender expertise. Through the Australia Assists programme, 10 gender specialists were deployed in 2022, in addition to six technical experts, to UNFPA and UN Women. Australia Assists addressed the risk and impact of GBV across 14 Pacific Island Countries through the Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster. Deployee efforts focused on ensuring safe access to women’s refuges during lockdowns, monitoring child protection concerns in quarantine facilities, mainstreaming referral pathways throughout other clusters and ensuring sanitation kits reached the most vulnerable. In 2022, Spain collaborated with OCHA to finance the Gender Standby Capacity Project (GENCAP), which deploys expert gender personnel in emergencies to advise humanitarian missions, and to conduct gender training for humanitarian actors. Spain contributed €150,000 to this initiative.Story of Impact
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
Stacey Schamber, Senior Program Officer of International Civil Society Action Network, headquartered in the United States, reveals how ICAN promotes inclusive and sustainable peace in countries affected by violent conflict, extremism, militarism, and closing political space through the critical role of women peacebuilders.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into ICAN’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action.
“Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, many of the country’s active local women-led civil society organizations have shut down because of lack of funding, insecurity, and the Taliban’s restrictive policies. Women peacebuilders who worked in their communities and engaged the public have been confined to their homes. Across the country, levels of violence against women have increased. Suicides among young women has reached unprecedented levels. Afghan women and girls have little protection or systems of support, creating a mental health crisis, severe psychological distress, depression, and despair.
“For years, we supported the work of partner organizations through advocacy, grantmaking, training, resources, and strategic guidance. Because of these deeply trusted relationships, when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, our partners came to us for help. For weeks and months, day and night, we were fielding calls, making referrals, moving money into the country through rapid response grants, providing protection, and conducting bilateral advocacy with governments. We called for gender-responsive humanitarian aid and women peacebuilders’ participation in all decision-making and negotiations pertaining to Afghanistan. Between August 2021 and December 2022, with government cooperation, we facilitated the resettlement over 1,100 Afghans.
“We also mobilized to support our Afghan partners in the immediate aftermath of the June 2022 earthquake. Organizations, such as the Women Peace Studies Organization (WPSO), were the first responders to female-headed households that were sidelined because most aid workers were male and could not enter the women’s homes. They traveled to the affected region to negotiate the delivery of aid to over 13,000 people across 11 districts.
“Our CEO Sanam Naraghi Anderlini always says, ‘We invest in trust.’ Flexible funding enables our partners to pivot and respond very quickly to unexpected changes or emergencies. We know that they are risking their own lives to take on the responsibility to protect their communities. We signed the Compact to strengthen our partners’ work and to support the ecosystem of peacebuilding that is essential now. The key pillars of our work – recognizing women peacebuilders, ensuring their participation in peacemaking, protecting and financing them – are also the pillars of the Compact.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Financing the WPS agenda and gender equality in humanitarian programming
- Signatories, including donors, multilateral organizations and foundations should adopt concrete strategies and policies to prioritize sustained increases of ODA dedicated to GEWE (the United Nations suggests 15 per cent of ODA[44]), particularly in fragile contexts where it has been stagnating, and implement more effective methods of integrating gender-responsive humanitarian activities and spending.
- Signatories should strengthen internal coordination processes and capacity building, including through gender markers, to better track and report on financing allocated to WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action across all programmes and initiatives.
- Signatories should consider enhancing their monitoring and evaluation processes to avoid potential duplication of funds, and more clearly track old versus new investments. Additional funding markers for youth and local women’s organizations should be added to clearly track whether certain groups or initiatives remain underfunded.
- Signatories allocating funding to women peacebuilders, women’s rights organizations and women’s groups engaged in humanitarian response should consult with these groups and adopt and implement policies to enable easier access to flexible, multi-year funding, including core funding, to reduce operational shocks and other vulnerabilities that these groups often face during conflicts and crises.
- Signatories are encouraged to strengthen internal tools, analyses and mechanisms to institute gender-responsive budgeting and ensure that all peace and security and humanitarian actions are gender-responsive, resourced and sustainable.
Thematic Area
Participation
Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion of gender-related provisions in peace processes
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Women in all their diversity - including local women peacebuilders and young women - remain significantly excluded from formal and informal peace processes, their implementation, and broad efforts to build sustainable peace, despite their continued contributions to preventing crises and resolve conflicts, broker peace informally and formally, despite human rights-based obligations, and despite evidence that inclusive peace processes are more likely to be successful and lead to better and more durable agreements.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Peace processes at all levels reflect actions taken by UN, Member States, regional organizations, and civil society, as outlined in the Compact Framework, to have women in all their diversity meaningfully and fully participating at all stages of the process, including through leadership roles and in shaping a protective environment and influencing political transitions. These processes lead to the systematic inclusion of gender provisions in peace agreements and peacebuilding policies and programmes, including gender-responsive implementation and monitoring.
Signatory Overview
Women’s participation in peace processes is the most subscribed thematic pillar, with 131 out of 174 eligible Signatories (75 per cent) signing up for actions in this area. Sixty-three Signatories (48 per cent) provided reporting including 18 out of 21 (86 per cent) Member States, four out of six UN entities (67 per cent), 37 out of 93 CSOs (40 per cent), two out of two regional organizations (100 per cent) and two out of seven academic and research institutions (30 per cent). Private sector Signatories did not provide reporting on this pillar.
In terms of investment areas, 103 signatories eligible for reporting signed up for advocacy actions, 60 programmatic actions, 27 policy actions and seven financial actions. Compact signatories reported 553 specific actions across all six geographic regions. West and Central Africa had the most signatories reporting across all geographic regions with 37 signatories reporting on 118 participation specific actions. 80% of signatories reporting in this region are reporting on participation. Arab States and Northern Africa had the lowest reporting with 24 signatories reporting on 79 specific actions in the region, representing 67% of signatories reporting in this region. Across four regions, member states reported equally on advocacy and policy investments; whereas across 50% of regions, civil society reported on double the amount of advocacy investments than programmatic investments.
Compact Signatories signed up and reporting on Participation specific actions
Number of Signatories signed up per investment area
Incentivize all peace process actors to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all their diversity, and the inclusion of gender-related provisions, in all ceasefire and peace agreements
While the contributions of women peacebuilders are documented to contribute to more sustainable peace, parties to peace agreements often need further incentives to include women at the table. Under the financing investment area, the Compact Framework prescribes actions for Member States to apply pressure on peace process actors. It also tasks the private sector and academic institutions with funding research and partnerships to support women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace processes. These incentives serve as catalysts for change by encouraging organizations, governments and institutions to actively promote gender diversity and equal representation at negotiation tables.
Apply incentives and pressure on all peace process actors to ensure women’s participation
Signatories from the private sector and academic institutions did not submit reporting under this investment area. However, six Member State Signatories – Australia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – provided reporting.
Germany and UN Women have jointly implemented a project which increases the participation of women in peace processes across the Middle East. Phase II of the project closed in 2022, with Phase III (a 3-year extension) launched in November 2022. So far, the project has supported dialogues between track 2 women actors and decision makers in Iraq and Libya. Additionally, in 2022, following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the project facilitated engagement between Afghan peacebuilders, as well as supported hundreds of Afghan women to participate in consultations with decision makers.
Several donors, including Germany and others, fund the work of the DPPA on inclusive conflict prevention and peacebuilding. In both 2021 and 2022, the UAE provided $400,000 to DPPA to assist Member States in preventing conflict and sustaining peace. The main objective of this contribution was to support DPPA in enhancing the implementation of the WPS agenda and increasing women’s meaningful participation and leadership. It was also agreed that gender, age and disability would be mainstreamed in all aspects of projects funded by the UAE’s contribution.
In 2022, Sweden co-facilitated negotiations on the United Nations General Assembly’s first resolution (76/305) on financing for peacebuilding. The resolution, which was adopted by consensus, recognized that financing for peacebuilding remains a “critical challenge” and affirmed the General Assembly’s “commitment to consider all options for adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding, including through voluntary, innovative and assessed funding”.[46]
Employ all available tools to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all their diversity, and the inclusion of gender-related provisions, in all ceasefire and peace agreements.
Advocating with conflict parties to ensure delegations include women and prioritize their rights. While Signatories noted the overall inclusion of gender mainstreaming in their own peace promotion work, and generally encouraged peace process actors across the international community to prioritize women’s rights, there was limited reporting on specific actions taken in 2022 to advocate with conflict parties to ensure delegations included women. Norway consistently advocated for gender balance in delegations in formal processes where they had a role or provided indirect support through a partner organization they funded. Norway, however, does not set target figures for the UN or other countries. The Office of the AU Special Envoy engaged in advocacy with AU Member States and Regional Economic Commissions on the importance of women’s participation and protection in conflict prevention and peace processes through various high-level meetings and missions. In June 2022, the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), the AU, and the United Nations supported members of the Malian AWLN National Chapter’s engagement in regional mediation efforts during the political transition, including facilitating meetings between the AWLN and the Heads of State of Ghana and Senegal that influenced subsequent decisions taken by the Economic Community of West African States. According to reporting submitted by the DPO, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) facilitated the participation of at least 2,102 women in various local peace initiatives during 2022. Four women are now part of the 18-member Aweil Jon Border Peace Committee working to mitigate conflict along the border of Sudan and South Sudan. Investing in networks of women mediators To contribute to a pipeline for women’s participation in peace processes, many Signatories are establishing and supporting regional networks of women mediators. For example, Australia supports the Southeast Asia Women Peace Mediators and the Pacific Women Mediators Network, while the United Kingdom supports Women Mediators across the Commonwealth and the Global Alliance of Regional Women Mediator Networks. Mexico led the launch of the Ibero-American Network of Women Mediators, along with Compact Signatories Spain, Peru and Uruguay. Additionally, the EU, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway have provided support for the Women’s Advisory Board, which provides critical policy advice on Syria’s peace process.[47] In 2022, Switzerland partnered with UN Women to support the establishment of the national Women Peacebuilders’ Network in Lebanon, a commitment in Lebanon’s NAP. The network will be officially launched during WPS Week in 2023. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has established a local women’s mediation network.[48] Together with fellow Signatory UN Women, UNIFIL has trained 22 women in Nabatiyeh Governorate on negotiation and mediation skills.[49] These actions by Member States and United Nations entities are also complemented by civil society Signatories such as ACCORD, which supports FemWise-Africa and other mediation networks, and Shifting the Power Coalition, which supports the Pacific Women Mediators Network. Through direct multi-year support to GPPAC, local women-led organizations secured funding for the Pacific Women Mediators Network. Furthermore, in South Sudan the Women’s International Peace Centre has established networks of women peace mediators in Wau County and Juba and supported the establishment of a FemWise-Africa chapter. While the examples above are not exhaustive, support from Compact Signatories to regional and local networks underscores significant endeavors to endorse and propel the meaningful participation of women at various stages in peace processes – from analysing conflicts to preventive diplomacy, peace negotiation, post-conflict peacebuilding and reconciliation. Nevertheless, recent UN Women-led dialogues with representatives of mediation networks reveal ongoing challenges, such as a lack of institutionalization of these mediation networks within regional organizations who can deploy relevant members, as well as the need for sufficient funding to maintain operational capacity.[50] Consequently, the establishment of these regional networks alone is not enough. Broader engagement with local women’s civil society and feminist movements remains critical. Member States who support peace processes must also ensure women’s participation by proactively allocating funds, mandating their representation within their own delegations as well as advocating their participation within conflict party delegations, and continuing to dismantle barriers obstructing their engagement. This comprehensive approach is encapsulated within the Compact Framework; however, Member States will need to continue to sign up for and implement actions across all the investment areas. Improving women’s participation through representation in senior positions While it is crucial to support networks of women peacebuilders, women should participate in all aspects of peace processes, including in conflict party delegations as well as in senior leadership roles. The Compact, therefore, supports measures to include women in key leadership positions – including as special representatives and special envoys. In 2022, Norway reported successfully maintaining gender balance in the appointment of special envoys to conflicts. France also supports women candidates for management positions in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Common Defence and Security Policy (CSDP) missions.[51] The Compact’s UN Signatories have worked to ensure women are included in senior leadership roles. As of December 2022, women represented 46 per cent of Heads or Deputy Heads of DPPA-led Special Political Missions – a substantial increase from 14 per cent in 2015 and exceeding the UN-wide target of 41 per cent. Two women served as UN lead mediators in a UN-led or co-led peace process during 2022 (Libya and the GID process), and women constituted 43 per cent of UN mediation support teams, the same as in 2021. In DPO field missions, women’s representation at the level of Head (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) and at Deputy level (Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General) increased from 22 per cent in Jan 2022 to 33 per cent by the end of the same year. Advocating the adoption of special measures to increase women’s participation in peace processes, and in implementation and monitoring mechanisms. Nine CSOs signed up for this action, all of which reported that the action was implemented as planned and the intended progress achieved. Through Peace Centres, the Women’s International Peace Centre (WIPC) supported women’s organizations in South Sudan to participate in formal and informal peace processes both in-country and at the regional level. Fifteen women leaders and CSOs participated in drafting an info brief on the inclusion of women in peace processes and presented it during an engagement meeting with the AU Peace and Security Council. Sisma Mujer, a Colombian feminist organization, oversees the Technical Secretariat of the Gender in Peace Group (GPaz). GPaz follows up on gender measures included in the Final Peace Agreement signed by the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) in 2016. On behalf of GPaz, Sisma Mujer was invited to work with the National Commission of Security Guarantees, which is charged under the peace agreement with developing a public policy for dismantling criminal organizations and their support networks. Engaging men and boys as allies While the overarching WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action focuses on the rights of women and girls, the Compact Framework also recognizes that progress cannot be fully realized without buy-in from men and boys, as well as a shift in gendered and unequal power relations that underpin patriarchal systems. According to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security: “If engaging women is necessary for building sustainable peace, then meaningfully contending with the role of men and masculinities in peace, conflict, and gender inequality is also a necessary precondition for achieving sustainable peace.”[52] Twenty-three Signatories from the Compact’s civil society constituency signed up to engage men and boys as allies. Although seven marked limited progress and one noted the lack of interest from men in gender issues, 12 Signatories hosted workshops and awareness-raising activities to sensitize men and boys to the impacts of gender inequality and women’s political participation. For example, Réseau Paix et Sécurité Pour les Femmes de l’Espace CEDEAO (REPSFECO) partnered with Compact Signatory Canada in developing a positive masculinity strategy to provide men and boys with a better understanding of how they can support women’s rights. The partners have also introduced their positive masculinity strategy to 780 young people from 35 schools in Senegal and Benin. In Liberia, United Funding and Development for Underage Mothers (UFDUM) hosted two interactive forums on SGBV prevention, as well as protection mechanisms for women and girls. The forums welcomed 1200 participants, including 450 men and boys. Improved public awareness has led community members to actively monitor their communities to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls.Develop and adopt commitments to ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all their diversity, and the inclusion of gender-related provisions, in all ceasefire and peace agreements.
