UNITAR
UNITAR's Women's Leadership for Peace programme stands out as a source of empowerment in the landscape of global peace initiatives. Created in 2020, this innovative initiative was designed to address the unique challenges faced by women in the peace and security field and to increase the number of women in crucial leadership roles. Over the course of 2023, this program further evolved through four iterations, reaching women from over 30 nationalities and at different stages of their careers, making this program a truly global endeavour. By promoting peace and gender equality, UNITAR’s Women's Leadership for Peace Programme is creating a global network of resilient women leaders prepared and inspired to create positive change in their communities around the world.
Rooted in the fact that women remain severely underrepresented at all levels of informal and formal peace processes, the Women’s Leadership for Peace Programme provides strategic support to women, supporting them to step into and/or advance their leadership in their respective contexts. The design of the programme allows for the tailoring of content to contexts, ensuring that the specific skills and mindsets required to lead in different peace and security spaces are covered. Exemplifying this, in October of 2023, the programme was adapted for a group of Ukrainian Diplomats under a partnership with the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. Examining specific diplomatic skills and attitudes, this iteration increased the confidence and know-how of the participants so that they are better prepared to advance to leadership positions in their diplomatic roles. Further showing the ways in which the Women’s Leadership for Peace Programme addresses the representation gap, UNITAR designed and implemented an edition of this programme for members of the Senior Women Talent Pipeline. The program aimed at better preparing Francophone candidates for potential careers in UN peace operations in view of the gender parity strategy. This strategic programme not only bridges the capacity-building gap in women's leadership for peace but also serves as a pivotal force in dismantling the barriers that perpetuate the underrepresentation of women in senior leadership within UN peace operations and special political missions.
Recognising that women peace leaders face specific barriers towards participation and achieving their goals, a key approach used in this programme is agency-based empowerment. An agency-based empowerment approach to participation starts with supporting the individual in recognising their own worth and potential, before turning to the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to strive. Reflecting on her participation in the Women’s Leadership for Peace Emerging Leaders Course, an iteration of the programme for women with 7-15 years of experience, a participant testified to the power of this approach, sharing,
Being a part of the Women’s Leadership for Peace has been life-changing. The peace-building lens is applicable to so many facets of our world. Using the unique tools and skills we learned in change management and/or conflict resolution will create peace in the communities we live and work in. Learning to ‘choose ourselves’ and aligning with our values will allow us to be our best selves as we work together to create a world filled with positive peace and leave no one behind.
Leveraging an agency-based empowerment approach is a way by which the Women’s Leadership or Peace Programme gives women peace leaders the tools to navigate resist and overcome psychological, socio-cultural, and structural barriers that can be constraining and limiting.
It is well known that a factor that limits the advancement of women to leadership roles is that women often lack access to professional networks that provide support and important career resources. The Women’s Leadership for Peace Programme seeks to overcome this barrier by enabling connections and networking between women within the sustaining peace ecosystem. Both peer-to-peer learning and intergenerational dialogue are cornerstones of the programme, creating space for the exchange of experiences as well as discourse on the challenges and opportunities of leading as a woman. During the She Leads for Peace Summer School, a two-week iteration of the Women’s Leadership for Peace Programme for women transitioning from academic to professional life, the connection with more experienced women is invaluable. One participant shared,
Learning alongside excellent peers from diverse global backgrounds, exploring women's leadership over perspectives of authenticity, well-being and so on, and meeting exceptional women leaders from UNICEF, International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC UN Women, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, SHE Changes Climate and more was truly inspiring.
The expansion of a personal and professional network gained through participation in any iteration of the Women’s Leadership for Peace Programme provides participants with an invaluable resource that they can tap into for support in furthering their goals and potential as leaders and peacebuilders.
With 2023 nearing its end, UNITAR celebrates the success of the Women's Leadership for Peace programme, which has empowered multiple cohorts of women leading for peace around the world. Looking ahead, UNITAR will continue to scale up the Women’s Leadership for Peace Programme through collaborative partnerships, driven by a shared commitment to fostering peace. The aspiration is to reach more women across continents through the Women's Leadership for Peace programme. This specialized programme will equip women to confidently navigate the challenges of leading for peace in an increasingly complex world.
UNITAR
UNITAR