Increasing Meaningful Participation of Uniformed Women in United Nations Peace Operations

This project aims to support the Gender Security Sector (GSS) Lab at Cornell University in improving the capacity and motivation of troop and police-contributing countries. It seeks to promote meaningful participation of women in United Nations peacekeeping. Cornell is providing technical assistance to six countries to implement the findings of a major assessment determining uniformed women’s barriers to participating in peacekeeping missions. Project activities includes: (1) collaborating with local research teams and national security forces from each of these countries; and (2) producing policy briefs public webinars and other communications products that advance knowledge about women in peacekeeping. This would also highlight the barriers that hinder their effective participation in peacekeeping missions.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) strengthened technical support to countries striving to overcome women’s participation in peacekeeping missions; (2) promoted security forces to have national ownership and access to data from barrier assessments; (3) demonstrated commitments and actions from troop and police contributing countries to influence efforts to increase women's meaningful participation in peacekeeping in countries and regions; and (4) implemented approaches to increase women’s meaningful participation in peacekeeping for practitioners researchers and national government stakeholders. The ultimate outcome of this project is to increase women’s meaningful participation in UN peace operations.