Support for gender-balanced delegations and gender-related provisions in ceasefire and peace agreements Out of 26 Member State Signatories, five signed up to ensure gender-balanced delegations in peace processes and conferences. Information was not reported regarding the extent of women’s involvement in formal negotiations (also known as Track 1 negotiations) within peace processes that Signatories have either led or supported.[53] Additionally, while Signatories reported that they strive to take gender balance into account, most Signatories did not report on whether they had quotas or other targets to ensure gender parity. Norway noted, however, that their delegations are expected to consist of at least 40 per cent women and 40 per cent men. In 2022, Norway achieved 40 per cent women’s participation in the Oslo Forum, which is a prominent event for international mediation and peacemaking. In line with the Secretary-General’s five goals on WPS for 2020–2030, DPPA reported taking concrete action to support women’s participation in UN-led processes by pushing for a significant increase in their meaningful participation in peace processes. Between the two agreements or truces reached in 2022, only the political agreement in Sudan includes specific provisions on women and gender issues. The Framework Agreement signed in December 2022 between the Sudanese military leadership and over 40 political parties, Signatory armed movements of the Juba Peace Agreement, trade unions and professional associations included specific provisions on women and gender issues. The Agreement, signed by six out of 39 women (15 per cent), affirmed women’s rights according to international charters and committed to a minimum of 40 per cent representation of women in the legislative, executive and sovereign bodies at the national level. In Yemen, despite United Nations efforts, women were excluded from both conflict party delegations and no gender-focused provisions were included in the Yemen truce renewal. Additionally, while three civil society signatories noted promoting the inclusion of gender-related provisions in humanitarian assistance, with a focus on Afghanistan, no signatories reported implementing this action regarding ceasefire and peace agreements. Prioritizing the WPS agenda in the UN Security Council Despite the UN Security Council’s adoption of 10 resolutions concerning WPS, efforts have been inconsistent regarding commitments to women’s participation in peace processes.[54] This reality reveals a disconnect between the commitments and declarations of numerous nations that have pledged to uphold women’s rights in times of conflict and crisis and the actual progress achieved.[55] In considering these circumstances, the Compact includes actions for Member States such as advocating for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace processes, implementation mechanisms and political transitions across all relevant forums, including the UN Security Council. Notably, since the inception of the Compact in 2021, 10 Member State Signatories have served as either rotating or permanent members of the Council.[56] Several Signatories have also co-chaired the Informal Expert Group on Women, Peace and Security. Mexico coordinated the Group’s first field visit which took place in Lebanon in June 2022. In 2021, Compact Signatories Ireland and Mexico, alongside Kenya, jointly affirmed commitments to prioritizing the WPS agenda during their respective Council presidencies. This marked the first time that commitments to the WPS agenda were coordinated across multiple Council presidencies. This development prompted 13 more countries in 2022 and 2023 – Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Japan, Malta, Niger, Norway, Switzerland, the UAE, the United Kingdom and the United States – to likewise pledge to prioritize the WPS agenda during their forthcoming presidencies by joining the Statement of Shared Commitments on Women, Peace and Security.[57] The commitments include but are not limited to: supporting the safe participation of civil society briefers in Security Council meetings including consulting with them to assess and mitigate risk; making WPS-related issues an explicit focus of at least one mandated geographic meeting of the Council or specifically hosting a WPS signature event during each Presidency; ensuring the Council uses strong WPS language; upholding the provisions of all previous Council Resolutions on WPS; and calling for the United Nations to lead by example by ensuring the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in peace processes it leads or co-leads. During its presidency in January 2022, Norway organized an open debate to mark the first formal discussion within the Security Council regarding reprisals against women human rights defenders. The UAE also hosted an open debate in March 2022 on women’s economic inclusion and participation as a key to building peace.Develop and employ plans to increase the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all their diversity, and the inclusion of gender-related provisions, in all ceasefire and peace agreements.
Providing gender-responsive conflict analysis
The United Nations Secretary-General directed the United Nations System to ensure that all briefings to the Security Council, as well as all country-specific and regional UN strategies, consistently integrate gender-responsive conflict analysis and engagement with diverse women’s CSOs.[58] A gender-responsive conflict analysis explores – with a gender lens – systems of power, institutions and stakeholders, and root causes, triggers and drivers of conflict and peace. This type of analysis recognizes that gender power relations and the enforcement of patriarchal power over women, men and children, and sexual and gender minorities is political.[59]
In 2022, all 35 DPPA special political mission reports to the Security Council contained gender and/or WPS content, and 31 also included sex-disaggregated data. Of the 35 reports, 32 (91 per cent) also included WPS language in recommendations or observations, an increase from 75.5 per cent in 2021 and 63 per cent in 2017.
Among the 12 peacekeeping missions in 2022, eight have explicit gender and WPS mandates. In 2022, these missions continued to systematically monitor progress, trends and challenges in the implementation of mandated tasks through core and elective indicators.[60] These have been integrated into the priority areas of the Action for Peacekeeping Plus framework (A4P+), which measures impact and enhances the overall effectiveness of United Nations peacekeeping. As of 31 October 2022, 11 out of the 12 United Nations peacekeeping missions had gender and women, and peace and security considerations integrated into mission planning and accountability frameworks including the Comprehensive Planning and Performance Assessment System (CPAS), concepts of operation, result-based budgets (RBB), mission strategies and transition plans.[61]
Providing technical and financial capacity to women peacebuilders
To support women civil society actors who work to influence the outcome of formal peace processes and are key stakeholders in advancing local gender-responsive priorities for peace, the Compact Framework outlines actions for the provision of technical and financial capacity to meaningfully contribute to peace processes.[62] Eleven CSOs reported on this action.
For example, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) provided specialized training for 48 women mediators and civil society members in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova to strengthen their networks. In Cauca, Colombia, GNWP organized meetings with local authorities, women peacebuilders, UN representatives, and the Territorial Peace Council to discuss the implementation of the peace agreement, including gender provisions, with the FARC-EP.
Jago Nari Unnayon Sangsta (JNUS) provided training on gender-responsive conflict resolution and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to 160 Rohingya women and girls. The training also welcomed women and girls with disabilities. Later, JNUS supported these women to act as local mediators and organize intra-community dialogues to address opportunities for women’s leadership in the refugee camps and adjacent areas.
Additionally, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported taking concrete steps to ensure women peacebuilders can shape peace processes from the outset. The OSCE Women’s Peace Leadership Programme brings together internationally renowned mediators, negotiators and grassroots activists for an intensive mentoring programme. Furthermore, the organization’s WIN project brought together 20 women activists and human rights defenders from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine to exchange best practices for effectively addressing CRSV.
Inclusion of marginalized and underrepresented groups
The pursuit of sustainable peace has historically been marred by the exclusion of marginalized groups, thereby contributing to a cycle of inequality and systemic injustices. Women with disabilities, members of the LGBTQI+ community and refugees have been deprived of their rights, differentiated needs and representation in peace processes.
As part of the Compact, however, civil society Signatories have made strides in ensuring the inclusion of marginalized and underrepresented groups of women and youth in their initiatives, thereby fostering a more diverse and equitable landscape for social progress. Fifteen Signatories reported on building feminist movements that include traditionally marginalized women.
For example, GNWP convened refugee women and youth at the Bangladeshi-Southeast Asia Peace Exchange and the Thailand-Myanmar Peace Dialogue, providing them with a platform to present their priorities and recommendations to policymakers and international CSOs.
In Colombia, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) facilitated national exchanges involving LGBTQI+ individuals and indigenous women, elevating the representation of these often-marginalized communities in discussions concerning their own futures.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) provided training for young women with disabilities, as well as designed the first She Leads training programme – Lead with Pride – specifically for LGBTQI+ young women (to be launched in 2023 in Cambodia). In Lebanon, IFES worked with organizations for LGBTQI+ and disabled persons to facilitate access to essential services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exploring obstacles to peace and gender equality through collaborative research with the Global South
The Managing Exits from Armed Conflict (MEAC) initiative of United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) examines how and why individuals exit armed conflict and which interventions are effective at encouraging transitions away from the battlefield. Regular data collection, almost all of which is conducted by or in collaboration with researchers from the Global South, took place in 2022 in Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Iraq, Niger and Nigeria. Additionally, MEAC’s 2022 report, The Evolution of Inclusion: Three Decades of Policies and Programmes to Manage Exits from Armed Groups in Colombia, focused on how different processes of managing exits, disarmament and reintegration in Colombia have affected women’s ability to participate in peace processes.
Stories of Impact
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Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace
Centre for Inclusive Governance, Peace and Justice (CIGPJ)
Karama
RECOMMENDATIONS
Women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and inclusion of gender-related provisions in peace processes
- Signatories should strengthen transformative multilateral partnerships and engage all peace process actors – formal and informal – to ensure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation, and protect women’s rights.
- Member States who support peace processes must commit to upholding women’s leadership and participation, as well as allocating sufficient funds to address women’s inclusion. Furthermore, Member States must encourage conflict parties to include women leaders with the right skills in their delegations and provide support for this inclusion.
- Regional organizations and Member States should support the institutionalization of women mediator networks to offer regional, contextual support. They should also harness the skills and support the deployment of women mediators to prevent and respond to conflicts.
- Signatories should support efforts that connect peace actors engaged in informal peace processes to those that are part of formal peace processes, to ensure that local women and other leaders in local communities affected by conflicts and crises can contribute meaningfully to peace negotiations and sustainable peace outcomes.
- Signatories that support mediation could set ambitious and measurable targets for women’s direct participation in delegations and negotiating teams in line with international norms and standards; nominate and appoint women as lead mediators and mediation experts and set gender balance and the inclusion of gender expertise as a norm for their own mediation teams; earmark a minimum 15 per cent of funds on mediation support to women’s participation; track and report publicly and in real time on the number and percentage of women directly participating in these peace processes; and ensure that gender equality and women’s human rights are a central part of peace agreements.[63]
Thematic Area
Economic Security
Women’s economic security, access to resources and other essential services
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Too often the economic needs and essential contributions of conflict and crisis affected women and girls are absent from peace processes, prioritized peacebuilding, and immediate and long-term response and recovery plans. This directly impacts the ability of affected communities to fully recover from crisis and conflict shocks, hindering sustained peace, recovery and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Women and girls affected by conflict, crisis and displacement have attained increased economic security, autonomy and empowerment through improved access and control of the resources, skill sets, education and employment opportunities they need, breaking discriminatory social and legal normative barriers to women’s economic empowerment and autonomy, as well as meaningful input into economic planning and recovery, across the conflict and crisis spectrum.
Despite significant strides in gender equality, women still face major economic inequalities, such as limited investments in their health and education, restricted access to paid employment, and unequal compensation for equivalent work done by men. By the end of 2023, nearly 396 million women and girls, constituting nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population who are women, are projected to live on less than $2.15 a day.[64] The adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated these disparities, with women disproportionately affected by job losses and reduced incomes.[65]
The 2022 Global Gender Gap Report highlights that due to large-scale conflict and displacement, crises like the ongoing pandemic, and the rising cost of living, any progress made on gender parity is stalling.[66] Notably, seven out of 10 countries with the lowest rates of gender parity are also affected by fragility.[67] According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), societies with more gender equality tend to be more resistant to violence and conflict.[68] Therefore, the equal participation of women in socioeconomic life is essential to prevent conflict and help transition out of fragility.
While women are the backbone of their communities and the economy during crisis and conflict, they are often excluded from larger scale decision-making when it comes to economic recovery and budget distribution. Pre-conflict inequalities lead to even more complications in the aftermath of conflict, as women struggle for access to resources, financing and services, often losing property rights and market access. Few NAPs on WPS have substantive actions addressing economic security. Compounding the problem, economic recovery programmes often allocate the lowest amount of funding for women’s economic priorities.
Sustainable peace and transformative economic recovery require the participation of women in decision-making as an essential condition for communities to become resilient to crisis and to prevent future resurgences of conflict. Additionally, short-term interventions for peace must, and can, be better connected to inclusive social protection and long-term economic development objectives. To that end, the Compact Framework highlights the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus approach – one of the Compact’s key principles of transformation – to ensure strong cooperation, collaboration and coordination across humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts at the national level.
