With the support of UNITAR’s Strategic Framework Fund, UNITAR’s Division for Peace and Division for Multilateral Diplomacy have recently launched a new Women’s Leadership for Peace programme, recognising the importance of women’s meaningful participation in leadership roles and in the promotion of stable and lasting peace. The initiative reflects UNITAR’s continued commitment to women’s empowerment and UNITAR Executive Director Nikhil Seth’s pledge for concrete action towards gender equality as an International Geneva Gender Champion.

Whilst it is well appreciated that women’s voices remain critical to achieving sustained peace, the data shows that women remain hugely under-represented, representing only 13% of negotiators, 3% of mediators and 4% of signatories to major peace processes between 1993 and 2018.

UNITAR’s Women’s Leadership for Peace programme will aim to address this gap in women’s participation, with the ultimate aim to improve gender balance in Peace and Security settings. The Programme will invest in embedding and establishing the necessary architectures and frameworks to engender change in mindsets, behaviours and cultures, to support women’s career progression, enhance leadership skills and build networks to drive change. Participants will be encouraged to act as multipliers in their local and national contexts, further supporting women beyond the cohort of the Programme.

The programme will be designed to support the realisation of change called for through the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the subsequent Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, targeting mid-career, emerging female leaders working in the Peace and Security architecture.

With a dual focus on Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), the initiative builds on the success of UNITAR’s Women’s Leadership Programme, launched in 2015 by UNITAR’s Division for Multilateral Diplomacy. At the heart of the Women’s Leadership for Peace programme is the vision to facilitate and drive increased women’s leadership in the wider peace and security field, including in UN negotiation and decision making fora, within the context of regional organisations, international networks as well as activities led at national and local levels. The Women’s Leadership for Peace programme aims to achieve this ambitious objective through targeted training and capacity building delivered in partnership with leading UN organisations such as the UN Women Training Centre, the UN System more broadly, as well as relevant regional partners and stakeholders, including from academia, civil society, international organisations, national institutions and the private sector.

UNITAR’s Learning Solutions team will ensure that the Programme is following a methodological design that allows for an immersive and transformative learning experience, both in a face-to-face as well as digital formats. UNITAR will build on its expertise in designing blended formats that allow for continuous learning, even in times of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the use of cutting edge online learning pedagogies, including a comprehensive series of e-Learning opportunities, a mentorship programme and buddy network to strengthen women’s networks globally.

UNITAR is currently seeking partners, donors and Champions in the field of Women’s Leadership for Peace to support the development of effective partnerships and strengthening of networks, to ensure the Programme effectively reaches targeted participants in all contexts.

Nominations of inspiring and instrumental Champions will be gratefully received – please let us know your suggestions here. For more information, please contact sheleads4peace@unitar.org.

Share with