Twenty years after the adoption of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, women remain significantly underrepresented in peace processes. Conciliation Resources is working alongside other INGOs as part of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund to deliver a series of grants to address the funding gap on women’s participation in peace processes.
Women around the world, including in Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Libya, and Yemen are facing steep obstacles, direct resistance and great personal risks in their efforts to ensure they, and other women, can help shape the future of their countries.
The WPHF Rapid Response Window is a funding mechanism that addresses urgent funding gaps with targeted, short-term support to increase women’s participation in peace processes and the implementation of peace agreements. WPHF is a flexible financing tool supporting quality interventions to enhance the capacity of local women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities.
In Liberia, the fund has already supported two civil society organisations - the Women’s NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) and Liberia Future Trust (LiFT) - with the aim of making the national reconciliation process more inclusive. The two organisations are advocating for the implementation of the 2003 Accra Peace Agreement and the recommendations of the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2009, particularly regarding the central role of women in the national reconciliation process.
As an INGO partner, Conciliation Resources provides technical and operational support to grant recipients, as well as the provision of services to individuals or civil society organisations seeking direct financial support to access formal peace spaces and address specific barriers to women's participation, such as logistical support. Conciliation Resources also sits on the Technical Committee for the Rapid Response Window, reviewing and making recommendations on applications to be approved.
The RRW has two primary funding streams:
1) Direct Support Stream (up to $25,000 USD). The RRW directly finances the provision of services to ensure women’s access and influence in peace processes. This includes logistical and technical support that would increase the likelihood of a woman civil society organisation representative or individual to actively participate in or influence a peace process or the implementation of a peace agreement – including the cost of travel arrangements, childcare, access for persons with disabilities, interpretation needs, expert advisory support.
2) Short-Term Grants Stream (up to $100,000 USD). The RRW works with a range of partners to deliver rapid grants (6 months maximum) for projects that address diverse barriers to women’s influence and participation in peace processes, or the implementation of a peace agreement.
The scope for requests is purposely diverse and open to encompass a variety of demands to support women’s meaningful participation in formal peace processes and peace agreement implementation through punctual interventions which need urgent support. Flexibility in the type of support, timing and funding amounts is key to responding to women’s organisations and women groups’ needs to influence and participate in peace processes and peace agreement implementation at the national, subnational and international levels.