The Compact Framework includes actions that support the establishment of legal frameworks to safeguard women’s economic rights, rights and access to land and property ownership. The Framework also highlights the need for gender-responsive budgeting and financing of NAPs, including by enhancing access to finance and investment in women-owned and women-led social enterprises and businesses to strengthen post-conflict economic recovery and economic revitalization.
Signatory Overview
Across all regions, Compact signatories reported on 153 specific actions in this pillar. Interesting to note that a high number of reporting signatories did not always correspond with a high number of actions reported against. For instance, West and Central Africa had the most signatories (16) reporting on 34 specific actions; however, Arab States and North Africa had eight signatories reporting on 38 specific actions. On average across all regions, there were fifty per cent less signatories, or more reporting on Economic Security as compared to all other thematic areas. In both Arab States and North Africa and East and Southern Africa, Member States did not provide reporting on policy investments.
Compact Signatories signed up and reporting on economic security specific actions
Number of Signatories signed up per investment area
Expand inclusive social protection in collaboration with the United Nations system and multilateral development banks.
Providing social protection systems for women and girls
Despite a wave of social protection responses[69] following the COVID-19 outbreak, the World Bank and the International Labour Organization note that over half of the world’s population still has little to no access to social protection, dramatically increasing the vulnerability of individuals and families.[70] Well-designed social protection systems can narrow gender gaps in poverty rates, enhance women’s income security and access to personal income, and provide a lifeline for disadvantaged women.[71]
The Compact Framework includes a series of actions for Member States and United Nations entities to expand social protection systems and to reach those at risk of exclusion including crisis- and displacement-affected women.
Two Signatories were able to report on these actions. In 2022, Spain transferred €5.1 million in funds in the form of cash, and €3.01 million in the form of coupons, nearly doubling its 2021 contributions. The country has also set a goal to allocate 18 per cent of humanitarian ODA to transfers in cash and vouchers, which will target vulnerable populations. In Mali, Spain has worked with an NGO to provide monetary transfers to survivors of GBV for creating or developing small economic initiatives, and for the strengthening and generation of new income-generating activities for associations of women farmers.
In Palestine, UN Women and partners implemented cash-for-work and unconditional cash assistance. Three hundred women were supported through temporary job placements for three-month periods and 432 women were provided with unconditional cash transfers. This helped vulnerable women improve their economic situations and increased their access to income generating opportunities. UN Women Palestine, through the Gender-Sensitive Resilience Capacity Index (GS-RCI), found that women (39 per cent in Gaza and 28.1 per cent in the West Bank) who engaged in interventions involving cash and voucher assistance (CVA) demonstrated a significant improvement in their economic situation.
Apply gender markers to relevant instruments, including multi-partner trust funds for reconstruction and recovery.
Post-conflict economic recovery processes are led by governments, international financial institutions (IFIs), and international banks. Gender markers are important to ensure the specific economic needs and potential of women and girls are identified and addressed. Several Member States reported success in this area.
For example, the Australian Government has reinstated the gender equality performance target that 80 per cent of development investments need to effectively address gender equality in implementation and introduced a mandatory requirement that Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade ODA investments over $3 million have a gender equality objective.
During 2022, Finland developed a roadmap to reach the country’s goal that 85 per cent of all development cooperation activities (new funding decisions) should advance gender equality (OECD DAC Gender Marker levels 1 and 2). The Guideline on the Cross-Cutting Objectives, the 85 per cent target, and the roadmap indicate increased prioritization of gender equality across all development cooperation activities funded by Finland.
The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation’s Humanitarian Action Strategy (2019–2026) includes the objective to consolidate the use of gender, age and diversity markers in all financed humanitarian interventions.
Promote women-owned and women-led social enterprises, businesses and business associations.
While many civil society Signatories provided reporting, progress was at times mixed with some Signatories reporting limited progress in this area. No reporting was received from the private sector.
Positively, seven Signatories reported meeting progress on sharing knowledge and evidence with diverse stakeholders regarding effective strategies for women’s economic security.
Additionally, four out of 12 Signatories reported meeting progress on raising awareness of systemic data gaps and the linkages between women’s economic empowerment and women’s participation in peace processes.
For example, IRC and the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security jointly published A New Lens on Forced Displacement in December 2021 and shared the findings with key stakeholders during 2022. The report highlighted the key systemic gaps for displaced women in terms of justice, inclusion and safety with a specific focus on enhancing economic inclusion.
Other Signatories noted barriers to meeting progress when documenting good practice examples of women-owned and women-led social enterprises and businesses taking part in post-conflict economic recovery. These limitations included ongoing conflict which prevented implementation in this area, as well as a lack of collaboration with, or not being able to reach, appropriate stakeholders.
Include women and women’s organizations in decision-making on women’s economic security, access to resources and decision-making related to peacebuilding, post-conflict and crisis response planning and economic recovery and address discriminative legislative and institutional rules and practices hindering women’s economic empowerment.
The policy investment area includes critical actions to ensure women’s economic empowerment, such as including women and women’s organizations in decision-making on economic security and addressing discriminatory legislation and practices that hinder women’s economic empowerment.
Two Signatories – Australia and Luxembourg – signed up for actions and reported under this investment area.
Australia noted that it includes women in decision-making on economic empowerment through National Women’s Alliances, coordinated by the Office for Women, and supports women’s funds in the Indo-Pacific region.
Luxembourg noted the country’s actions tackling discriminatory legislation and practices that hinder economic empowerment, such as through contributions to the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) European Representation Office to advance women’s empowerment and gender-inclusive finance (GIF). In the past three-year period, 47 policies and regulations prioritizing GIF have been implemented by 28 countries globally. AFI’s Financial Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean Project, launched in December 2022 with the support of Luxembourg, has incorporated GIF as a cross-cutting policy priority supporting the development in 2023 of a Policy Roadmap for women’s financial inclusion in the region.
Additionally, while Sierra Leone did not sign up for this action, the country noted in reporting on other Compact actions that the 2022 GEWE Act improves women’s access to finance, employment opportunities and equal pay, extends maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks, and establishes gender units within ministries, departments and agencies.
Ensure that gender equality and women’s economic empowerment is a priority in national, regional, and global peace and development strategies.
Providing women with training and support networks
CSO signatories reported great success in providing conflict- and crisis-affected women with training and support networks to underpin their economic empowerment.
In 2022, BSM Global Association provided digital literacy training and unique capacity-building efforts for conflict-affected women through the BSM Academy.
The Echoes of Women in Africa Initiative trained 50 women, who had lost their farms in the farmers-herders conflict, on business management and savings cooperatives.
Between October 2021 and September 2022, the IRC reached about 940,000 women with different types of economic empowerment programmes targeting women affected by crisis or displacement across a range of emergency and recovery contexts.
In 2022, Sisma Mujer trained women domestic workers from the Sindicato de Trabajadoras del Hogar e Independientes (SINTRAHIN) in Bogotá on women’s leadership, national and international standards regarding their rights, and advocacy for public policy proposals on labour reforms and the National Care System.
United Nations engagement with IFIs to prioritize women’s participation in peacebuilding, response and recovery
DPPA’s Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) supports the Peacebuilding Commission, a convening platform for country, regional and thematic-focused discussions with governments, the United Nations system, the World Bank and other IFIs and civil society, including women and youth peacebuilders. For example, in 2022 the Commission strengthened its engagement with South Sudan, drawing attention to its peacebuilding challenges through a dedicated visit and country-focused discussions with the Government of South Sudan, the UN Mission, the World Bank and civil society. Through the PBF, PBSO supports local peacebuilding initiatives and organizations across the HDP nexus – particularly those led by women and youth – to strengthen inclusion and resilience and to enable their work beyond international assistance or the presence of a United Nations Mission. Under the leadership of Resident Coordinators, PBSO approved 109 new projects in 37 countries in 2022. The PBF promotes collaboration among UN agencies as well as with national actors through requiring the projects to be jointly planned and implemented.
Exploring the intersectional gender dimensions of security risks and extractive industries
From November 2021 to April 2022, the Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) initiative at the UNU-CPR conducted an independent expert review of the Survivor Inclusion Initiative (SII), a financial access project also supported by the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. SII brings together financial institutions and survivor support organizations to work towards facilitating survivor access to basic banking services, such as checking and savings accounts. This close collaboration enables safe and reliable engagement with survivors and has resulted in changed banking practices that now include trauma-informed practices and simplified or alternative customer due diligence.
Additionally, the FAST initiative, along with the United Nations Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, conducted research into the financial sector’s role in addressing and reducing modern slavery for workers in artisanal gold and cocoa value chains in Ghana. FAST convened an international roundtable on the financial needs of modern slavery survivor entrepreneurs, bringing together survivors, survivor support organizations and financial institutions. All survivors in the meeting identified as women or non-binary.
Story of Impact
ANOMENA VENTURES
Dr. Sabina Anokye Mensah, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ANOMENA Venture, a Ghanian-based social enterprise focused on energy initiatives, describes how their work has contributed to improved security of female street food vendors through cookstoves.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into ANOMENA Venture’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action.
“Making money is expensive for women, even dangerous. In Ghana, women cook and sell food on the street. In rural areas, they have to go find firewood. Some get hurt. Others get bit by reptiles hidden in the bush. If they live in the city, they have to buy firewood. They spend more money than they can afford on firewood.
“To help them, we build cookstoves for these women to use. They pay back the cost for the stove – usually within the first year – because it makes them more proud and confident to know they worked hard for their cookstoves.
“My favorite vendor is Madam Faustina. I am so proud of her. She used to wake at 3 am every day. She would go outside of her house in the dark and start cooking all the food she would sell that day. It was so risky for her to be outside at that time. Nothing bad ever happened, but there was the possibility. Her husband would come outside to protect her. She bought the firewood from carpenters – the leftover shavings they have from doing roofing work – and kept it in her house. It was too smoky to cook inside. She would cook from 3 to 7 am, from when she would start selling.
“Faustina did not want to use the cookstove at first because she did not know anything about gas stoves. But after I showed her, she loved it so much. She started waking at 5 am to cook inside. By firewood, she cooked only one pot. Now she makes with two pots, sometimes more. And she makes more money than before. When she paid back the stove, she was so happy because she was forever free from having to find firewood.
“Now, she is saving to build a house. She spends more time with her family. She wants to expand her business—to sell in other sites, get other women to help her sell so more have jobs.
“Faustina is helping other women just like herself. And we are helping other women just like Faustina. We want to move more women from one level to the next. That is why we signed the Compact. To put more money into the pockets of women.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Women’s economic security, access to resources and other essential services
- Member States should reduce military expenditure and support gender-responsive social protection programs for vulnerable groups and for displaced and host communities. They should also dedicate resources to reinforce a key objective of the WPS agenda to prevent conflicts rather than trying to make war safer for women.
- Signatories to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and the UN Global Compact and other private sector entities should also become Signatories of the WPS-HA Compact to support women’s economic security and help stabilize economies in fragile settings.
- Women’s economic empowerment and women’s economic rights must be intentionally integrated into peace agreements and WPS NAPs and all humanitarian response plans to address discriminatory legislation and to ensure women’s access to finance and other resources, including agricultural inputs.
- Signatories should particularly sign up for actions in this thematic area, which is the second least subscribed to and least reported on pillar of the Compact, to ensure that the economic needs of women and girls are addressed, and to enable local and affected communities to fully recover from crisis and conflict shocks and benefit from post-conflict economic recovery and economic revitalization.
Thematic Area
Leadership
Women’s leadership and full, equal, and meaningful participation across peace, security and humanitarian sectors
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Harmful gender norms, lack of political will, shrinking civic space, reprisals against women peacebuilders and intersecting forms of discrimination create persistent barriers to the full, equal, and meaningful participation and leadership of women and girls – in all their diversity – in peace, security and humanitarian sectors and processes.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Women’s representation, participation and leadership in all public institutions and consultations, including in peacekeeping, security sectors, peace-building and humanitarian assessment, analysis, programming, planning, response and monitoring, is accelerated with parity as the end goal. Women’s leadership at all levels, including political, and other forms of participation is enhanced through the adoption of temporary special measures, the dismantling of harmful gender norms, the implementation of protection measures, dedicated funding, implementation, and monitoring of gender transformative national and regional action plans on WPS and HA, security sector reforms, and electoral processes.
Signatory Overview
Ninety-four out of 174 eligible Signatories have signed up for actions under this thematic area, which is the second most subscribed area of the Compact. Fifty out of 94 of these Signatories (53 per cent) reported. This includes 8 out of 11 (73 per cent) Member States, 4 out of 5 (80 per cent) UN entities, 33 out of 66 (50 per cent) civil society organizations, 3 out of 3 (100 per cent) regional organizations and 2 out of 7 (29 per cent) academic and research institutions. Private sector Signatories did not provide reporting.
In terms of the investment area, 62 Signatories signed up for advocacy actions, 49 signed up for programmatic actions, 27 for financial actions and 12 for policy actions.
Across all regions signatories are implementing 235 specific actions in this thematic pillar. Across all regions, Europe and Central Asia, reported the highest number of signatories with 26 signatories reporting on the implementation of 48 specific actions in this thematic area. This represents sixty-seven per cent of signatories reporting in the region. Both Arab States and North Africa and East and Southern Africa were the regions with the lowest number of Compact signatories reporting with less than fifty per cent of signatories implementing in the region reporting on this thematic area.
