National Action Plans
UN Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 address the impact of war and conflict on women, and call for women's participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and sustainable peacebuilding. Neither resolution, however, includes clear mechanisms for monitoring implementation and ensuring accountability. To address this gap, the UN Secretary-General asked for the formulation of National Action Plans (NAPs).
Since 2005, the following countries have adopted National Action Plans on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Chile
- Côte D’Ivoire
- Denmark
- Finland
- Iceland
- Liberia
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Sierra Leone
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Uganda (on resolutions 1325 & 1820)
- United Kingdom
Several more countries are in the process of developing and adopting NAPs.
Yet, most National Action Plans have lacked adequate indicators to evaluate their implementation. To strengthen national planning on SCR 1325 and related resolutions, UNIFEM (now UN Women) has since 2009 supported a multi-country initiative to produce meaningful and practical indicators on the implementation of NAPs. Sometimes this means prioritizing indicators to be able to effectively track progress. In Uganda, for example, a list of 547 indicators in the NAP was shortened to 15. In Liberia, out of a list of 197 indicators, 21 priority indicators were identified.
Through the development of National Action Plans, some common themes have emerged as critical:
- Women’s participation at all levels of decision-making in the government;
- Increased reporting and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence;
- Access to health services, psychosocial support and trauma counseling for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence;
- Domestication of specific and relevant regional and international laws, resolutions and conventions; and
- Capacity-building of national actors to prevent sexual and gender-based violence.
