WUNRN
Global Network of Women
Peacebuilders
Costing and Financing on Gender, Equality and
Peace:
Missing Link in the Women and Peace and Security Agenda
Ten years after the adoption of the
groundbreaking UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and
Security, the needed funding for its full implementation is still uncertain.
Government officials, UN representatives, civil society organizations and private
sector representatives discussed the current trends and challenges in investing
in women, peace and security issues in a recent meeting held at the UN
headquarters in New York, on October 27th.
The lack of funding was the focus of the presentation of the study "Costing and Financing 1325: Examining the Resources Needed to Implement Women, Peace and Security Resolutions at the National Level," jointly commissioned by the Dutch non-governmental organization Cordaid and the Global Network of Women Peace builders (GNWP), during the commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of Resolution 1325 in New York at the end of October.
The study analyses the resources available and needed to implement the resolution, and also examines the complicated funding landscape for women and peace and security programs.It presents recommendations on how to make resource allocation efficient and effective.
Reflecting on the relevance of the study to their situations, NGO representatives from war-affected countries like Sierra Leone, Sudan and the Philippines attended the presentation, which was co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women - UN INSTRAW (now part of UN Women).
As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recently stated, the corporate sector can play an important role in eliminating violence against women. Sara Lulo, executive director of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School explained that, "Avon goes well beyond its business mission of providing economic opportunity to women in over 100 countries by giving them the ability to start their own businesses. Through philanthropic initiatives, Avon also has raised and donated more than $30 million for global programs working to end violence against women." Ms. Lulo emphasized that, "it is important for stakeholders to understand not only the links between economic empowerment and violence against women, but also how violence against women plays out in post-conflict environments specifically - which has been a focus of several initiatives of the Avon Global Center at Cornell Law School."
All of the participants emphasized the need for improved coordination among different actors involved in implementing resolution 1325. "This study is the missing link in the chain of knowledge needed to build and improve upon the different methods of costing - and bring it into the context of 1325," Yassine Fall, INSTRAW Executive Director stated. She noted with approval that the study looks at capacity as a multi-facetted process, in which women advocates play a crucial role even if they are not all technical experts. She also stressed the need for women's advocates to participate in donor meetings and articulate what they need to make their crucial contributions to implementation.
Nicola Popovic presented the research findings and the following key recommendations:
Dr. Nana Pratt, representative of National Organization of Women and the Mano River Women's Peace Network in Sierra Leone, emphasized that, "in situations of post conflict, there are many competing priorities. Special attention has to be paid not only to financing the development of a national action plan but also to funding for its implementation." "We need to tap both internal and external sources and look at innovative sources including private enterprises," she elaborated. Jasmin Nario-Galace, Associate Director of the Centre for Peace Education in the Philippines, informed the audience that one of the sources of funding for the implementation of the 1325 national action plan is the Gender and Development (GAD) budget. The GAD budget is the Philippine government's policy that requires all government agencies at all levels to allocate 5 % of their total budget to gender mainstreaming.
Maresa Oosterman, First Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs Section of the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands noted that, "the study presents a distinctly new approach to the theme of implementation through the emphasis on costing, monitoring and evaluation - all powerful tools towards successful implementation. Making 1325 part of national budget discussions puts it at the heart of the policy agenda. Links become more clear. For example how economic security and empowerment are essential to make women less vulnerable. The private sector's interest in stability and the possibility of having them as partner in implementing 1325 is also a critical component of these discussions."
CORDAID and GNWP, expressed their commitment to pursue the discussions on the issue of costing and financing Women and Peace and Security initiatives. The two organizations are now exploring a pilot project that will implement the recommendations of the study.
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Global Network of Women
Peacebuilders - GNWP
COSTING & FINANCING
IMPLEMENTATION OF UN SC RESOLUTION 1325
Study on “Costing and Financing
1325”
A study commissioned by Cordaid
and GNWP
Consultant:
Nicola Popovic
Timeframe:
January-June 2010
Full Costing and Finanacing
1325 study
Findings and
recommendations: Executive summary
Please
note that the study is undergoing a revision. Please check back for an updated
version.
