Locations
UNDP and the Women, Peace and Security agenda
Women, Peace and Security in action
UNDP delivers across all four pillars of the Women, Peace and Security agenda—Participation, Protection, Prevention, and Relief & Recovery—through integrated governance, livelihoods, justice, climate, and energy portfolios.
Our approach
Participation
UNDP promotes women’s participation across various sectors of society – from politics and civil society to peacebuilding and conflict resolution, to climate action and environmental preservation – by working with women leaders, communities, and subnational and national governments, equipping them with necessary skills to lead and create enabling environments for women's leadership.
Protection
UNDP safeguards women’s rights through strengthened response to and prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) including conflict-related sexual violence and technology-facilitated GBV. This includes supporting the design and implementation of legal and policy reforms and action plans to stop violence against women, delivering critical support to survivors, and combating impunity.
Prevention
UNDP recognizes gender inequality as a driver of conflict and a factor that exacerbates crises, undermining community resilience. By addressing the root causes of conflict from a gender lens and tackling harmful gender norms that underpin gender inequality –together with women affected by crises– UNDP contributes to the prevention of conflict and violence against women.
Relief and Recovery
UNDP invests in women’s access to and participation in relief and recovery efforts. As a development agency, UNDP’s strength lies in advancing women’s economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods which are cornerstones of lasting peace and effective recovery, filling in a critical gap of this least reported pillar among the WPS pillars.
See some of UNDP's impacts under each pillar below:
Examples:
- In Georgia, UNDP helped to raise women’s municipal representation from 13.4% in 2022 to 30% in 2024.
- In the Philippines, UNDP assisted the Women Insider Mediators Rapid Action and Mobilization Platform in the Bangsamoro region. This group of 157 women peacebuilders helped maintain peace during recent elections. They worked on resolving land and clan feuds, family disputes, and stopping intimate partner violence, while also addressing broader issues like health, education, and livelihoods.
- The Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions equipped 100+ state entities–such as Ministries of Finance, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Planning–with skills to embed gender equality and strengthened accountability to women’s organizations in policy reforms, creating an enabling environment for women’s participation.
Examples:
- Spotlight Initiative 2.0 scaled national ownership and delivered comprehensive GBV programming through inter-agency partnerships in Ecuador, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia
- In Colombia, Ethiopia, Kosovo, Ukraine, UNDP provided lifesaving and legal support
- In Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine UNDP helped document violations of women’s rights
- The Gender Justice Platform, co-led by UNDP and UN Women, engaged in 40+ countries in justice sector reform to combat impunity
- Collect data on technology-facilitated GBV – particularly against women politicians and environmental human rights defenders – through an AI-powered tool to inform policy responses in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Iraq, and Libya
Examples:
- Conducted gender-responsive conflict analysis (GRCA) in Burundi, Gaza, Liberia, Moldova, Syria, and the Sahel to identify root causes of conflict and developed a guidance note on GRCA for development programmes
- 486 initiatives in 36 countries addressed discriminatory practices including the Gender Equality Barometer in Bosnia & Herzegovina which mobilized 2,000 feminists to push for systemic change
- UNDP held dialogue series on masculinities to address backlash and prevent violence
Examples:
- With its flagship EQUANOMICS: Gender-Responsive Fiscal Policy Initiative, UNDP supports governments to design tax, subsidies, and expenditure systems that reduce gender inequality. The initiative links equitable fiscal policies with financing for climate action and care systems, prevention of GBV, while placing women’s leadership at the center.
- In Syria, UNDP partnered with 22 networks and women-led CSOs to amplify women’s voices, manage women’s safe centers (which reached over 19,000 women and girls), and provided leadership and livelihood opportunities while it established the Fadfada platform, a digital mental health and psychosocial support service that reached 13,000+ women remotely, expanding access in restrictive environments.
- In Gaza and Ukraine, UNDP worked with women-led organizations to deliver humanitarian aid, legal aid, and psychosocial services.
- In Moldova that experienced energy crisis after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, UNDP supported women entrepreneurs with renewable energy solutions.
Global Women, Peace and Security Initiative
In 2024–2025, in partnership with the Government of France, UNDP established and implemented Phase I of the Global Women, Peace and Security Initiative in Chad, Mongolia and Ukraine, investing €1 million to advance women’s leadership in peacebuilding, recovery and climate resilience.