Compact Signatories signed up and reporting on Leadership specific actions
Number of Signatories signed up per investment area
Invest in and enhance coordination supporting women’s leadership at all levels in all decision-making structures on peace, security and humanitarian action.
While all Compact Member State signatories have adopted a WPS NAP, only Spain and Austria reported on the action under this pillar to adopt specific financial commitments for local and national action plans on WPS, national disaster risk reduction/resilience (DRR) strategies, and to support legislation that codifies these financial commitments. However, some Member States have reported progress on these areas in other parts of the Framework.
In 2022, Spain provided €484.544 for grants that strengthened the participation of women in peacebuilding in the Gao region of Mali, as well as €600.000 to train women affected by crises in El Salvador to develop lasting solutions. Finally, Spain also provided €600.000 in grants to strengthen women’s leadership and resilience to humanitarian crises in Haiti.
Increasing the influence and resource base of local women leaders
In 2022, Signatories invested in critical advocacy to promote visibility and access to resources for local women leaders. Seven civil society Signatories reported on this action. For example, in Ukraine GNWP collaborated with local women’s CSOs in Khersonska and Zaporhizhia oblasts to provide non-earmarked support for locally led humanitarian initiatives in response to the conflict.
As a part of the partnership with the WPHF on its Rapid Response Window for women’s participation in peace processes and the implementation of peace agreements, GPPAC supported national and local women-led CSOs with grant management and proposal development.
The Equality Fund supported the participation of women leaders at COP27, by co-organizing a workshop for Global South feminist activists and sponsoring the participation of an Indigenous woman leader.
Investing in research on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus
The seminal 2018 Pathways for Peace study on inclusive approaches to preventing violent conflict highlighted that actors working on poverty reduction, DRR, social service delivery and environmental management need to come together at different levels of government, to recognize and prioritize conflict risks and that such plans should identify collective outcomes across the HDP nexus.
Several of the research projects undertaken by UNU-CPR in 2022 applied a gender lens to interventions on the HDP nexus. First, the United Nations PBF’s Thematic Review on Climate Security and Peacebuilding included substantial questions related to the HDP nexus and security. The research projects also explored linkages between environmental degradation and GBV and the success of interventions that attempted to respond to them.
UNU-CPR’s work with the OECD Development Centre on mobilizing political will for development responses to forced displacement specifically examines the HDP nexus in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq, and Lebanon. Gender is a key theme underpinning the analysis of how to ensure forcibly displaced populations (both refugees and internally displaced persons) can benefit from development interventions.
The University of Stirling, through the work of one of its scholars, has contributed to new research for policymakers and practitioners on WPS in the context of the AU peace and security architecture, and on racial hierarchies of knowledge production on the WPS agenda.
Champion inclusive, sustainable approaches and equitable partnerships to increase the influence, visibility, and resource base of women leaders, in all their diversity.
Including the perspectives of women’s rights and women-led organizations in all peace and humanitarian statements, policy briefs and information-sharing
Five Member State Signatories reported on striving to ensure that perspectives from women’s rights and women-led organizations inform all peace, security and humanitarian statements, policy briefs, and information-sharing, and four Member States reported meeting progress on this action.
In 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland financed a report “The Voice of Women of Afghanistan. What Women of Afghanistan Think of The Collaboration between Finland and Afghanistan?” to understand the views of Afghan women about the partnership with Finland. A set of recommendations was given on how to work in a context sensitive manner to improve the status of women in Afghanistan.
Adopt plans, policies and targets to increase the number of women in leadership roles, and dismantle barriers to women’s leadership in politics, peacekeeping, security sector, peacebuilding and humanitarian/refugee planning and coordination entities.
Adopting targets to increase the number of women in leadership roles
In 2022, the Government of Sierra Leone enacted the GEWE Act which establishes a minimum 30 per cent quota for women’s participation in government for both appointed positions (including cabinet ministers, ambassadors/high commissioners, heads of commissions and agencies), and elected positions (including parliamentary and local council seats).
Finland has been active in pushing for women’s increased participation and role in crisis management and peacekeeping. The aim set by a parliamentary committee for crisis management is that half of those serving in civilian crisis management missions should be women. This goal was nearly met in 2022 when Finland sent 76 women on civilian crisis management missions representing 45 per cent of Finns serving in these missions.
Within military crisis management the number of women soldiers has varied between 5 and 7 per cent of the total. The number is relatively low due to the nature of Finnish military service, which is voluntary for women. To add more women to the security sector and as part of military crisis management, Finland promotes women’s increased participation in voluntary military service and military tasks. In 2022, 1,211 women started military service in Finland – the highest level so far. Over 1,000 women completed the service.
South Africa noted that participation of women in the country’s peacekeeping operations increased to 18 per cent in the 2022/2023 cycle, above the suggested 10 per cent suggested in their national policy.
During the reporting period, Mexico deployed eight uniformed women in four UN peace operations.
Luxembourg also supports efforts to increase the representation of women in multilateral organizations. For example, all positions for Junior Professional Officers (JPOs) in multilateral organizations had been filled by women staff members (five positions recruited in total). Moreover, among the seven Junior Technical Assistant positions within the country’s Development Agency (LuxDev), five positions were awarded to women.
Adopting NAPs, policies and legislation that include targets for women’s leadership
What are national action plans?National action plans (NAPs) for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325 are time-bound national policy documents that outline a government’s approach, in partnership with other stakeholders, to implementing the WPS agenda. A NAP outlines objectives, priority actions, activities, partnerships, monitoring and evaluation processes and financial resources that a country will use to secure the human rights of women and girls in conflict settings; prevent armed conflict and violence, including against women and girls; and ensure the meaningful participation of women in peace processes and in relief and recovery.[75]
Currently, 107 UN Member States (about 55 per cent) have adopted NAPs on WPS.[76] Additionally, there are thirteen regional and subregional organizations that have regional action plans or strategies in place. All Member State Compact Signatories have adopted and are implementing WPS NAPs. Several Compact Signatories from across stakeholders support NAP development and implementation.
Canada is currently developing its third WPS NAP. The country’s current NAP remains a core piece of its feminist foreign policy and feminist international assistance policy to increase women’s meaningful participation and advocate for gender provisions in peace processes.
In 2022, Finland started preparing its fourth NAP, published in March 2023. Additionally, the country supported work on NAPs in partner countries, such as Kenya.
Uruguay launched its first WPS NAP in July 2022. Many of the actions in the NAP are aimed at improving Uruguay’s participation in peacekeeping operations and promoting the WPS agenda in international forums as part of international peace and security strategies.
Norway has committed NOK 332 million to the implementation of its WPS NAP (2019–2023), where one of the main targets is making sure local women’s groups and activists have the capacity and opportunity to participate in peace and reconciliation processes.
In Cameroon, Pathways for Women’s Empowerment and Development (PaWED) provided expert inputs to the Ministry of External Relations (MINREX) on mainstreaming gender in the fight against the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in Cameroon while developing the country’s NAP.
Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) hosted a knowledge exchange workshop with other Compact Signatories including the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UK Ministry of Defence. The workshop brought together government officials, civil society representatives and academics from Canada, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Tunisia and the UK. The focus of the discussions was on including women’s meaningful participation in the development of NAPs, as well as on monitoring and evaluation.
Regional Implementation of WPS
In addition to support for WPS NAPs, Signatories also supported implementation of the WPS agenda through regional action plans and frameworks.
In December 2022, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched its first Regional Plan of Action on Women, Peace and Security. The regional plan of action covers the four pillars of the women, peace and security agenda and one dedicated pillar on implementation and coordination mechanism. It expands the appreciation of the role of women in peace building beyond conflict and humanitarian settings as it looks into preventing and countering violent extremism, building resilience to disasters and the impacts of climate change, and pursuing women economic empowerment as a preventive approach, among others. By leveraging a whole-of-ASEAN approach, the plan provides guidance for WPS implementation across the region by highlighting best practices of innovative local approaches to peace and security, often led by women, to support effective practices to deliver tangible progress to women, men, youth, children and those from marginalized groups in ASEAN Member States.
Through the Continental Results Framework, the Office of the AU Special Envoy on WPS monitors NAP commitments to include women in regionally led peace processes.
Design and implement strategies to support women leaders in all sectors and at all levels, and ensure protection strategies are implemented for women leaders, in all their diversity.
Promoting women’s leadership in peace and electoral processes
In Zimbabwe, Switzerland supported activities to promote women’s inclusion in the country’s inter-party dialogue. Activities included the elaboration of a women manifesto, political party gender action plans and their implementation as well as cross-party gender-focused peacebuilding actions. After Switzerland’s recommendation, in Nigeria, the National Peace Committee extended its membership to influential and respected women. The Committee is essential in facilitating mechanisms to prevent election related violence on national and regional levels.
In Myanmar, the UK focused on building the capacity of women leaders to engage in policy consultations, dialogue and peacebuilding, through support to the Joint Peace Fund, and elevating the role of women in the humanitarian response. As part of the UK’s broader humanitarian programme, partners have equipped women local responders with management and delivery skills to support their participation in humanitarian co-ordination and decision-making bodies.
France is funding an initiative of the Institut de la Francophonie pour le développement durable (IFDD) which strengthens the skills of French-speaking negotiators within international forums for deliberation. In 2022, the IFDD, with the support of Canada, the Principality of Monaco and France, built the capacities of more than 300 women negotiators from French-speaking developing countries in preparation for COP27. Additionally, forty of those negotiators had their conference participation fees funded.
In Sweden, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), in coordination with UN Women’s Strategic Partnership Framework III, has directly supported long-term and short-term advisers on WPS at regional and country levels, with direct funding to 22 long-term experts and 9 short-term experts.
UN Women, with the support of the Signatories Sweden, UNDP and DPPA, including through the Joint Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention, created an informal Women’s Advisory Board for Sustainable Peacebuilding established to advance women’s meaningful participation in conflict settlement and peace processes. The board includes 14 women civil society leaders, equally representing both banks of the Nistru river. In addition, UN Women supported the creation of three Women’s Discussion Platforms comprising 45 women from the Transnistrian region, which will bolster women’s leadership, community-based peacebuilding and human-security.
During 2022, through the Electoral Assistance Division of DPPA, around 139 participants (about 40 per cent women) from nearly 100 Member States benefited from trainings, workshops and roundtable discussions. The Electoral Assistance Division also continued to support the Arab Network for Women in Elections.
Developing equitable partnerships
The Compact Framework requests signatories champion inclusive, sustainable approaches and equitable partnerships to increase the influence, visibility and resource base of women leaders in all their diversity.
In 2022, WO=MEN, a civil society signatory, co-coordinated the Netherlands’ fifth WPS NAP and improved the reporting process. This resulted in the publication of the first NAP progress report for the Dutch Parliament and a public database with insights into the commitment and progress of the implementation by both the Dutch government and civil society. These developments are important to increase accountability and transparency. Additionally, WO=MEN has promoted the inclusion of local women’s organizations in decision-making processes and international humanitarian cooperation.
In 2022, the Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) expanded its membership to 84 members, of which 82.5 per cent are local and national women’s rights organizations working in humanitarian contexts in the Global South. Around 20 per cent of FHN’s members are international NGOs, as well as individual members. This growth has added critical diversity including members from LGBTQI+ communities, young women’s organizations, and organizations representing women with disabilities.
Story of Impact
Sisma Mujer
Linda María Cabrera Cifuentes, Director of Sisma Mujer a Colombian feminist organization, recounts working with female victims of violence and discrimination in the private, public and armed conflict spheres to promote their role in peacebuilding.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into Sisma Mujer’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action.
“Yirley is part of the Sisma Mujer network. She was a victim of sexual violence as a child during the armed conflict in Colombia. When she first came to us at Sisma Mujer, she did not want to talk about what had happened to her. We worked to give her counseling provided by a lawyer on the rights of women victims of violence and a psychologist who provided emotional support and guidance on the impacts of her experience. Because of this, she denounced sexual violence and presented her case to the authorities. She began to get involved in organizational processes. Yirley became a leader and defender of human rights. She realized that she was not the only one. Alongside Sisma, she identified 7 more victims of sexual violence from the massacre. This gave her the basis to start organizing herself. She started a seed organization that is called Mujeres Sembrando Vida de Bolivar (Women Seeding Life of Bolivar).
“Because she was sharing the history of her abuse from security forces, Yirley faces many risks and persecutions. Yet, she participated in the construction of the feminist peacebuilding manifesto with peasant women in the villages that we presented to the current government. In a training process with women’s groups led by Yirley in Bolíviar, we worked with the WPS resolutions, and explained what the United Nations and Security Council are. She facilitates the women to formulate proposals for the action plan and to take ownership of the WPS agenda.
“Yirley’s work with us highlights a pretty important diversity of contexts. In rural areas, women who experience structural violence also face armed conflict directly. This is not the reality for women in the city. This makes rural women, specifically rural mestizo peasant women, largely invisible in the agenda. Thanks to a project with the European Union, Sisma Mujer can financially support the payment of rent of Yirley’s headquarters and have stability in infrastructure during the life of the project, including workshops, food and transportation, so they can advance their agenda.
“Yirley’s agenda is same as the agenda of Sisma which is same as the agenda of the Compact—relevance and timeliness of the peacebuilding process. We want to move forward and be a model in the world—that is why we support this Compact.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Women’s leadership and full, equal, and meaningful participation across peace, security, and humanitarian sectors
- Signatories should support innovative programming to invest in women’s participation and leadership in local conflict resolution, including local ceasefires, political transitions, humanitarian planning and implementation, early warning, prisoner exchanges, and natural resource management in conflict-affected settings.[77]
- Signatories should urgently act to break down silos within and across political, social, and economic work to strengthen initiatives that address patriarchal norms and gender biases at all levels of society in all regions.
