Twenty-four years after the inception of the WPS Agenda, two critical questions remain: How can we increase women’s meaningful participation in peace processes? What strategies are effective in ensuring women play a strategic role in promoting and sustaining peace and security across all tracks?
Studies of peace processes over the last 35 years offer an undeniable conclusion: the meaningful engagement of women in peace negotiations enhances both the durability and quality of peace.
Women’s participation increases the likelihood of a peace agreement lasting at least fifteen years by 35 percent. This aligns with the observation that societies with higher levels of gender equality tend to be more peaceful, both internally and externally.
Despite this, women’s involvement in formal peace processes remains low. Between 1992 and 2019, women made up just 13% of negotiators, 6% of mediators, and 6% of signatories. In 2022, women accounted for only 16% of negotiators in active peace processes led or co-led by the UN.
However, there has been a notable rise in references to women in the text of peace agreements, as highlighted in the UN report marking the 15th anniversary of UNSCR 1325. Yet, many states have focused more on the protection pillar over the participation and prevention pillars.
In this context, the conference convenes a panel to explore best practices and strategies from various countries that ensure meaningful participation of women in peace processes, while addressing barriers to their involvement.
The panel ultimately aims to inform how we can institutionalize women’s participation in peace processes through NAPs and other policy instruments.
Given the transforming peace and security landscape, how can the National Action Plans (NAPs) effectively execute and sustain the vision of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda two decades ago?
In 2000, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 laid the foundation for the WPS Agenda, which has since expanded through nine additional resolutions. Today, 110 UN member countries have established a NAPWPS, following Denmark’s pioneering adoption in 2005.
While the development of NAPs marks significant progress, with more states and regional bodies expressing their commitment to its success, numerous challenges persist in operationalizing NAPs alongside emerging issues.
Given the evolving international peace and security landscape, the gains of the WPS agenda are increasingly threatened by rising militarism, pushback against human rights and gender equality, and shrinking civic spaces. Pandemics and climate change exacerbate these threats.
Moreover, effective implementation of the WPS Agenda through NAPs requires political will and policy coherence, supported by well-defined state monitoring and evaluation approaches, financing, localization, and strategic engagement of civil society actors.
Over the last 20 years, evidence indicates that high-impact NAPs result from states prioritizing institutional accountability through robust M&E systems, localization initiatives, gender-responsive budgeting, and broad-based partnerships beyond traditional security actors.
Expanding on these, this panel will take stock on the progress and challenges of the WPS Agenda, focusing on best practices, barriers, and successful implementation strategies across various countries and contexts in the midst of these challenges.
The discussion will explore strategies for ensuring that NAPs genuinely benefit women and their communities.
Securing adequate funding remains a significant hurdle in the effective implementation of the global women, peace and security (WPS) agenda.
In fact, every review of the global implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 since 2010 has expressed the same concern—underfunding and unclear allocations for NAPWPS undermine the effectiveness of the WPS Agenda.
By early 2023, only 31 out of 101 NAPS have estimated the necessary funding for NAPWPS activities. Moreover, in 2021, bilateral aid to conflict-affected contexts amounted to USD 48.7 billion, with 43% earmarked for gender equality, yet only USD 2.6 billion (6%) was dedicated to gender equality as a principal objective.
Issues such as unpredictability, inaccessibility, and lack of flexibility persist in existing funding mechanisms. Several efforts have been made to bridge the WPS funding gap, including the UN Secretary-General’s directive for UN country teams to allocate at least 15% of programmatic budgets to gender equality.
In light of these ongoing challenges, this panel will explore innovative financing solutions to enhance WPS financing.
Panelists will discuss actionable strategies for integrating gender considerations into financial planning and management, initiatives that have provided financial assistance to conflict-affected communities, and case studies where targeted gender financing has successfully bolstered WPS programs.
Can a high-quality NAPWPS help create a stronger climate change response?
As we begin to understand that the impacts of climate change, conflict, and gender inequality are not only intertwined but also mutually reinforcing, it becomes clear how climate change disproportionately affects women, particularly in conflict settings.
Moreover, neglecting gender perspectives in climate actions risks disempowering women in dealing with the impacts of the climate-conflict nexus, perpetuating discriminatory norms and practices that promote gender inequities and social discord. In this context, the WPS framework offers a viable platform to address these intersecting issues in policy and programming spaces.
Analysis from the 2023 WPS Index suggests that countries committed to WPS principles are not only more peaceful but also better equipped to handle climate change challenges. However, due to a history of siloed approaches, many governments continue to struggle with integrating WPS into climate policies and vice versa.
To unpack these issues, this panel will explore the critical intersections of WPS and climate change, drawing on the experiences of women on the frontlines of conflict. Discussions will examine how environmental shifts influence women’s roles in conflict and peacebuilding, and highlight the experiences of women actively engaged in environmental resilience building efforts.
The panel will focus on innovative approaches and best practices from national and international contexts to enhance the role of women in building resilient and peaceful communities.
It aims to provide recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, governments, and donors on advancing three interrelated goals: peace and security, climate action, and gender equality.
The Parliamentary Roundtable will gather parliamentarians from different regions to discuss the vital role of parliaments in advancing the WPS agenda through legislative frameworks, gender-responsive budgeting, and institutionalizing monitoring mechanisms.
Through knowledge-sharing and international collaboration, this discussion will highlight the best practices, address challenges faced, and enhance partnerships.
The Special Forum will build on the 2017 multi-stakeholder conference co-organized by the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, the ASEAN Society – Philippines, and the S. Rajaratnam School for International Studies on the topic of Peace and Prevention of Violent Extremism in Southeast Asia.
The Special Forum will provide a venue for government and civil society representatives from regions and sub-regions, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa to exchange experiences on WPS regional partnerships, citing both good practices and challenges, explore common priority WPS areas for collaboration and coordination where new partnerships can be forged and specific activities can be undertaken, and, discuss the establishment of a network between regions.
