Project profile — Reducing Barriers for Uniformed Women in UN Peace Operations

The expected outcomes for this project are improved policies and practices of Troop and Police Contributing Countries to reduce barriers to uniformed women’s deployment to UN Peace Operations.

Results achieved as of March 2022 include: (1) developed and published a groundbreaking Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations (MOWIP) barrier assessment methodology in October 2020. This provided Troop and Police Contributing Countries (TPCC) necessary tools to identify and assess barriers and opportunities for uniformed women’s meaningful participation in peace operations within their institutions; (2) collaborated with seven national and regional research partners from the selected TPCCs to develop country-specific comprehensive Barrier Assessment Methodology. This resultd in detailed reports and policy recommendations to TPCCs. The Ghana Armed Forces, the National Police and National Gendarmerie of Senegal, the Armed Forces of Uruguay, the National Police of Uruguay and the Zambia Police Service completed their MOWIP Barrier Assessments Reports. These Barrier Assessments increased the knowledge of decision-makers on current obstacles to the meaningful participation of uniformed women in peace operations to enable innovative and transformative policies to address these challenges; and (3) produced and published six policy briefs as part of the Opportunities for Women in Peacekeeping: Policy Series, launched on February 9, 2022. This included the guest entry From More to Meaningful: Six strategies to make women’s participation count in peace support operations in the London School of Economics and Political Science Women, Peace and Security blog. The policy briefs aimed to promote a shift in policy frameworks and their corresponding policy actions from increasing participation in numbers to increasing meaningful participation by transforming structures, practices and attitudes.