Background
The need to
allocate sufficient resources for implementation of UNSCR 1325 has been
emphasized by women’s groups, UN entities and other women, peace and security
advocates since the adoption of the resolution in 2000. The UN Secretary General’s
2007 report on women peace and security stressed that “[A]dequate and
predictable funding is crucial for efficient and sustainable implementation of
the resolution.” The UN SG’s succeeding reports also called on governments,
civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders to “work to increase
human and financial resources for mainstreaming a gender perspective in peace
and security processes.” At the meeting “Increasing Momentum for UNSCR 1325
National Action Plans” organized by Realizing Rights and the Initiative for
Inclusive Security, on April 24, 2009 in New York, it was recommended that
funding including from Official Development Assistance and other sources should
be an integral part of 1325 plans.
Recent
discussions, such as the EU meeting on the implementation of UNSCR 1325
National Action Plans held in Brussels October 2, 2009, also stressed the need
for statistics on women’s participation in peace negotiations as well as on
post-conflict funding addressing women’s needs.
Rationale
The 10th
anniversary of UNSCR 1325 presents a great opportunity to examine the issue of
financing and resource allocation for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and its
supporting resolutions. It is an opportunity to lobby the donor community to
allocate resources and enable United Nations Member States, particularly in the
Global South, as well as civil society and multilateral agencies such as the
United Nations and other stakeholders to fully implement UNSCR 1325. The 10th
anniversary is also an occasion to call on Global South governments to allocate
resources for 1325 implementation from their own national budgets. The
inclusion of the cost of 1325 implementation in national budgets will guarantee
integration in national development strategies and ownership of the resolution
and its implementation mechanisms at the country level.
The
allocation of financial resources should be one of the indicators and bench
marks that various governments, the UN, civil society and other stakeholders
should use to gauge implementation. This civil-society-led study will
complement the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security’s 2010
Agenda for Action where one of the three major challenge areas is the
“Increased Resources for Women, Peace and Security.”
Objectives
and deliverables
Research
methodology, scope and relevant issues
The
following describes the research methodology, scope and issues relevant for the
content of the proposed issue paper analyzing financial requirements, needs and
modalities implementing women peace and security issues. The study will
estimate the resources needed for the full implementation of UNSCR 1325, in
order to develop quantitative and comparable indicators for analyzing the
resources dedicated to women, peace and security issues. In relation to this
study, globally applicable indicators will be drafted through the Global
Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) and validated through its member
organizations.
UNSCRs 1325,
1820, 1888 and 1889 outline the thematic as well as the normative scope of this
study in relation to other related provisions such as the Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as well as the Millennium
Development Goals in relation to international development assistance
provisions such as the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the Accra Agenda
for Action and the Monterrey Consensus.
The study
will contain various case studies to demonstrate different funding and
implementation strategies in different country contexts and levels. Suggested
case studies are Colombia, the Philippines, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the
Netherlands which shall demonstrate the different strategies to allocate
resources for different implementation strategies on UNSCR 1325 and related
provisions. These case studies also help to identify different types of
resources needed for the full and comprehensive implementation of UNSCR 1325.
Furthermore,
this study shall suggest –as concretely as possible- the sources and funding
needed to implement UNSCR 1325 and other women, peace and security provisions
in a sustainable, inclusive, participatory and comprehensive manner. Instead of
providing specific numbers this study will only be able to provide estimates
based on the analyzed case studies and publically available information on
funding women, peace and security initiatives.
This study
will also look into the various modalities of resource allocation for 1325
implementation such as external funding from Official Development Assistance or
funding from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
development organizations. It will also examine how certain implementation
strategies such as twinning or cross-learning as in the case of Ireland and
Liberia have impacted or could potentially impact funding for 1325
implementation.
1.
Methodology of research:
2.
Limitations of this research:
3. Suggested
structure of the issue paper
Introduction
Normative
Framework
Financing
Women, Peace and Security
Case
Studies: Colombia, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, the Netherlands
Calculating
the Costs on Women, Peace and Security Implementation
Source box: How to calculate the cost for a 1325 action plan (with concrete
example from different contexts after each activity)
Case Study:
Liberia –including the Twinning strategy with Ireland and how that has impacted
financing for implementation
Conclusion