- Signatories should ensure that WPS national action plans are well-designed for practical implementation, coordination, and resourcing. Furthermore, NAPs should position women’s leadership to address existing and new challenges to peace and security across thematic areas including climate security.
- Signatories should invest in social movements that engage women and men who are allies, and which champion the plight of women and girls in conflicts and crises, particularly those experiencing complete social exclusion that amounts to gender persecution, women with disabilities, women belonging to indigenous and minority groups, widows, migrant women, and those that identify as LGBTQI.
- UN entities, regional organizations, Member States and donors should strengthen linkages across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and support the work of women’s rights organizations and women peacebuilders acting as first responders and providing long-term support in their communities to address conflicts, humanitarian crises, climate disasters, crisis recovery and resilience.
Thematic Area
Protection
Protecting and promoting women’s human rights in conflict and crisis contexts
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Given existent structural gender inequalities, women and girls in conflict and crisis situations are at increased risk of human rights violations. This prevents them from fully benefiting from, meaningfully participating in, and leading efforts around peace and security, relief and recovery, and humanitarian action and assistance.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Women and girls in all their diversity in conflict and crisis-affected contexts experience significantly fewer violations of their human rights, and threats, attacks and reprisals against women and girls in these contexts are reduced and their consequences mitigated to the greatest possible extent. More survivors of these violations – including but not limited to GBV - have access to the full range of gender-responsive and comprehensive survivor-centered services and care, including sexual and reproductive health services, and to a holistic range of judicial redress. Women and girls are increasingly at the center of the design, implementation and evaluation of prevention and response efforts.
The protection challenges faced by women and girls in conflict and crisis scenarios are linked to the larger threats originating in the systemic discrimination and inequality prevalent in patriarchal societies – even during times of peace. These challenges not only persist but intensify as protective mechanisms weaken and security conditions deteriorate.
Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), which refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage, and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict, remains a scourge.[78] The 2022 UN Secretary-General’s report on CRSV noted that such violence continues to be used as a tactic of war, torture and terrorism amid deepening political and security crises, compounded by militarization and the illicit proliferation of arms.[79]
In July 2023, senior UN officials sounded the alarm that since fighting broke out in Sudan in April 2023, the UN Human Rights Office in Sudan had received credible reports of 21 incidents of CRSV against at least 57 women and girls.
The Secretary-General’s report also notes that in 2022, patterns of sexual violence continued to be used as part of the repertoire of political violence to intimidate and punish opponents, their family members, and women human rights defenders.[80] A UN Women survey revealed that nine out of thirty-two women civil society respondents who briefed the Security Council between January 2021 and May 2022 said that they were targeted with reprisals.[81]
In Afghanistan, the Taliban’s resurgence in 2021 has placed the rights of women and girls under a comprehensive, systematic, and unparalleled assault.[82] Taliban officials have issued more than 50 edicts, orders and restrictions to severely limit women’s freedom of movement outside the home, banned the education of women and girls beyond the sixth grade, and prevented them from working and seeking employment. This includes a ban on working for CSOs and the UN in humanitarian response, thus gravely impacting the provision of humanitarian services to women and girls.
Extremist groups in Mali, in the regions of Gao, Ménaka and Timbuktu, have forced women to wear a veil and demanded the separation of men and women in public transport and in public spaces.
The threat of GBV also intensifies in situations of displacement, separation from families and exposure to unsafe environments. As of June 14, 2023, the global population of forcibly displaced women and girls had reached an unprecedented high. There are approximately 35 million refugees worldwide, with over 50 per cent originating from Afghanistan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Ukraine.[83] Half are estimated to be women and girls.
In settings such as refugee camps and emergency contexts, women and girls confront heightened dangers, including sexual violence, exploitation and abuse from individuals who should be ensuring their safety.
In 2020, the UN Secretary-General declared the protection of women human rights defenders as one of five goals for 2020-2030 to turn the unconditional defence of women’s rights into one of the most visible markers of the work of the United Nations on peace and security.
The Compact includes specific actions which seek to mitigate the challenges, risks and obstacles faced by women and girls in humanitarian crises and conflict settings. The Compact Framework brings attention to the pivotal role of women human rights defenders and the urgent need for international cooperation to safeguard their rights. The Framework also highlights the need for documentation and actions to address digitally facilitated GBV and the role of women in armed groups, disarmament, early warning mechanisms and combatting violent extremism. In addition, the Framework underscores the critical need for Signatories to ensure that national and international investigations and accountability mechanisms have dedicated gender expertise, protection expertise, and child rights expertise to document, investigate, prosecute, and redress GBV in line with international standards and to integrate a gender analysis of violations.
Signatory Overview
Sixty-eight out of 174 eligible Signatories (39 per cent) have signed up for actions under this thematic pillar, tying it with the pillar on financing for the least subscribed area of the Compact. Thirty-nine out of the 68 includes 13 out of 16 Member States (81 per cent), six out of seven UN entities (86 per cent), 19 out of 41 civil society (46 per cent) and one out of four academic and research institutions (25 per cent). In terms of investment, 54 signed up for programmatic actions, 11 financial actions, 20 advocacy actions, and eight policy actions.
There are between 19-22 signatories across all regions that have reported on the implementation of 240 Protection specific actions. There were 22 signatories that reported on this pillar in Arab States and North Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and East and Southern Africa regions. Less than fifty per cent of signatories reporting in West and Central Africa and Europe and Central Asia reported on Protection specific actions. The most Protection actions were reported in Asia and the Pacific and East and Central Africa where signatories provided reporting on 44 specific actions in each region.
Compact Signatories signed up and reporting on Protection specific actions
Number of Signatories signed up per investment area
Provide funding for comprehensive, non-discriminatory services and protection, as well as for gender capacity in investigation and accountability mechanisms.
At least 158 countries have adopted laws on gender-based and domestic violence.[84] However, adequate financial commitments to end one of the world’s most widespread and devastating human rights violations have not followed. The lack of funding hampers the ability of organizations – and above all grassroots women’s organizations at the forefront of providing immediate, gender-responsive and long-term support to women and girls – to implement programmes that can transform lives and communities.
Multi-year, sustained financing commitments
As a result, the Compact’s Member State and UN Signatories have focused on multi-year, sustained financing commitments that are critical to ensuring the continuity and effectiveness of programmes aimed at addressing GBV and protections for women human rights defenders.
Seven[85] Member State signatories signed up for financing actions in this section. For example, Switzerland has committed to spend CHF 10–12 million per year on GBV prevention and response, while Ireland has committed to three-year funding of €5,600,000 through the Irish Aid/IRC partnership and a €1.2 million grant from the Civil Society Fund to Saferworld.
The UK has committed up to £5.15m over 3 years to the Global Survivors Fund, which funds projects to provide services supporting survivors of CRSV. The timeline for this funding is FY 22/23-24/25.
Additionally, Luxembourg has provided multi-year funding of €5 million from 2021 to 2024 to the Dr. Denis Mukwege’s Panzi hospital in the DRC. The hospital provides holistic support for the treatment of rape victims, including facilitating their access to justice and legal assistance and socioeconomic support for their reintegration into society. Furthermore, the country supported the UNFPA-UNICEF programme on the elimination of female genital mutilation and cutting in 17 African countries with €2.8 million from 2022 to 2025.
Providing emergency financial support for women human rights defenders and peacebuilders who face reprisals
While many Compact Signatories prioritize the prevention of GBV, including CRSV, few have signed up for financial actions to protect women human rights defenders.
No Member State signed up for the action to provide emergency support – such as physical accompaniment, political advocacy, financial grants, and security arrangements – to women leaders under threat.
As part of the UN System, the WPHF provided funding for 83 women human rights defenders and their dependents across 17 countries from June 2022 to December 2022. In addition, WPHF mobilized funding for local women’s rights organizations working on the protection of women and girls, including gender-responsive sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) services, referrals and access to legal and psychosocial services.
Seek and advocate approval of funding for senior gender advisers and senior women protection advisers in all relevant UN missions
The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (O-SRSG-SVC) continued to advocate for approval of funding for senior gender advisers and senior women protection advisors in all relevant UN missions. For instance, at a November 2022 discussion with the Informal Expert Group on Women and Peace and Security, along with senior women’s protection advisers, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict recommended, that these positions be integrated into the regular budgets of UN peace operations, particularly during transitional processes. She also called for earmarked contributions for the deployment of women’s protection advisers to all situations of concern in line with Security Council resolution 2467 (2019).[86] Moreover, O-SRSG-SVC continued to work with Security Council members to ensure that during mandate renewals, issues related to prevention and response regarding conflict-related sexual violence, including the deployment of women protection advisors, were maintained in the mandates of UN field missions.
Champion the ratification of relevant international and regional legal instruments and domesticate provisions within national laws.
While not all Compact Signatories have subscribed to actions under this pillar, 23 (88 per cent) Member State Signatories have ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Twenty-four (92 per cent) Member State Signatories have ratified the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that was adopted by the UN General Assembly to regulate international trade in conventional arms. The Compact did not register any Signatories in 2022 who ratified either the Rome Statute or the ATT.
The Secretary General’s 2021 report on WPS outlined reduction in military expenditure as a chief strategic objective of feminist movements for peace, as well as for the UN.[87] In 2020, with resolution 75/43, the General Assembly expressed concern at increasing global military expenditure, which could otherwise be spent on development needs, such as combating disease, or addressing forced displacement, hunger, the climate crisis and so forth.[88]
Reducing military expenditure in favour of economic and social development
In 2022, total military expenditure increased by 3.7 per cent in real terms, mainly driven by countries responding to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.[89] This includes growth in four of the five geographical regions: the largest increase was in Europe (+13 per cent), followed by the Middle East (+3.2 per cent), Asia and Oceania (+2.7 per cent) and the Americas (+0.3 per cent). Spending decreased in Africa (–5.3 per cent).[90] The Compact has two actions, however, that target the reduction of military expenditure in favour of economic and social development.
Eight of the Compact’s civil society Signatories signed up to promote existing research linking savings in expenditure on militarized state security to investments in economic and social development. However, three of these indicated limited progress, one indicated no progress, and another did not provide reporting.
The International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and the GNWP both noted the publication of the paper, “Fund Us Like You Want Us To Win: Feminist Solutions for More Impactful Financing for Peacebuilding in 2021,” which documents the need to reverse the upward trajectory in military spending and instead direct it towards local women-led peacebuilding organizations.
Notably, no Member State signed up to progressively and responsibly shift military expenditure to human security, conflict prevention and peacebuilding – an action included under the policy investment area of the Compact.
Using inclusive approaches, design and implement protection and accountability strategies
After 20 years of international recognition that SGBV are international crimes, an impunity gap persists at both the domestic and international levels. Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) is increasingly focused on accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes, it is a court of last resort and its statute, the Rome Statute, has not been universally ratified. The Compact Framework includes specific actions to strengthen the capacity of rule of law institutions and supports the ratification of key legal instruments such as the Rome Statute.
Five Member State signatories reported on actions under this investment area and one Member State provided reporting on indicator data.
Strengthening legislation against GBV
The ATT[91] obliges States parties to conduct an assessment that considers the risk of exported conventional arms being used in serious acts of GBV before authorizing the export of such arms and their ammunition.[92]
Finland has ratified the ATT and funded the ATT Voluntary Trust Fund with 240.000 Euros in 2022. Finland has promoted the integration of the gender perspective into the implementation of the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines and supports the clearing of mines through humanitarian project funding. Women’s opportunities to participate in mine clearing have been improved by their recruitment to mine clearance and other humanitarian mine action tasks.
Strengthen and better coordinate the protection of women participating in peace, justice and humanitarian assistance processes, including with the UN; in centers that provide comprehensive services; and by developing research and data
Providing survivor-centred services including access to justice
Despite the progress made in raising awareness of CRSV, the availability and accessibility of survivor-centred services remain alarmingly limited. Survivors often face hurdles in accessing appropriate medical care, legal aid, and psychological support. Factors that hinder services include inadequate funding, societal stigma, dearth of trained professionals and a general lack of prioritization.
At the same time, ongoing conflict and crisis contexts can make it difficult for humanitarian workers to reach survivors with services. For example, in Ukraine, the Commission of Inquiry, formed by the UN Human Rights Council, was not able to reach some survivors of CRSV due to security concerns and other constraints. Residents in some cities noted they were barred by Russian armed forces from receiving humanitarian aid. Additionally, despite the set-up of mobile and remote services, survivors had difficulty accessing sexual and reproductive health services due to attacks on health facilities and infrastructure, as well as displacement.[94]
In October 2022, together with women’s rights organizations and local partners, UN Women created four safe spaces for women in the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine. The initiative is based on the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative, which has been developing, implementing and evaluating comprehensive approaches to address sexual violence against women and girls in public spaces for over 10 years. Each space provides crucial resources and services that displaced women have trouble accessing such as hygiene kits, educational resources, psychological counselling, access to legal advice, and other survivor services.
Additionally, within the UN system, UNHCR has deployed GBV specialists to 14 emergencies, including in Chile, Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Poland and Somalia. The emergency deployments, supported by the Safe from the Start Initiative, ensured lifesaving services for over one million forcibly displaced people in 2022. UNHCR has also updated its guidance on GBV prevention, risk mitigation and response in Refugee Response Plans.
