Course E058: Women, Peace and Security
It is now recognised that conflict prevention, recovery and peacebuilding cannot succeed if half the population is excluded. Conflict prevention, peace agreements, post-conflict reconstruction, and governance is more effective when women are involved and when their needs and priorities are taken into account. Documents such as the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122, 2242, 2467 and 2493) outline concrete actions to be taken by the international community and respective Member States to address women, peace and security issues. These include actions to increase women’s participation at all levels of conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and peacekeeping initiatives; the protection of women and girls during armed conflict; and the prevention of gender-based violence.
While normative global, regional and national frameworks have increasingly been developed over the last decade, the comprehensive implementation of the resolutions remains the greatest challenge. Conflict prevention, peace negotiations, peacekeeping missions and conflict resolution mechanisms often ignore women’s voices and fail to address the needs of women.This e-learning course provides participants with an understanding of how a gender lens is critical to all elements of peacebuilding, conflict resolution and recovery work, initiatives and policy. It outlines the normative framework around women’s rights and peacebuilding, security sector governance, approaches to transitional justice, security policy making and awareness raising on women’s and gender issues. This course uses weekly case studies to illustrate how the normative framework has been put into practice in different regions of the world. Finally, the course takes a critical look at the implementation of the women, peace and security resolutions, including gaps that that make a comprehensive, realistic and effective response to gender, peace and security issues challenging in field as well as in the global discourse. Participants will critically analyse international interventions on peace and security from a women’s rights perspective.
Course objectives
After having completed this course, you will be able to:
- assess the gendered impacts of armed conflict and violence;
- apply a gender analysis as a way to understand conflict and post-conflict dynamics;
- identify the importance of integrating gender into peace and security processes;
- summarise the historical trajectory and normative framework on women, peace and security and how it fits within the international human rights system;
- identify the roles and responsibilities of different actors involved in women, peace and security issues;
- assess the roles of and coordination between key actors in the implementation of women, peace and security initiatives;
- identify challenges and lessons learned around the implementation of women, peace and security initiatives and projects;
- analyse tools and strategies for the implementation of the women, peace and security resolutions at the international, regional, national and local levels;
- evaluate progress in implementation using specific monitoring and evaluation tools for women, peace and security initiatives;
- propose recommendations to respond to challenges in implementation.
This certificate course involves approximately 30 hours of reading, discussion, weekly 60-minute (Zoom) live classroom sessions (on Monday’s from 15h00-16h00 UTC/GMT) with the course instructor and/or guests experts, a written assignment and quizzes, and is offered over a six-week period. The course is based on a participatory, active learning approach, with an emphasis on critical reflection and peer-to-peer learning. Participants will do the required readings, prepare interim and final assignments and participate in group discussions. Case studies will be used to enable interactive learning and activities. Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Participation. It is also possible to audit the course.
Course outline
Week 1. Introduction to women, peace and security
Week 2. The normative framework around women, peace and security
Week 3. The 3 P’s of women, peace and security: participation, prevention and protection
Week 4. Implementation of the women, peace and security agenda at the international, regional, national and local levels
Week 5. Challenges and lessons learned in implementation
Week 6. Tools and ways forward
Who should apply
The course is intended for human rights/women’s human rights/humanitarian staff of INGOs, NGOs, intergovernmental and government agencies; women’s advocates and feminists; university students of international law, international relations, and politics; and practitioners of other areas who want to learn about peacebuilding and its gender dimensions. The course is also intended for staff members of UN specialised agencies who want to learn more about gender equality and women’s empowerment in post-conflict settings. Participants should have a good written command of English and have high competence and comfort with computing devices and Internet use.Upcoming session(s): CLOSED
Costs: Tuition fee for participants: € 345 (after 1 December 2021: € 405). Tuition for auditors: € 135 (after 1 December 2021: € 165). Payments can be made online with major credit cards (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa), PayPal and bank transfer. Bulk rates are available. Payments are due upon registration.
Registration: Closed.
Frequently asked questions
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