Monitoring the Progress: The Launch of the UNSCR 1325 Civil Society Scorecard

Below is a summary of a side event held during the 16th Anniversary of UNSCR 1325 entitled "Monitoring the Progress: The Launch of the UNSCR 1325 Civil Society Scorecard." Amongst the panellists featured during the event was Waad Hamid, a WILPF delegate from Libya.

See below for the summary's text, or download and read the original event summary file, attached below.

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EVENT DESCRIPTION:

Date: Monday, 24 October 2016
Time: 12:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN
 

SPEAKERS:

Mavic Cabrera Balleza, International Coordinator, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders
H.E. Ms. Lise Gregoire-van Haaren, Deputy Permanent Representative, the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations
Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, President of the UN Security Council (March 2000 & June 2001)
Phyllis Muema, Executive Director, Kenya Community Support Centre
Anne Kwakkenbos, Policy Advisor, the Dutch Gender Platform WO=MEN
Honorable Betty Ogwaro,  Member of Parliament, Consortium of Organisations for Women in South Sudan
Saadia Khan, Policy Specialist, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Waad Hamida, Co-founder of Students for Peace Movement at Tripoli University, Libya
 

EVENT SUMMARY

To measure the progress of the implementation of UNSCR 1325 a year after the launch of the 1325 Global Study, civil society organizations from Libya, Kenya, and South Sudan along with GNWP, WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform, and Cordaid have developed the 1325 Scorecard and launched it on 24 October 2016 in New York. The Scorecard represents an advocacy tool to monitor the progress of implementation of UNSCR 1325. It addresses the challenges and best practices countries can use to implement the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda.

The event started with several interventions from the panelists discussing the importance of women’s inclusion for gender justice, human rights and stronger social architecture. “We need to recognize the role of women in contributing to peace and security,” said Ambassador Chowdhury, highlighting the necessity of National Action Plans for building sustainable peace.

Saadia Khan of GNWP later launched the 1325 Scorecard and described the ways in which the 1325 Scorecard can be used. She stressed the importance of looking beyond the numbers when it comes to data collection. The Scorecard should be “an educational tool used for comparative analysis”, and a method for countries to compare and learn from each other. A specific added value of the 1325 Scorecard is that it shows whether gender is mainstreamed or institutionalized. Ms. Khan highlighted that “no data is actually data; it shows that governments are not prioritizing women.”

Highlighting good practices in the implementation of the National Action Plans (NAPs), Anne Kwakkenbos of WO=MEN started the panel by discussing her experiences of working with the Dutch NAP. She suggested that the theory of change should be based on partnerships between governments and their own people, civil society, and local women to promote change. Betty Ogwaro of South Sudan suggested that the existence of the NAPs is an instrument strong enough to hold governments accountable.

Finally, Waad Hamida concluded the panel by inviting governments and civil society to advocate for women in decision-making and peace negotiations. “The only way to make sustainable peace is to involve women,” she said.