For our work on gender to have genuine and sustainable traction it is imperative we apply it across the breadth of our strategic vision – from policy recommendations to research, funding and community action. This year, in partnership with various other organisations, we launched ‘Beyond Consultations’ – a toolkit to facilitate the participation of women in conflict-affected states in decision-making practices, and to avoid work on gender being reduced to a tick-box exercise in consultations. With our partners in South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen, we conducted research with women and women’s organisations on what meaningful participation means and on how national and international actors, including donors, consult women in their programmes and use these findings.
For two years, Saferworld has been advocating on gender, peace and security to the US government. This work recently bore fruit when the US Department of State adapted and used our Gender analysis of conflict toolkit. We also inputted substantially into the EU’s new draft strategic approach to women, peace and security, highlighting the dangers of integrating counter-terrorism and countering/preventing violent extremism approaches into the agenda. Many of our suggestions were adopted, including the need to finance gender-sensitive conflict prevention. UN agencies have used Saferworld’s gender and conflict analysis methodologies to strengthen the focus on gender in their peacekeeping missions, and UN Women reported that they can now see a difference in how the missions are incorporating a gender perspective in their work.
Organisationally, we have prioritised supporting our staff and partners in building their skills and knowledge on gender-sensitive programming. In response to the experiences of women in conflict environments, we developed a comprehensive internal guide on dealing sensitively with people who have been affected by gender-based violence (GBV). The guide is intended for staff and partners, to help them respond to survivors of GBV, focusing on their needs and concerns. This has been essential to our work, as GBV remains a primary security concern and a major obstacle to women’s empowerment and participation in the communities we work in.
