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

• Africa, regional (20.00%)
• America, regional (20.00%)
• Asia, regional (20.00%)
• Oceania, regional (20.00%)
• Europe, regional (20.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (70.00%)
• Conflict Prevention And Resolution, Peace And Security: Security system management and reform (15210) (30.00%)

• Disability (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)

This project aims to support decision-makers in UN Troop and Police Contributing Countries (TPCCs) with evidence and knowledge of the barriers limiting the deployment of uniformed women to United Nations (UN) Peace Operations. The participation and full involvement of women is important for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and yet, the proportion of uniformed women deploying on UN Peace Operations is very low. With a better understanding of why there are so few uniformed women, effective measures can be taken to reduce these gender imbalances. Project activities include: (1) collaborating with national or regional research partners from 8 selected TPCCs; (2) developing a comprehensive Barrier Assessment Methodology to undertake research of the barriers to women’s participation in UN Peace Operations resulting in detailed reports and policy recommendations to TPCCs; and (3) producing a series of Policy Briefs to inform policy development on women’s participation in UN Peace Operations at both country and multilateral levels.

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.

• Proactive disclosure