Eight Member State Signatories have also signed up for actions focused on providing humanitarian assistance and survivor-centred services.
For example, in April 2022, the UAE committed $2 million to support the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) programme on prevention of GBV and integrated sexual and reproductive health in emergency response services among the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. The UAE also expanded its support to Nadia’s Initiative with a grant of $500,000 for the reconstruction of Sinjar, Iraq, and the safe and voluntary return of survivors of sexual violence to their homeland. Furthermore, the UAE provided $1.25 million to the Swiss Cross Foundation to support health care for women and girl survivors of SGBV, to build health-care capacity through training, and to foster research in northern Iraq.
In 2022, Norway allocated NOK 400 million to support SGBV prevention and response.
The UN Secretary General has noted that harnessing the preventive power of the rule of law is essential to deterring sexual violence and ensuring that women’s rights to safe and effective participation in public life, as well as in peacebuilding and reconciliation processes, are fully realized.
In 2022, Luxembourg supported the International Court of Transitional Justice with aiding women survivors, including of SGBV, in 23 countries to get access to justice and transitional processes. Luxembourg also funds research on mental health and psychosocial support in transitional justice policies, generating insights on justice services for victims of human rights violations, including GBV.
The WIPC advocated for women’s participation in consultation meetings at the constituency level for the Commission of Truth Reconciliation and Healing (CTRH), a transitional justice mechanism provided for in South Sudan’s Revitalized Peace Agreement. Additionally, in part due to advocacy from the WIPC, women are now participating in peace processes at the national level, especially in meetings convened by the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) and the Ceasefire & Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring & Verification Mechanism (CTSMVAM) – both of which are responsible for monitoring compliance with the peace agreement.
Ensuring that all UN-mandated investigations have gender and protection expertise
UN Women, the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Justice Rapid Response have a partnership to ensure that all investigations mandated by the UN Human Rights Council are equipped with gender expertise. This enables the integration of a gender perspective into investigations and makes sure that SGBV documentation is in line with international standards and follows a survivor-centred approach. In 2022, UN Women deployed 24 experts (gender advisers, child rights advisers and specialized interpreters) to OHCHR for investigations in nine countries, including Libya, Palestine and Ukraine.
OHCHR has also worked directly with Justice Rapid Response to deploy gender advisers and investigators, also financing some of these positions internally. In addition, OHCHR trained all 13 investigation teams in 2022 on gender-sensitive investigations, including investigations of sexual and gender-based violence.
Holding duty bearers and individual perpetrators to account for rights violations
Of the eight civil society Signatories signed up to collect evidence and engage in advocacy to hold duty bearers and perpetrators to account for rights violations, four marked limited progress, one marked no progress, and another did not report at all.
Tamazight Women’s Movement (TWM) is still documenting the work of women human rights defenders, particularly those facing reprisals for speaking up about conflict-related sexual abuses. However, TWM reports there is little progress in terms of the Libyan State addressing these issues or committing to any form of reparations or acknowledgment.
The International Peace Institute (IPI) has gathered data on the intersection of participation and protection risks for women in Libya. The researcher interviewed 25 women on their experiences with political participation and subsequent threats and risks to their protection. The data from these interviews resulted in the publication of a policy report on the intersection of women’s participation and protection in Libya.
Engaging Men and Boys in Ending Violence against Women
In the pursuit of a world free from inequality and violence against women, the involvement of men and boys as allies and advocates is imperative. Positive change requires a collective effort that challenges and reshapes the social norms that perpetuate harmful behaviors. Six civil society Signatories reported on this action, although two acknowledged limited progress.
For example, the Amani Initiative (AI) has mobilized 21 men to serve as community agents and undergo specific trainings on addressing and reversing harmful gender norms. Additionally, AI has started clubs within 16 partner schools to provide a space for mentoring boys on positive masculinity and advocate for the elimination of violence against women and girls.
Additionally, in GNWP’s efforts in Chad and the DRC, men represent 30 to 40 per cent of participants in peacebuilding efforts.
Story of Impact
Forced To Flee
Founder and Managing Director Aryan Sanghrajka shares how Forced To Flee, a youth-run nonprofit organization based in the United Kingdom, advocates for refugees, human rights and equality around the globe through collaborations with other organizations.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into Forced To Flee’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action.
“Last year, a young mother named Olena fled Ukraine during the war. She carried her one-year-old baby across the border to Poland. It was a very scary time, with lots of confusion. Once she arrived, she reached out to us to share her story using our Displacement Hotline. We initially put her in touch with an organization that provides mental health support. But they did not have space for her. There were just too many people who needed help.
“Olena used to do manual labor in Ukraine. Luckily, with our support, she found an organization where she got reskilled and started taking classes to learn English. She is now working in Poland to support herself and her family and spend more time with her child. Her goal is to get a client-facing job in the tech sector once she returns to Ukraine after the war. She aims to be part of the process to rebuild her country.
“Refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine and around the world are focused on the day-to-day survival of their families, and by extension, on their own safety and security. They do not have the time or understanding to sift through all the available information that could help them navigate their new lives. So, we put that call out on their behalf. We get in touch with partner organizations who can provide support and resources. We also share their stories with the world, so their voices are highlighted in the advocacy work we do.
“People like Olena are the reason we signed the Compact. We want women, especially in the context of peace, security and humanitarian action, to be included in post-conflict solutions and the rebuilding of their communities. Their voices on the conditions of refugees around the world is particularly vital.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Protecting and promoting women’s human rights in conflict and crisis contexts
- Member State Signatories should adopt legislation, where relevant, to protect and promote women’s human rights including on multisectoral GBV response services, reparations for survivors of CRSV, gender persecution and refugee and asylum rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights in conflict-affected settings.[95]
- More Member State Signatories should sign up for actions to address reprisals by facilitating emergency support – in the form of physical accompaniment, political advocacy, financial grants, and security arrangements, as needed – to women leaders under threat.
- Signatories should focus on preventing and eliminating all forms of violence, including GBV that occurs through or is amplified by the use of technologies and engage social media platforms and social media monitoring entities to combat the spread of gender-based hate speech and disinformation, in partnership with women’s and feminist organizations.[96]
- Create an enabling environment for women active in public life, including women human rights defenders, journalists and peacebuilders and those working directly on CRSV and GBV in emergencies; to protect politically active women from any form of reprisals and ensure that risks, including those stemming from digital platforms, are duly addressed and perpetrators prosecuted; and to establish protection measures and timely responses for civilians at imminent risk of conflict-related sexual violence, including those in detention, displacement or migration settings.[97]
Story of Impact
Hope Advocates Africa
Founder Caryn Dasah highlights the impact of Hope Advocates Africa, a young women-led, youth-focused, locally-rooted organization based in Cameroon that works in conflict affected communities on peacebuilding, preventing and countering violent extremism.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into Hope Advocates Africa’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action.
“For the past six years, violent clashes between separatist fighters and the government military has brought untold pain, suffering, and misery to the people in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. When the crisis started, the violence led many women and girls to live in the bushes with no access to any health services or social services. Others were displaced to other countries or other regions in Cameroon. More women were exposed to violence than men because first, we are women. Combatants had the guns, so they took advantage of them, using them as sex slaves. Those who did not have a way to live in other regions lived in the streets. The crisis brought in a high level of young girls into prostitution.
“A young girl, Victoria*, was brought to us. She lived in a village, but because of the crisis, had moved to Bamenda, a big city. One night, she left church and was going back home. So many armed men raped her, and she did not tell anyone. Victoria was not living with her family. She was basically a servant for a family friend who realized this child was sleeping so much. One morning, the lady bought something and asked Victoria to urinate on it. Victoria cannot even say it was a pregnancy test because she never saw one before. The lady said she was pregnant and pushed her out of the house. She had nothing. Other people helped her. They Googled human rights organizations, found our project and brought her to us.
“We provided Victoria with everything she needed to give birth and to help her pay her bills. We looked for accommodations for her, and enrolled her in the women empowerment center for her to acquire skills. She was interested in doing cookery, so she learns how to bake. Now, she is running a business where she makes puff puff, a mixture of flour and sugar that is fried. She does this every morning so she is able to take care of herself and her babies. Yes, Victoria was pregnant with twins.
“We support women and girls like Victoria. We run a program called ‘Healing Invisible Wounds’ which is purely a trauma healing program where we provide those who have been affected by violence an opportunity to tell their stories so they heal from the different trauma they have been exposed to.
“We have recorded hundreds of cases like Victoria’s—of violence against women and girls, sexual trauma, and gender based violence in conflict. Which is why signing the Compact has been so good for us. It has brought more attention to the fragile situation of attacks on women peacebuilders, or on those who want to talk about peace and security. As a young woman doing this work, the opportunities afforded in the Compact has greatly enhanced our reach.”
*Name changed to protect her privacy.
Youth Engagement
As an inclusive and intergenerational platform, the Compact has a strong focus on harnessing meaningful youth engagement through its mandate and actions. These actions are rooted in UN Security Council Resolution 2250, and the YPS agenda, which recognizes the unique contributions young leaders bring to peace processes. The Compact has 10 actions that directly impact the work of young people across different framework areas and additional actions that relate to their work indirectly. Positively highlighting their commitment to the intergenerational principles of the Compact, Signatories reported investing in young women peacebuilders across the Framework and not solely regarding youth-specific actions. Youth accounted for 22.2 per cent of stakeholders reached by Signatories during implementation of their 2022 actions.
Signatory Overview
Thirty-three Signatories reported on the Compact’s youth-specific actions, including two Member States, 27 CSOs, two regional organizations and two UN entities. Eight additional Signatories, including four Member States, three CSOs and one UN entity, referenced targeting youth through intergenerational work in other parts of the Compact.
Compact Signatories signed up and reporting on Youth Engagement specific actions
Creating and Allocating Youth Funding
The ensuring of adequate financing for the YPS agenda has been a challenge since its inception. Historically, due to a lack of data, it has been difficult to assess how much financing for peacebuilding also supports youth-focused or youth-led programming. Existing trends indicate that youth-focused peacebuilding makes up a relatively smaller fraction of ODA for peacebuilding overall.[98]
Several Signatories reported on dedicated financing for organizations and networks led by youth – particularly young women – that work on peacebuilding and humanitarian action.
The FFO offers flexible funding to the UNFPA Humanitarian Thematic Fund and the UNICEF Global Humanitarian Thematic Fund, as well as targeted funding to UN Women to support women-led organizations, ensure better inclusion of gender in humanitarian response plans and humanitarian coordination and to enable youth-friendly action.
In 2022, the projects selected through the Gender and Youth Promotion Initiatives under the UN PBF represented a total of $46.7 million. According to DPPA, this included 13 Gender Promotion Initiative projects focused on supporting women’s CSOs, groups and networks and strengthening their institutional capacity for sustainable contributions to peacebuilding and 14 Youth Promotion Initiative projects on political participation and safety, security and protection. Beyond the special call for Gender and Youth Promotion Initiatives, PBF assigned 47 per cent of its total allocation ($108,784,860) to support GEWE. These investments in spearheading women and youth engagement are larger than any other pooled fund in the UN system.
Removing barriers to funding for youth-led organizations and young women peacebuilders
During the reporting period, civil society Signatories focused on removing barriers to funding for youth-led organizations and young women peacebuilders. In 2022, GNWP and the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) organized a regional conference in Tbilisi that included a fundraising workshop tailored to organizations serving women, youth and LGBTQI+ organizations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova.
Since the end of 2022, the Equality Fund’s Activate programme has been funding 23 feminist funds that on-grant to 183 women’s or youth/young women’s organizations. These feminist funds are the first funder for 38 per cent of their grantee partners. Additionally, the Equality Fund noted its partnerships with 133 national and local women’s or youth/young women’s organizations.
The WPS and YPS agendas mutually reinforce one another: both draw attention to the needs of groups that have historically been excluded from decision-making processes. Yet while the WPS agenda needs the perspectives of young peacebuilders to be effectively inclusive, the YPS agenda requires a clear gender lens to prevent a new generation from replicating the same patterns and patriarchal power structures that limit gender equality.[99] The Compact includes actions to improve synergies between the agendas. It also encourages training and capacity-building for young peacebuilders and their intentional inclusion in peace processes as legitimate partners.
Establishing and strengthening partnerships with youth organizations and networks to embed their priorities in YPS and WPS advocacy.
Eighteen Civil Society Signatories reported on establishing partnerships and networks with youth-led and young women-centred organizations to help embed their priorities in YPS and WPS advocacy.
For example, in 2022, GPPAC hosted a learning event to explore opportunities to create synergies between the YPS and WPS agendas at the national level with the goal to support young women’s engagement.
In Asia, GNWP hosted two regional exchanges – the Bangladeshi-Southeast Asia Peace Exchange and the Thailand-Myanmar Peace Dialogue – to foster partnership and solidarity on WPS and YPS. Refugee women and youth participated in these exchanges allowing them to present their needs and priorities to policymakers and international CSOs.
ICAN and members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) in 32 countries reached over 1,300 women peacebuilders and 2,000 community members, including young people, through the “She Builds Peace” campaign. Additionally, during the campaign, Hope Advocates Africa, founded by a young woman peacebuilder, launched a network of 100 hundred young women peacebuilders in Cameroon.
Similarly, Karama launched Wa’ed, a network for adolescent girls affected by conflict, living under occupation, and dealing with the effects of climate change in 13 countries in Africa and the Arab Region.
