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Gender, Peace and Security Factsheet
In today’s conflicts, more than 70 percent of the casualties are civilians-most of them women and children. Women are recognized as active participants in armed conflicts, as combatants, peace-builders, political actors and activists. Rather than portraying all women as helpless victims of war and violence, it is essential to take into account the diversity of roles they play in the perpetuation of conflict, as well as conflict prevention and resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Sustainable peace is only viable when the participation, perspectives, needs and concerns of women are voiced. The vision of UN-INSTRAW’s Gender, Peace and Security Programme (GPS) is to promote an inclusive peace and human security for women and men, girls and boys around the world. Following UN-INSTRAW’s institutional objectives, the programme promotes applied research, facilitates information sharing and networking, and supports capacity-building in an effort to advance gender equality.
Programme Aims and Objectives
The goal of the UN-INSTRAW Gender, Peace and Security programme is to help increase women’s visibility and participation in peace processes, strengthen protection mechanisms, and incorporate gender equality. The specific objectives of the Gender, Peace and Security Programme are to inform and facilitate:
- Implementation of the Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security;
- Inclusion of a gender perspective in all spheres of security sector reform (SSR) processes;
- Effective gender training for security sector personnel, including peacekeepers.
- Promote gender equality by supporting new legislation, backing women’s leadership and equal representation, and widening the space for women’s participation in the areas of peacekeeping, peace processes, post-conflict reconstruction and the reform of security institutions.
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UN-INSTRAW GPS Activities
In its strategic areas of work, UN-INSTRAW’s GPS programme has contributed significantly to the increase in knowledge of GPS issues, and has raised capacity and advocacy for more gender-responsive policies. Recent publications and activities have included:
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Securing Equality, Engendering Peace: A Guide to Policy on Planning on Women, Peace and Security, that helps to facilitate the development of national action plans on women, peace and security through the provision of good practices, specific recommendations, and a six-step model process.
- The Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, prepared in partnership with DCAF and the OSCE, which is designed to provide policymakers and practitioners with practical information on the relevance of gender issues in SSR and how they can be integrated.
- Supported the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development in the formation of the country's National Action Plan on Resolution 1325.
- Collaborated with the Associazione Diaspora e Pace to promote the implementation of Resolution 1325, by working with the Somali Diaspora living in Italy.
UN-INSTRAW
Since 1979, the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) has been the leading UN Institute devoted to research, capacity-development and knowledge management with the goal of achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The Institute’s participatory and innovative approaches to research have produced gender disaggregated data and research results that have served to better inform the design of training and capacity-building programmes and to strengthen stakeholder capacity to address and effectively integrate gender perspectives in all policies, programmes and projects. UN-INSTRAW works in partnership with governments, the United Nations System, civil society and academia.
Some highlights of UN-INSTRAW’s activities over the years include:
Promotion of policy change and gender mainstreaming through the development of conceptual frameworks and research methodologies to:
- Measure and value women’s non-remunerated labour and successfully integrate these contributions into the system of national accounts (Partners: UNSTAT)
- Evaluate the gender dimensions of women’s migration and remittances in order to assess their impact on local and rural development (Partners: UNDP)
- Evaluate women’s political participation in governance and political processes at the local, national, regional and international levels in order to increase women’s representation in decision-making positions (Multiple partners)
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| Development and implementation of capacity-building tools and trainings to:
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Train Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian journalists, parliamentarians and members of political parties on issues related to women’s political participation (Partners: CAWTAR)
- Encourage successful implementation of international mandates and commitments such as UN-INSTRAW’s guide on developing National Action Plans for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and UN-INSTRAW’s Toolkit for integrating gender into Security Sector Reform (Partners: DCAF)
- Provide trainings for all UN staff in Santo Domingo on mainstreaming gender into their work (Partners: UNFPA)
Implementation of participatory knowledge management activities to:
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Create virtual knowledge communities such as the Gender Training Community of Practice and the Gender and Migration Virtual Community to encourage dialogue, exchange experiences and facilitate access to information
- Hold virtual dialogues to bring together practitioners, members of governments, NGOs, academia and civil society from around the world to address specific topics such as:
“Gender, Migration, Remittances and Development: Towards a Participatory Research Framework” and “Expert Round Table on Gender-sensitive Public Policies in Latin America”
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Offer a Website that serves as a portal of information on gender-related issues, including databases such as: “Key Actors in Women’s Political Participation in the Maghreb,” “Global Database of Gender, Peace and Security Research Institutions” and a “Gender Training Wiki”
UN-INSTRAW currently manages more than 15 projects and covers all world regions. The Institute continues to successfully implement its projects and receive funds for new projects during the transition to the new UN gender architecture.
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