Turning commitments into reality

In February 2011, the Government of Nepal (GoN) launched its National Action Plan (NAP) on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security -    the first such initiative in South Asia. Eighteen months on there has been important progress, but challenges remain – not least increasing the participation of men in the implementation of the action plan.

For Nepal, a post-conflict state in the process of consolidating peace, shaping security and directing development for all its citizens, the objectives of the NAP are particularly relevant. After a decade of violent conflict, there were high expectations that the NAP could help make women and girls more secure and ensure women’s participation in decision-making. Translating the NAP into practice represents an important and ambitious task that could potentially have a big impact in reducing  sexual and gender based violence and violence against women and girls and that could lead to more women taking on frontline roles in the Nepali security services.

Raising awareness of the NAP

“When we started to work on the NAP, it was just a seed and we didn’t even know whether it would germinate. Now, it might become a strong tree”, says Joint Secretary Sadhuram Sapkota, whose Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) has been leading on the development of the NAP and who is overseeing and co-ordinating its implementation.

He explains that since its launch in 2011, some crucial steps have been taken to familiarise government agencies and officials with the NAP: “Meanwhile, implementing agencies at the central and district level, particularly by working with the District Coordination Committee, (…) have received copies of the NAP, and some of them have received orientation training. (…) we are hopeful that by the end of the year we will have completed orientation and sensitisation at the district level.” He also points out that by developing orientation material and reaching out to the administration in all 75 districts, civil society organisations have contributed significantly to this task.

Taking a joined up approach

Reaching out to and co-ordinating all the stakeholders who are involved in the implementation of the NAP is a massive task: more than a dozen ministries and other government agencies and institutions including the Nepal Police, Nepal Army and Armed Police Force are expected to contribute, as well as a vast number of local and international NGOs, international organisations and donor agencies. They all have different agendas, and many of them are suffering from a lack of staff, capacities and resources. Nor do they all share a common understanding of how important it is to co-ordinate planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of programmes and activities related to the NAP. This is even more difficult in a context in which senior officials are rotating frequently, and in which even day-to-day decisions run the risk of being politicised.  

To move forward the implementation of the NAP, many key ministries and agencies have submitted proposals to the Nepal Peace Trust Fund, a government-owned fund that receives contributions from major donors to support the peace process in Nepal. The fact that key stakeholders now see that the NAP “is giving them work and resources [to do the work], not only additional work”, as Sapkota puts it, is playing an important part in strengthening enthusiasm and commitment to implement the NAP. The proposals submitted to the fund include important components such as renovating police stations. This will improve working conditions for female police officers and also make police stations better equipped for women to report crimes or be held as suspects.

Reaching conflict-affected women on the ground

But Sapkota is also realistic in expressing concerns that it will still take some time before activities directly reach those the NAP is particularly targeting – conflict-affected women. So far, activities at the local level are mainly implemented by local and international NGOs and donor agencies who have been playing an important role in supporting government stakeholders in developing the NAP.  While some ministries and agencies, including the MoPR, work closely with civil society and see them as partners in NAP implementation, others have reservations and want to keep government and civil society initiatives completely separate, limiting the effectiveness of initiatives.

Women’s participation in political processes – still a long way to go

At the end of May 2012, Nepal was supposed to get a new constitution which would have been a milestone on its way to consolidating peace and moving towards a better future. However, the Constitutional Assembly was not able to come up with a convincing draft. This led to a serious crisis resulting in the assembly’s dissolution, disputes around the legitimacy of the current government, as well as inter- and intra-party disputes. As a result the Maoist party, the biggest party in Nepal, has split  . Political rhetoric has become fierce, and people are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the political leadership.

One key objective of the NAP is to improve women’s participation in decision-making processes, including in the administration and political sphere. So, to what extend has the NAP been able to get women into positions in which they can shape the current discussions at the political level? “Not so much, I’m afraid”, Sapkota admits. “Conflict-affected women can now raise their voice, so they can contribute indirectly. But directly – the current problems [Nepal is struggling with] are like a big rock, and to move that rock, you need a big push. Those small pushes are not sufficient.” While he is confident that the government understands the relevance of female representation and participation, he doubts that women’s empowerment in the governance system is currently a focus of political decision makers.  In fact, the names of female politicians hardly ever come up in reporting on political discussions in this time of crisis. “Our most important legislative body, the Constitutional Assembly, had 33% female members – but that has now been dissolved”. 

However, there is progress within Nepal’s bureaucracy where female representation is set out in the Civil Service Act and other government policies. Other agencies such as the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have also had a quota system since 2008 to increase the number of female staff, and are putting additional measures into place to attract more female recruits.

Understand and involve men to strengthen women

In spite of these measures, women still find it challenging to acquire jobs and positions that are considered as being ‘typically male’. This underlines the importance of getting men on board to make it socially acceptable for women to take on these relatively new roles and to institutionalise changes. “We have to increase the level of participation of men in the implementation of the NAP. How can women get into positions of power if we don’t work with men who hold those positions at the moment?” Sapkota admits that too little is known about how current gender roles and perceptions of ‘what makes a man’ affect the empowerment of women: “The role of [notions of] masculinity is not really understood, we still need to work a lot on those areas. If women have to walk all the distance [to empowerment] on their own, it will be a long way. If men start walking towards them, the distance will not be that far.”

Saferworld’s recommendations for NAP implementation

The NAP is very much about changing behaviour. To achieve this, policies and programmes should be long-term, and targeted at women and girls affected by conflict and violence, but also at men to ensure they are on board and supportive. Short-term initiatives are limited in what they can achieve and often raise expectations that in the end can’t be met.

• Promote and foster girls’ and young women’s interest in political processes and how they can contribute to peace, gender equality and sustainable development. This can be done, for example, by engaging with young women in urban and rural areas and providing them with opportunities to think critically about topics that are discussed at the political level, to analyse existing challenges, and identify ways to address them that are conflict-sensitive and non-violent.

• Reduce perceptions and behaviour that could contribute to gender-based resentment, prejudice and violence, by engaging with children (both girls and boys) from an early age about non-violent behaviour and gender equality.

• Improve cross-agency co-ordination, including between government and civil society stakeholders, to ensure that initiatives are planned, implemented and monitored in a way that is strategic, increases effectiveness and avoids duplication of efforts.  For this purpose, the government should also look at initiatives that have been or are going to be implemented by civil society, and by initiatives that might not have a ‘NAP logo’ but are contributing to the goals and objectives of the NAP.

• Understand how perceptions of masculinity shape negative and often violent behaviour against women and girls, and use this knowledge to make policies and programming on gender and security more effective.

• Positive change must reach those needing it most, in this case women and girls who are affected by the conflict and insecurity. While it is important that current proposals submitted to the Nepal Peace Trust Fund focus largely on government institutions to prepare them adequately for working on the NAP, the next round of proposals should have a stronger focus on providing tangible benefits to local level beneficiaries.

Since 2009, Saferworld has been engaging on gender and security in Nepal. Recently,  Saferworld and partners conducted research on the perceptions and needs of female Maoist ex-combatants;  produced a docudrama that highlights the positive role of female police officers and promotes more social acceptance for women in such jobs; and worked with key governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to the NAP to assess current provisions for M&E and make recommendations for further strengthening the M&E system.

“We have to increase the level of participation of men in the implementation of the NAP. How can women get into positions of power if we don’t work with men who hold those positions at the moment? ”

Joint Secretary Sadhuram Sapkota, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, Nepal