Ukraine – Lessons for implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

The latest Russian aggression towards Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, upended years of work by and between women’s civil society organizations (CSOs) and the security sector to implement and localize the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda. Both through the years and through the current war, strengthening processes for consultation between security sector actors and communities has repeatedly been identified as a pressing priority by CSOs and the Ukrainian government. Ms. Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy has stated the link clearly,“ cooperation between governments and civil society organizations in ensuring human rights, gender equality, and other important areas is key to effective implementation of public policy.”¹

As a step toward better systematizing security sector consultation with communities affected by conflict and civil society, in the second half of 2022, DCAF worked with Ukrainian experts and UN Women Ukraine to undertake a mapping study, which will be released in full this fall.² The mapping study revealed a myriad of obstacles to establishing and deepening cooperation between women’s CSOs and the security sector. An overarching challenge is an important shift since the beginning of the war: although many CSOs found a new openness to cooperation with security sector counterparts, the focus of this cooperation had shifted from gender equality and WPS implementation to humanitarian issues. Here are some lessons gathered in the study:

1. Sustaining focus on WPS national action plan implementation is key: Maintaining the momentum – even during humanitarian crises – regarding the implementations of the WPS agenda can help support and advance gender equality and women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding.
2. Institutionalized cooperation can lay a solid foundation: The security sector and CSOs should institutionalize cooperation through the signing of memoranda which should include provisions around joint planning and awareness raising.
3. Tailored capacity building is needed: Practical, skills-based training is crucial for both CSOs and security sector actors to help operationalize gender and WPS in their work.
4. Allyship and leadership are critical: Allies among leadership and men are essential for gender equality advancements.
5. Awareness raising is an important component: Raising awareness on the WPS agenda and on opportunities for women within the security sector and externally among the public enhances cooperation.
6. Funding makes it possible: Adequate and flexible funding supports CSOs’ capacity building and active participation in the WPS agenda.

Ultimately, the need to continue to implement the WPS Agenda and work to advance gender equality is just as critical in conflict and cannot be sacrificed in the name of “more pressing issues.” The DCAF and UN Women Ukraine mapping study provides further material evidence that continuing this work is critical through a conflict cycle and that CSOs cooperating with the security sector provide concrete, critical advancements to conflict prevention and resilience.

1. Ms. Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy, Doctor of Law, professor, forward to the DCAF, UN Women (2023), Cooperation of Civil Society Organizations with the Defence and Security Sector in the Implementation of Gender Equality Policy in Ukraine, report. on file with the author.

2. DCAF, UN Women (2023), Cooperation of Civil Society Organizations with the Defence and Security Sector in the Implementation of Gender Equality Policy in Ukraine, report. Geneva: DCAF, UN Women. The mapping study was conducted and drafted by Angelina Biriukova, program manager, DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, Mykhailo Koryukalov, gender equality expert, Oksana Huyda, sociologist, Olena Suslova, gender equality expert and is on file with the author.