To improve collaboration between the international community and young peacebuilders and youth-led organizations, Our Generation for Inclusive Peace (OGIP) issued a guidance note in 2022 that provided recommendations for power holders, decision makers and institutional actors on forming meaningful and safe partnerships with youth.
Deepening technical support and capacity-building for young peacebuilders
Signatories from across the Compact’s stakeholder groups reported providing technical support and capacity-building for young peacebuilders in 2022.
For example, 40 youth activists and youth organization representatives improved their understanding of YPS at the first Europe and Central Asia regional youth forum, organized with UN Women support in December 2022.
The OSCE hosted the 8th Dialogue Academy for Young Women, co-organized by its Mission in Kosovo[100] and the Mission to Serbia, which included a 10-day leadership development programme. Twenty-four participants from Priština and Belgrade attended sessions aimed at strengthening capacities in areas such as negotiation and mediation.
Additionally, the OSCE-UNODA Scholarship for Peace and Security hosted an in-person course on conflict prevention and resolution. During this week, 44 young women professionals from 39 OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation were provided with an opportunity to deepen their knowledge on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation in the OSCE area. The course sought to decrease the gender and generation gaps in the security sector.
Through the Pacific Women’s Mediators Network, the Shifting the Power Coalition supports 15 young women with dedicated training, scholarships and mentoring to lead national engagement with CSOs. Additionally, in 2022 the Coalition continued to mentor and support young peacebuilders in regional intergovernmental processes as well as at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66), the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
ACCORD conducted two virtual strategy sessions for the GIMAC Young Women’s Network Council, as well as a training of trainers that gave participants from women and youth-led organizations the skills needed to conduct their own conflict management and peacebuilding trainings within their respective countries.
Including youth organizations and young women peacebuilders in peace processes
Additionally, Signatories from across the Compact’s stakeholder groups reported providing support for the inclusion of young people in peace processes across the globe.
The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus facilitated 118 virtual and in-person intercommunal initiatives, meetings and events with women’s CSOs and informal women’s groups, as well as with youth networks and the diplomatic community, to strengthen women’s participation at all stages of the peace process.
In Niger and Mali, the Réseau Paix et Sécurité Pour les Femmes de l’Espace CEDEAO (REPSFECO) trained and built the capacity of 80 women mediators, 30 per cent of whom were young women.
Through its partnership with the WPHF, GPPAC supported a local women-led organization working with young women and men on influencing the peace process in the State of Palestine, which is also a Compact Signatory.
In partnership with ACCORD, Sweden continued to support the participation of women and young people in peace efforts in Mozambique.
Ireland’s Civil Society Fund (CSF) provides support to a three-year project in Yemen through Saferworld, an international NGO working on conflict prevention and peace. The project supports CSOs, with a focus on marginalized groups such as women and youth, to work together with local authorities to address the root causes of conflict and insecurity and enable their contribution to peace processes at the local, national and international levels.
The WPS agenda has a robust global monitoring framework and many countries have adopted NAPs. By contrast, efforts are still ongoing to establish YPS NAPs.[101] Positively, several Compact Signatories reported new progress in 2022 in this area, as well as the engagement of young leaders in policymaking processes.
Development of NAPs on YPS
In the DRC, GNWP and its Young Women Leaders for Peace Network joined the Ministry of Youth, Initiation to New Citizenship and National Cohesion to launch a YPS NAP. GNWP provided technical support throughout the drafting process and with its youth partners began a pilot for the localization of the YPS resolutions, ensuring their effective implementation.
In Cameroon, Pathways for Women’s Empowerment and Development (PaWED) provided expert inputs to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education for developing a YPS NAP. PaWED highlighted how armed conflicts and crises differently and disproportionately affect young girls thus making it critical to mainstream their distinct needs and roles in the implementation of the five pillars of the YPS agenda.
Supporting Young Leaders to Engage in Policy Processes
Beyond YPS NAPs, Compact Signatories from all stakeholder groups provided positive reporting on supporting young leaders – with a focus on young women peacebuilders – to engage in policy processes and at decision-making forums.
For example, the WIPC trained women and youth networks in the DRC, Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda on leadership, the AU peace architecture and entry points for policy advocacy on WPS and YPS.
The YWCA of Japan organized the participation of four young women at the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW66) and hosted a parallel event on young women’s perspectives on social media and sexual exploitation.
In Liberia, Sister 4 Sister International is mentoring young leaders through a USAID-funded project, carried out by IREX and Democracy International, to support young people’s political participation, increased civic engagement and leadership roles.
The OSCE “Perspectives 20-30” initiative integrates youth voices into OSCE security debates to help strengthen the organization’s efforts to promote peace, stability and comprehensive security throughout the OSCE region. Through the initiative’s Online Academy, 34 young women and 26 young men engaged with experts from the OSCE and drafted policy recommendations to decision makers.
Sharing young women’s leadership and contributions to peace and security
Finally, civil society Signatories reported on documenting and sharing research highlighting young women’s leadership and contributions to peace and security.
For example, OGIP produced a youth-led research series focusing on feminist relief and recovery. The series featured six research pieces documenting the role of women, women-led organizations and youth and youth-led organizations in relief and recovery processes.
The WIPC provided documentation and sharing of knowledge on women and young women’s leadership and contributions to peace and security. These findings were shared at intergenerational dialogue meetings at the national level in the DRC, South Sudan and Uganda for learning and replication of best practices in WPS.
Story of Impact
Shifting the Power Coalition & GPPAC Pacific
Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Regional Representative of GPPAC Pacific and Programme Manager of the Pacific Women Mediators Network speaks to the intergenerational work within the Shifting the Power Coalition, a women-led network in seven Pacific Island Forum countries that brings together women from the regional peacebuilding network of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) women leaders who represent the disability rights movement, young women-led organizations, rural and coastal women’s networks to strengthen the collective power of responding to the climate crisis.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into Shifting the Power Coalition & GPPAC Pacific’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action.
“I am an older feminist. Back in 1986, when I was a much younger woman, my mother got me involved in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). I was mentored by all the women there, who really helped and taught me the value of local community organizing. It was through the investment of the YWCA movement that young women like myself had these older leaders who provided opportunities. This showed me that we need to continue to invest in young women’s leadership, to mentor them, help them understand national and political processes, and then ultimately bring their voices to the table.
“I met such a young woman, Veena Singh, through my previous job in setting up women’s community radio. She came from a program called Kids Link, which was all about supporting child rights activists. So, she had already found her standing in terms of child rights. We just started working together, and the mentoring became two ways actually. For me, it was really that intergenerational learning where I was able to learn from her on how I can better adapt, be more enabling, and impart information, such as strategic lobbying, in a constructive manner. We would go through CSW together, meetings with ambassadors and others, just learning and talking to each other. It was not like ‘You’ve got to be like me.’ It was more ‘Okay, this is what I know, and this is how I do things.’ Veena is just one of those people who would diligently prepare; she took it all in.
“Veena went from a woman going around out in the field and to international meetings carrying schoolbooks to this new role as part of the technical working group of the Pacific Women Mediators Network. With Veena, we now have this new expertise in the room. She is a younger woman who has worked on the implementation of WPS in the local, regional and national levels, and has the ability and know how to develop strategies on how we shift the power in terms of the political processes.
“Through the Shifting the Power Coalition, GPPAC Pacific members were able to amplify the call for attention to be brought to the four pillars of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Women are at the nexus of peace and security and humanitarian action, especially young women who are at the next tier of work that is done on the ground. This nexus approach has seen the Shifting the Power Coalition catalyze the establishment of the Pacific Women Mediators Network which reflects the collective commitment via the Compact. It is why it made so much sense to sign the Compact. We will do this work anyway as civil society, but to have it in an accountability framework is vital. Simply vital.”
Story of Impact
Shifting the Power Coalition & GPPAC Pacific
Veena Singh is an independent consultant currently contracted as the Programme Coordinator for RiseUp! Leadership Initiative for Young Women in Asia and the Pacific with the World Young Women’s Christian Association (World YWCA). Veena reveals her own intergenerational experiences as a feminist activist from Fiji and a member of the Shifting the Power Coalition network technical working group.
This story was captured during recorded conversations to gain further insights into Shifting the Power Coalition & GPPAC Pacific’s work on women, peace and security and humanitarian action
Photo credit: Fiji Women’s Rights Movement
“I have had many amazing people who helped me navigate various spaces and my activism; one of whom is Sharon. I grew up listening to and watching Sharon Bhagwan Rolls on our local media radio and TV. You would just hear her voice and you would just know it was Sharon. When I first met her, we’d say hello or a wave in passing. She was one of the co-founders of FemlinkPacific. They had their community radio station. It was through FemlinkPacific that an invitation was extended to Save the Children to speak on their community radio station. At that time, I was volunteering for Save the Children Fiji, and I was very active in “KidsLink Fiji” (a child-led initiative-program of Save the Children). So, I was invited to talk about children’s rights, the importance of it and linking it to women, peace and security. It was through this opportunity that we got to participate in a community media training facilitated by Sharon. It was through this training that I got to learn and understand about community media, tips on speaking on the radio, presenting, and even writing notes as a way to prepare. Those are some valuable lessons for me, even to this day, that I still apply.
“Our relationship just went from there. One of our first work experiences was when Sharon asked me if I wanted to co-write a paper about the sexual exploitation of women and children. I really appreciated she thought of me as this was an area that I was passionate about. Then there was an opportunity to work at FemLinkPacific as the Policy and Research Officer. I worked more than 10 years with them. There was a time when I said, ‘I’ve had enough. I have been in this organization for a long time. I need to step back and seek out new opportunities.’ But time and again, Sharon would come up with new opportunities or suggestions for work that I can support. This time, when I decided to step back to take a break, Sharon presented me with a new role, asking if I wanted to take it. That is how I got involved with GPPAC (the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict) as their Regional Liaison Officer. When I needed to be challenged, Sharon was there.
“I’ve learned so much from her. Just a whole range of things, from taking notes to how preparation is key. Even interviews, like what to do or what not to do. It’s those learnings which I’ve carried with me, being able to connect the dots on how this relates to human security.
“Going forward, I know it’s so important for young women and veteran women to work together in this work. Because no matter what, at the end of the day, it will impact us all. Climate change does not pick and choose, it does not discriminate. So, for us, it is really, really critical that we work together.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Signatories should develop and strengthen disaggregated data systems to track funding and investment supporting young people, and particularly young women.
- Donors working through intermediaries should set targets for the level of programming and financing that should be dedicated to young women peacebuilders and young women human rights defenders.
- Signatories should widely disseminate and localize good practices on the intersection of the WPS/YPS agendas and young women’s contributions to gender-responsive humanitarian action, to inform programming and initiatives for and beyond national action plans.
- Signatories should develop and enact initiatives for intergenerational co-leadership in peacebuilding efforts and processes, mediation, and negotiations, including documentation of these initiatives at the local, national and international levels.
“Intersectionality is about the ways in which different forms of oppression interact with each other rather than actual identities. And those different forms of oppression might then impact people with non-mainstream or non-majority identities differently. We cannot have any success with WPS going forward if we do not take race, gender, disability, and national origin seriously in a global context . A country might say, ‘Intersectionality is at the core of our work.’ But what does that mean in terms of international relations?”
Professor Toni Haastrup, Chair in Global Politics at University of Manchester and Honorary Professor at University of Stirling in the United Kingdom
Principles of Transformation
Despite efforts otherwise and some progress, the international community has yet to realize the promise of the women, peace and security agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. There are major gaps between rhetoric and actions that include the perspectives and needs of all stakeholders in conflict prevention and recovery. It is vital to ensure that women’s social, economic and political inclusion is systemic and enduring, rather than limited to isolated or short-term interventions.
The Compact has taken an intentional approach through its methodology and six principles of transformation to support Signatories to develop and implement effective and comprehensive strategies for promoting durable peace and stability with the greatest positive impact on women and girls and local communities.
Seventy-one percent of Signatories self-assessed the extent to which they were able to realize each of the principles of transformation through implementation of their Compact actions in 2022 according to the following criteria:
- Exceeded expectations: Signatories were able to realize the principle of transformation through implementation in a manner that exceeded original expectations.
- Met expectations: Signatories were able to realize the principle of transformation through implementation of the specific action as planned or expected.
- Experienced limited expectations: Signatories experienced challenges or difficulties in realizing the principle of transformation during the implementation of the specific action but were able to meet some of the expectations.
- Did not meet expectations: Signatories were not able to realize the principle of transformation as originally planned or expected.
Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus
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Intersectional
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Localized
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Intergenerational
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Resourced and Sustainable
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Inclusive and Multistakeholder
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Opportunities and Conclusions
Accountability for the implementation of commitments remains at the heart of realizing the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. The Compact is the first global mechanism of its kind to monitor the specific commitments made by a diverse group of stakeholders across many regions through self-reporting on the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action. It tracks gaps, good practices and efforts that aim to intentionally integrate principles of transformation.
At a time when strong political will and coordinated, strategic efforts are needed to halt the erosion of women’s human rights, mechanisms such as the Compact, which bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, are especially critical. More stakeholders, including Member States with WPS NAPs and the private sector, should join the 205 Signatories that have already become part of this movement for action and accountability and to invest in peaceful and stable societies.
Compact Signatories have already indicated significant momentum toward transformative action in this first year of reporting. With nearly 50 per cent of eligible Signatories submitting data, it is a positive sign that Signatories are not only reporting on their concrete and measurable progress in implementing Compact actions, but that they are also sharing the challenges they face in partnership-building, tracking and monitoring activities within their institutions, securing flexible core funding, and the risks and uncertainties of operating in a conflict/crisis environment.
