IPI’s Women, Peace, and Security Program focuses on two streams of work: “Realizing the Promise of Security Council Resolution 1325” and the Women’s Leadership Forum. Despite two decades of policy development and commitments to supporting women and girls affected by armed conflict, women’s participation in all levels of decision making lags due to structural barriers, lack of access to political arenas, and even threats to women who attempt to participate in these processes. Efforts to build and sustain peace continue to neglect the expertise of local-level women peacebuilders, and formal peacemaking efforts continue to resist women’s meaningful participation and women’s rights. IPI’s WPS program provides research and analysis and convenes key stakeholders to support the full participation of women and respect for their rights in all efforts to build and sustain peace. In the context of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WPS program is adapting research methodologies and using virtual convening. In addition to this standalone program, IPI is working to ensure women, peace, and security issues are reflected in the entirety of the organization’s work.

Women and Peace Operations

Calls to increase the number of women in peace operations (whether peacekeeping operations or special political missions) are increasingly intersecting with expectations of what women will “do” in these operations, covering everything from participation in female engagement teams to mediation. These expectations are, in turn, confronting the challenges women face in the security sector. Research on the unintended consequences of various policy and programmatic interventions, on incentives, and, crucially, on what women in uniform want from these initiatives remains nascent. Likewise, research on gendered definitions of security is lacking, and security concerns—both of host communities and uniformed women themselves—are often narrowly defined in mandates and pre-deployment training. Such narrow definitions often exclude, among other things, gendered health security concerns.

IPI’s project on women in peace operations seeks to fill that gap. It builds on the organization’s expertise in UN peace operations and a rigorous research methodology to analyze and evaluate challenges and successes in increasing women’s substantive participation in peace operations. By working with the UN, governments, and civil society partners, IPI will provide concrete policy guidance on what policies and programs are necessary to substantively improve women’s participation in peace operations.

Pressing Questions in Women, Peace, and Security

IPI will continue to analyze and evaluate the challenges and successes of the women, peace, and security agenda and offer recommendations on the way forward, including as the global community marks the 20^th anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000). A key area of focus will be the linkages between women’s participation in political transitions and their specific protection concerns. Other potential areas to examine will include preventing violent extremism, sexual exploitation and abuse, migration and refugee issues, and the gendered impact of COVID-19. This stream of work will also seek to explore women’s leadership, rights, and service provision needs in humanitarian settings; inclusive post- conflict reconstruction; WPS at the Security Council; and financing for work on WPS.

The UN and LGBTI Rights

Civil society groups and member states have increasingly put issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) on the UN agenda. While high-profile votes at the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council have attracted attention—and controversy—most of the UN’s efforts to address the rights and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people (LGBTI) are taking place outside of member-state bodies. These efforts have not been the subject of extensive research.

To fill this gap, IPI has been mapping how UN agencies, funds, and programs and the UN Secretariat are (or are not) considering the needs and concerns of LGBTI individuals and communities in implementing their work. This involves discussions with civil society advocates, UN member states in the LGBTI Core Group, and UN agencies’ LGBTI focal points. In 2020 IPI will continue exploring the internal and external challenges and opportunities for those seeking to advance UN policy and programming related to SOGI and consider what more can be done. Contingent on funding, IPI will produce a policy paper presenting findings and convene discussions among stakeholders. At a later stage, and depending on restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, IPI intends to conduct field research to assess the on-the-ground implementation of UN policies and programming related to SOGI.

Women and Mediation: Opportunities and Challenges

IPI will conduct research and convene dialogue with member states, the UN, and NGOs to explore what needs to be done at the multilateral level to ensure that efforts to build peace, including mediation efforts, fulfill their potential to include women’s voices and address women’s rights. Drawing on these dialogues, IPI will analyze core questions and challenges for women in peace processes and provide recommendations for all relevant actors.

Women, Peace and Leadership Series

Numerous initiatives at the national, regional, and multilateral levels attempt to grapple with women, peace, and security. However, there are few opportunities for senior decision makers to have frank and focused discussions on how to solve the most pressing and political issues. Dedicated, annual events bringing together these leaders will provide much-needed opportunities to talk through creative and practical solutions to the core challenges facing women, peace, and security. To that end, IPI will virtually convene a closed-door, ministerial-level meeting on women, peace, and security, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This meeting will focus on the intersection between WPS and the pandemic. Provided it is safe to convene, IPI will also organize a high-level symposium on WPS during the UN General Assembly’s high- level week every September.

Women, Peace, and Leadership Council

As part of the development of its Women, Peace, and Security Program, IPI is establishing a Women, Peace, and Leadership Council comprised of individuals who financially support and sustain the work of the program. Members of the council are highly respected in their fields and communities and have the ability to generate support for IPI’s findings and recommendations. The support of the Women, Peace, and Leadership Council will help ensure IPI’s WPS Program has the staffing and financial support it needs to build a robust body of research on this topic and to convene strategic meetings of decision makers, from community leaders to senior government officials.

Members of the council will be invited to an annual council-only breakfast with the head of the WPS Program and receive a quarterly update on the work of the program. They will also be invited to WPS events at IPI, including policy fora and receptions with leaders in the international community and, depending on their giving level, to private meetings with notable WPS experts.