Costing and Financing UN Security Council Resolution 1325
Examining the Resources Needed to Implement Women, Peace and Security Resolutions at the National Level
Commissioned by Cordaid and GNWP
Consultant: Nicola Popovic
Download pdf of full Executive summary
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Local Ownership and Transparency in Processes of Funding Women, Peace and Security Initiatives
a. Findings:
Resolution 1325 is thematically embedded in a variety of related international agreements and policies. For example, the principles of mutual accountability, alignment, and harmonisation of funding mechanisms contained in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agreement on Financing for Development support the integration of 1325 in national priorities and underscore the importance of women’s participation.
b. Recommendations:
Local ownership and mutually beneficial relationships between donor and recipient organizations should be cultivated. The inclusion of local women’s organisations and communities affected by armed conflicts in policy processes should be part of standard operating procedures. The development and implementation of NAPs on 1325 should include efforts to ensure full participation of local stakeholders and sustained capacity building initiatives. Transparent fund sourcing, use and management of resources should be promoted. Reporting on the source of funds, their intended use, and a clear and easily digestible version of the implementation strategy on resolution 1325, should also be made public.
2. More Collaboration and Coordination of Different Activities and Actors
a. Findings:
There are different channels and actors involved in the financing process. Governments in the global North to governments in the global South, civil society organisations, and the private sector are some of the key actors. All these actors have specific interests and perspectives on women, peace and security. The coordination between these actors is often random and poorly assessed.
b. Recommendations:
Collaboration mechanisms need to be strengthened among donors, within countries implementing resolution 1325, among the international community and civil society organisations. Mechanisms for collaboration and resource provisions such as ‘twinning’ and cross learning experiences, have the aim of helping provide countries with increased ownership, a more transparent finance process and coordination and harmonization of all activities in the implementation of 1325.
3. Private Sector Actors can be Important Partners for Women, Peace and Security Initiatives
a. Findings:
Currently, some actors in the private sector provide funds and services to initiatives in women’s economic empowerment, including skills training, education in business management, information and communication technologies; addressing SGBV through rule of law initiatives; psycho-social and medical care; community sensitization against SGBV; and improving access to information, data collection. Private sector actors normally work through foundations created specifically to carry out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandates. However, most companies contributing towards women, peace and security initiatives are operating, without a clear understanding of the linkages between CSR and the guiding principles, international and human rights standards that provide the framework for initiatives on women, peace and security.
b. Recommendations
Corporations entering partnerships on women’s empowerment initiatives in conflict and post conflict areas, have to have a clear and concise contextual understanding of the needs of women and the issues to be addressed in peacebuilding and reconstruction. There is an immediate need to create a CSR framework, that incorporates all guiding principles and human rights standards pertaining to women, peace and security. Creating partnerships with local NGOs and community leaders, including women is crucial. Companies should advocate for the UN Global Compact, which is “a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies around ten universal principles”[1] covering human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption, to include and create partnerships amongst various stakeholders specifically focusing on women, peace and security in conflict and post conflict settings.
4. Increase Financial Efficiency through more Open and Direct Dialogue between Donors and Recipients
a. Findings:
While European countries and Chile have developed their NAPs using internal budgets, most developing countries rely on external resources to develop theirs. A key source of funding are European countries that already have NAPs. They provide financial support women, peace and security implementation strategies in their priority countries.
b. Recommendations:
Increased collaboration and coordination should be developed to establish direct donor-recipient relationships. A consultative, transparent and inclusive process that integrates careful analysis and allocation of resources for women, peace and security will help ensure more effective and adequate funding.
5. Earmarking 1325 Funds, Revise Military Budgets and Gender Budgeting
a. Findings:
By earmarking specifically dedicated funds for women, peace and security issues, as Switzerland has done, identification of internal resources can be made clearer. Section four A of this study specifically looks at the methodology of gender budgeting. The example of the Philippines demonstrates that this strategy can potentially contribute to the successful financing of a NAPs on resolution 1325, independent of external funding. Budgets may come from different departments including the Foreign Affairs Office, the Ministry of Gender and the Department of Defence. Military spending and the shifting of security paradigms have also been discussed in order to promote rethinking of security budget allocations.
b. Recommendations:
Earmarking specific funds dedicated to resolution 1325 is needed to monitor the available resources more efficiently. Military budgets should allocate more resources contributing to women, peace and security, than defence issues. Countries implementing the 3D approach (Development, Defence, Diplomacy) should proportionally allocate funds for development in order to contribute to the achievement of the objectives outlined in the four Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security.
6. Increased Recognition of Civil Society Organisations’ Capacity to Generate and Manage Financial Resources Dedicated to Resolution 1325 Implementation
a. Finding:
Local NGOs and UN agencies have been involved in nearly all existing NAPs on resolution 1325 and provide support by raising awareness, building capacity and evaluating the progress and impact of action plans. Their funding and the impact of their activities can be enormous and decisive for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NAPs. For example in Sierra Leone, the NAP was developed with strong and active participation by local NGOs , which were financially supported by international organizations.
b. Recommendations:
NGOs working on Resolution 1325 in the global North can increasingly align with organisations in the global South to generate financial and in-kind resources for national action planning processes and other initiatives on women and peace and security. Special attention should be paid to smaller NGOs working at the grassroots level on women, peace and security issues, in order to ensure that local needs –including their financial capacities and needs to implement 1325—are sufficiently taken into consideration.
7. Realistic Planning and Context Specific Resourcing
a. Findings:
The last section outlined different monetary figures, to quantify the cost of action planning, so that a comparable figure could reveal estimated costs and financing for the implementation of Resolution 1325. It is clear that the amount of money invested in the development and implementation of NAPs varies significantly. There is no “one size fits all” response to how much money makes a good NAP. Nonetheless, the issues such as raising awareness, building capacity, creating political will, coordination between the different actors involved and monitoring and evaluating, all need sufficient funding and resources in order to lead to the successful implementation of women, peace and security issues. A realistic and transparent planning of the existing and needed resources is key. Cote D’Ivoire’s provides a good example in outlining priority components and identifying agencies assigned to provide funds and lead the implementation of the national action plan.
b. Recommendations:
Conduct a realistic and transparent planning of existing and needed resources for 1325 implementation. Initial assessments should feed into all phases of action planning processes.
8. Sufficient Resources for Monitoring and Evaluation of Women, Peace and Security Initiatives
a. Findings:
Monitoring and evaluation (M & E) is essential to improve and manage the impact of existing and past women, peace and security initiatives. Proper accounting for the funds dedicated to them is equally important.
b. Recommendations:
M & E can help improve management of financial resources. M & E should be adequately funded and should include indicators that specifically evaluate the generation, use and management of funds for women, peace and security. Specific indicators that respond to local contexts should be developed with sufficient resources at hand, to collect and analyse the required data. Criteria for M&E must integrate local needs and capacities. In order to measure the long term impact as well as the sustainability of the outlined activities, clear criteria and sufficient budgets and timelines for in depth analysis is needed.
The tenth anniversary of 1325 together with the newly adopted resolutions offers an opportunity to not only raise more funds for women, peace and security issues, but also to improve implementation strategies and coordinate the different initiatives and actors active around this issue. Indicators to track implementation of 1325 globally, including specific indicators on financing, have been developed by both the UN and civil society. They should be endorsed and used immediately.
[1] The UN Global Compact: Overview of the UN Global Compact, available at http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/index.html.
