Event Summary: WILPF/PeaceWomen's Women, Peace and Security Financing Workshop

By Madison Chapman

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Workshop attendees. (Photo: Grace Jennings-Edquist)

“We reject the fact that there is no money for gender justice.” This statement by PeaceWomen Director Dr. Abigail Ruane set the tone and mission for the WILPF/PeaceWomen’s Women, Peace, and Security Financing Workshop, held on July 7-8 in New York.. The event, entitled “Advancing the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda—Local to Global Financing as Mechanisms for Gender Equality and Stable and Peaceful Societies,” brought together civil society experts from development and security sectors to develop concrete strategies for gender equality and peace. Throughout the intensive two-day event, attendees mapped financial flows, shared good practices, and took part in an interactive gender budgeting workshop.

The workshop was followed by a side event to the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, entitled “Ensuring that No One is Left Behind: Financing Gender Equality and Stable and Peaceful Societies for Effective Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.” The side event reported back from the workshop and was attended by over 55 participants, including from the missions of Austria, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, United States, and Uruguay.

As Deputy Peace and Security Chief of UN Women Nahla Valji reminded participants at the event’s outset, member states must commit to invest in gender equality and peace if they wish to “ensure that no one is left behind”. Participants called on member states to strengthen Women, Peace and Security financing, including by: 1) financing UNSCR 1325 National Action Plans, 2) implementing  Gender Responsive Budgeting, 3) strengthening accountability on defense budgets, and 4) investing in civil society-inclusive funds, such as the newly launched Global Acceleration Instrument.

Read the full blog post about the event here. Watch this space for a full report offering more detailed information and analyses of both events.