Costing and Financing on Gender, Equality and Peace: The Missing Link in the Women, 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 commissionedby 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, presenting 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 also 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).

Sara Lulo, executive director of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice 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 Avon philanthropic initiatives it also has raised and donated more than $30 million to global programs working to end violence against women.”

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.

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, Peace and Security initiatives. The two organizations are now exploring a pilot project that will implement the recommendations of the study.