The reporting reveals many positive initiatives being implemented across the five thematic areas of the Compact. Due to the technical and capacity challenges Signatories face to comprehensively collect and track information on their initiatives, it can be concluded that much more work is being done than is reported to the Compact and other mechanisms. There is a critical need for all Signatories to report on their committed actions to the Compact, to institute stronger tracking and monitoring mechanisms to report on and quantify the full breadth and depth of their work, and to strengthen evidence-guided decision-making on policy, financing, programming and advocacy for WPS and gender-responsive humanitarian action.
Compact Signatories are doing commendable and impressive work to tackle the current challenges our world faces globally and locally while placing women and girls at the centre of solutions. In an era of disinformation, the need for closer ties to local women’s organizations is ever more critical to address the root causes of conflicts and crises. However, many initiatives are thinly spread, activity-focused, unevenly resourced and short-term. An important opportunity exists through the Compact to strengthen coordination and collaboration among the various initiatives to scale up impact and address the magnitude of issues facing women and girls in conflict and crisis settings, and to advance and advocate for their active role and leadership in these areas.
The WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action should not be regarded as niche issues within international peace and security discourse and action. As we approach the 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325, Compact Signatories should collectively advocate for mainstreaming the WPS agenda and gender-responsive humanitarian action through legislation, NAPs and foreign and domestic policies that neither entrench existing and new global inequalities and patriarchal systems nor discriminate against specific groups of people, but instead advance systems of gender justice that ensure women’s participation, protection and rights.
Endnotes
1 Peace processes are series of negotiations, agreements and steps or implementation activities designed to end war or violence between two groups. Peace processes may include formal and informal mechanisms, and involve a multitude of actors often over a long period. See more: https://berghof-foundation.org/themes/peace-process
2 See The Armed Conflict Survey 2021: https://www.iiss.org/onlineanalysis/online-analysis//2021/09/acs-2021-the-long-aftermath-of-armed-conflicts
3 See The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/
4 See The Gender Snapshot 2023: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2023-en.pdf
5 For more information on conflict-related sexual violence see: https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15357.doc.htm#:~:text=Pointing%20to%2020%20situations%20of,sexual%20violence%20committed%20in%202022
6 Compact Board members include the governments of Ireland, Namibia, Norway, Sierra Leone, and the United Arab Emirates, UNHCR, United Nations Department of Peace Operations (DPO), Office of the African Union Commission Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, Réseau Paix et Sécurité pour les Femmes del’Espace CEDEAO (REPSFECO), African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN), Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), and Karama.
7 See The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/
8 The OECD multidimensional Fragility Framework classifies 60 contexts as fragile. The framework aims to reflect the diversity and complexity of fragility across its six dimensions: economic, environmental, political, security, societal, and human. See OECD States of Fragility 2022: https://doi.org/10.1787/c7fedf5e-en
9 The United States, Germany, UK, France, Japan and Canada rank in the 10 ten largest economies in the world according to GDP. Australia, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland rank in the top 20. See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
10 This combines total reported figures from all Compact Signatories, including donors and financial intermediaries. Therefore, some funding could have been double counted.
11 See https://www.csis.org/analysis/rethinking-private-capital-development
12 See SIPRI Yearbook 2023: https://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2023
13 Country with ranking in brackets: Central African Republic (5), Democratic Republic of Congo (6), Chad (7), Congo (the) (9), Equatorial Guinea (15), Cameroon (18), Niger (19), Mali (20), Liberia (21), Guinea (25), Nigeria (26), Guinea-Bissau (29), Mauritania (32), Burkina Faso (35), Sierra Leone (40), Côte d’Ivoire (42), Benin (54), and Gambia
(57). OECD States of Fragility. See https://www3.compareyourcountry.org/states-of-fragility/overview/0/
14 See 2023 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 See 2022 Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
20 205 Compact signatories as of September 2023
21 See https://odi.org/documents/8650/ODI_Trends_in_development_finance_for_gender_5pBCzD3.pdf
22 See SIPRI Yearbook 2023: https://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2023
23 See OECD Development Co-operation Profiles: https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en
24 Humanitarian assistance is aid intended to save lives and alleviate suffering in response to specific crisis and/or conflict contexts such as disaster prevention and preparedness, reconstruction, relief and rehabilitation, and emergency response. It is usually provided for specific programme initiatives with a limited timeframe. See https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/ODA-2022-summary.pdf
25 The OECD tracks global development aid based on data from more than 50 countries, 60 multilateral organizations and 46 foundations. These statistics provide the international community with a clear picture of how much is being spent, who is spending it, where it is going, and for what purposes. Contributions to GEWE are tracked using the DAC Gender Equality Policy Marker of the Creditor Reporting System. For more information and the latest data, see https://www.oecd.org/dac/official-development-assistance-gender-equality.pdf
26 “Principal” means that gender equality is the main objective of the project/programme and is fundamental is its design and expected results. The project/programme would not have been undertaken without this objective. “Significant” means that gender equality is an important and deliberate objective, but not the principal reason
for undertaking the project/programme, often explained as gender equality being mainstreamed in the project/programme. See https://www.oecd.org/dac/snapshot-oda-gender-2023.pdf
28 The OECD multidimensional Fragility Framework classifies 60 contexts as fragile. The framework aims to reflect the diversity and complexity of fragility across its six dimensions: economic, environmental, political, security, societal,
and human. See OECD States of Fragility 2022: https://doi.org/10.1787/c7fedf5e-en
29 See Funding for Gender-relevant Humanitarian Response Report: https://devinit.org/resources/funding-for-gender-relevant-humanitarian-response/
30 See Funding for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women And Girls in Humanitarian Programming: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2020/Funding-for-GEEWG-in-humanitarian-programming-en.pdf
31 Figures are approximate and based on the analysis of narrative text from Compact Signatory data submittedthrough the Compact self-reporting portal and through offline reporting templates.
32 The United States, Germany, UK, France, Japan and Canada rank in the 10 largest economies in the world by GDP.
Australia, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland rank in the top 20. See: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
33 Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a public policy tool to analyse central and local administrative budgets and assess gender funding gaps, identify actions to close them and ensure that national and local commitments to GEWE are adequately funded.
34 Compact Member States that are in the OECD and have gender-responsive budgets are Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Luxembourg is considering the idea. Although not part of the OECD, Sierra Leone also reported having a gender-responsive budget. See https://www.oecd.org/publications/gender-budgeting-in-oecd-countries-2023-647d546b-en.htm
35 OECD countries that require gender budgeting information to accompany budget proposals include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey.
36 See Financing for Gender Equality and the Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/Financing-for-gender-equality-and-the-implementation-of-the-women-peace-and-security-agenda-en.pdf
37 See Financing Gender Inclusive Peace: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/un_women.financing_gender-inclusive_peace.210614.pdf
38 DPPA’s Multi Year Appeal is voluntary extrabudgetary funding provided by Member States above their contributions to the UN’s regular budget. DPPA’s work on WPS depends fully on Multi Year Appeal funding. See https://dppa.un.org/sites/default/files/mya.pdf
39 The Peacebuilding Support Office within DPPA fosters international support for nationally owned and led peacebuilding efforts. The Office assists and supports the Peacebuilding Commission, manages the Peacebuilding
Fund on behalf of the Secretary-General, and works to enhance system-wide coherence and partnerships with UN and non-UN actors to build and sustain peace in relevant countries.
40 See Our Common Agenda: https://www.un.org/en/content/common-agenda-report/
41 In 2022, OCHA formally adopted the Revised Global Guidelines for the Country-Based Pooled Funds. These provide operational guidance to Humanitarian Country Teams charged with managing pooled humanitarian funds.
42 Through South-South collaboration, developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources towards meet their development goals. Another modality of South-South cooperation is triangular cooperation in which traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the
provision of funding, training, management and technological systems, as well as other forms of support. See https://www.un.org/en/observances/south-south-cooperation-day
43 See Strengthening Women’s Participation in Peace Processes: What Roles and Responsibilities for States?: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/08/strengthening-womens-participation-in-peace-processes
44 See 2023 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
45 Global Peace Index 2023
46 See Security Council Report, January 2023: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2023-01/peacebuilding-and-sustaining-peace-6.php#:~:text=On%208%20September%202022%2C%20the,facilitated%20by%20Kenya%20and%20Sweden
47 The Women’s Advisory Board was established by the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Syria
in January 2016, in partnership with UN Women and with the support of the UN Department of Political Affairs. See https://specialenvoysyria.unmissions.org/women%E2%80%99s-advisory-board
48 UN DPO provides political and executive direction to UN peacekeeping operations around the world and maintains contact with the Security Council, troop and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict in the implementation of Security Council mandates.
49 See https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/are-women-better-mediators
50 See Strengthening Women’s Participation in Peace Processes: What Roles and Responsibilities for States?: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/08/strengthening-womens-participation-in-peace-processes
51 Through the Common Security and Defence Policy, the EU conducts operational missions with the aim of peacekeeping and strengthening international security in non-EU countries.
52 See https://giwps.georgetown.edu/resource/masculinities-and-peacebuilding/
53 Track 1 peace and transition process talks are formal talks between the key political-military elites at the heart of the conflict. Track 2 processes have the nature of civil society forums. Any Track 2 mechanism depends on a set of formal or informal transfer strategies or mechanisms to get the results from the consultations to the Track 1 level. See https://arabstates.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/03/models-for-womens-inclusion-in-track-one-mediation
54 WPS Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2008), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013),
2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), 2467 (2019), and 2493 (2019).
55 Resolution 2493 (2019) on women’s participation in peace processes and resolution 2467 (2019) on conflict-related sexual violence both had protracted and difficult negotiations – the latter resolution passed with two abstentions. See Strengthening Women’s Participation in Peace Processes: What Roles and Responsibilities for </span>States?: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/08/strengthening-womens-participation-</span>in-peace-processes</span>
56 Signatories that have served on the UN Security Council since the Compact’s inception include Estonia, France, Japan, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.
57 See Security Council Report, December 2022: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2022-12/
women-peace-and-security-one-year-of-shared-commitments.php#_ftnref
58 See Gender-Responsive Conflict Analysis: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/ap-UN-Women- AFG_Gender-responsive-conflict-analysis-en.pdf
59 Ibid.
60 UN peacekeeping operations get their mandates from the UN Security Council, their troops and police are contributed by Members States, and they are managed by the Department of Peace Operations and supported by the Department of Operational Support. There are 12 missions currently in deployment. See https://www.un.org/ en/our-work/maintain-international-peace-and-security
61 CPAS allows UN Peacekeeping missions to more systematically assess their operating environment, identify what influence they aim to have, and assess progress towards these goals using data and analysis. See https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/cpas
62 See Security Council Report, December 2022: https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2022-12/women-peace-and-security-one-year-of-shared-commitments.php#_ftnref
63 See 2023 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
64 See https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/paths-equal-twin-indices-women-empowerment.pdf
65 Ibid.
66 See Global Gender Gap Report 2022: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/digest
67 Countries with the lowest rates of gender parity also on the OECD’s 2022 States of Fragility list include Afghanistan, Benin, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Mali and Pakistan.</span>
68 See https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/03/08/sp030822-md-remarks-at-the-un-security-council
69 Social protection systems include policies and programmes that provide protection against poverty and risks to livelihoods and wellbeing such as social insurance, including pensions and unemployment insurance; social </span>assistance, such as cash and in-kind transfers; and labour and economic inclusion programmes.</span>
70 See Universal Social Protection 2030: https://usp2030.org/#why
71 See Making Social Protection Gender-Responsive: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2017/Making-Social-Protection-Gender-Responsive-en.pdf
72 See Global Gender Gap Report 2022: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/digest
73 See 2023 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
74 See 2023 Gender Social Norms Index: https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/hdp-document/gsni202303pdf.pdf
75 See http://1325naps.peacewomen.org/
76 See https://wpsfocalpointsnetwork.org/resources/
77 See 2023 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
78 See 2022 Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
79 Ibid.
80 Ibid.
81 Ibid.
83 See The Paths to Equal: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/paths-equal-twin-indices-women-empowerment.pdf
84 See https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures
85 See 2022 Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
86 See 2021 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
87 A/RES.75/43. Relationship between disarmament and development. See https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/75/43
88 A/RES.75/43. Relationship between disarmament and development, https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/75/43
89 See SIPRI Yearbook 2023: https://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2023
90 See Trends in World Military Expenditure 2022: https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/2304_fs_milex_2022.pdf
91 The Arms Trade Treaty is the first legally binding treaty that considers the risk of the export and import of convention arms being used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law (Article 7.1) and to commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence (Article 7.4). See https://www. thearmstradetreaty.org/hyper-images/file/TheArmsTradeTreaty1/TheArmsTradeTreaty.pdf
92 See 2022 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security.
94 See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/A_HRC_52_CRP.4_En%20%28003%29.pdf
95 See 2023 Report of the Secretary-General on Women, Peace and Security
96 Ibid.
97 2022 CRSV report of the UN Secretary-General
98 See Financing for Young People in Peacebuilding: https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/financing_for_young_people_in_peacebuilding.220217.final_.web_.pdf
99 See https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/WPS-YPS%20complementarities_%20Final.pdf
100 References to Kosovo should be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)
101 See https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/WPS-YPS%20complementarities_%20Final.pdf
102 See Feet on the Ground: https://21a29bf8-528b-4043-b9dc-caa23e5a1907.usrfiles.com/ugd/21a29b_ebd6798aeae24affa7cdff1820332889.pdf
