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10-Point Recommendations from GIWPS’ Rapid Response Network

10-Point Recommendations from GIWPS’ Rapid Response Network: For International Policymakers and UN Officials Following UNGA 80 and Ahead of the WPS Open Debate, Marking the 25th Anniversary of Resolution 1325

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, anchored in UN Security Council Resolution 1325, remains a vital framework for advancing women’s essential role in peace and security. It also serves as a powerful tool to push governments to act on the challenges, needs, and opportunities faced by women and girls in conflict contexts. However, its implementation faces persistent barriers that limit its full impact.

Below is a set of 10 recommendations, developed by a network of women leaders from conflict zones around the world including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine—with whom GIWPS has worked for several years. On September 17, 2025, GIWPS brought these leaders together in New York, on the sidelines of UNGA 80, to strategize about the future of the WPS agenda and to identify concrete reforms and actions needed for real impact on the ground. Their discussions focused on the role of global resolutions and the UN, and on the reforms required to make international commitments more responsive to the realities women face in conflict zones, bridging the gap between international rhetoric and local realities. They produced the following recommendations for the international community at the United Nations:

  1. Recognize WPS as part of the political agenda of each member state. The UN should not focus only on short-term solutions, such as negotiating immediate ceasefires or responding to crises. UN agencies and member states must also address peace and security issues holistically, prioritizing long-term, sustainable solutions that address the root causes of conflict.
  2. Leverage the WPS Expert Group at the UNSC and consider appointing a dedicated Special Envoy on WPS for specific conflict areas that the UNSC is monitoring.
  3. Create safe spaces for dialogue and actively amplify grassroots women’s voices, which are often missing in global spaces. Ensure that every UNSC briefing on peace and security situations includes at least one civil society briefer or a conflict survivor. 
  4. Integrate WPS frameworks into the mandates of UN Special Envoys and Special Rapporteurs, and consider better aligning the mandates of peace envoys and human rights rapporteurs with each other and with a strong focus on WPS implementation and human rights. Their mandates should be harmonized to avoid situations where they seem to contradict one another or compete for legitimacy. 
  5. Improve coordination among UN agencies and regional multilateral organizations, which often work with separate groups of women leaders and create a competitive dynamic. Ensure that efforts are carried out in collaboration and are complementary, especially at the regional level.
  6. Reform international development and humanitarian funding to make it more localized and decentralized. Ensure funding mechanisms minimize overhead and administrative costs so that implementing local organizations receive the majority of donor resources. Reduce reliance on UN-deployed staff by employing local personnel and resources, and make funding more accessible to local organizations by minimizing the complexity of applications, reporting, and auditing burdens.
  7. Reform the UN Peacebuilding Fund and other pooling funds to encourage and enable funding requests from outside of governments, i.e., civil society, particularly in countries where governments are hostile to implementing the WPS agenda and upholding human rights, or where women’s participation is not a priority.
  8. Ensure the sustainability of the UN projects by guaranteeing that project design and implementation are guided by the real needs on the ground and co-led by local communities and organizations. As the UN and international development and humanitarian aid systems are reimagined, member states must prioritize bottom-up approaches to development, humanitarian, and human rights work rather than top-down models. Women peacebuilders report that they are often consulted to identify needs and challenges, but are not given opportunities to implement projects. Instead, UN agencies frequently take ownership of their ideas and execute them with their own staff.
  9. Translate WPS into locally relevant terms. Move beyond high-level UN and policy jargon by framing WPS in ways that resonate with people’s daily realities. Instead of focusing on technical language from UNSCRs, NAPs, or policy acts, communicate through concepts communities can connect with—such as holistic security, livelihoods, food security, education, and local resilience. This makes WPS actionable and relatable on the ground.
  10. Tackle double standards that weaken the WPS agenda. Some countries ignore WPS without consequences, while others face harsh consequences. The consequences for ignoring and violating principles mandated by the WPS agenda should be consistent for all states and include sanctions and suspension from relevant UN bodies. 

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