Papua New Guinea

The Papua New Guinea government, strengthened gender sensitive mechanisms including Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy and Women Peace and Security National Action Plan, to end violence against women and girls, promote gender equality, increase participation of women and girls in leadership roles, politics and decision making processes. In collaboration with UN Women and other stakeholders, the government successfully reviewed and validated the outdated National Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Policy (2011-2015). The old policy was not reflecting the current needs and perspectives of women, increased violence against women and girls and it was not offering adequate protection for women’s rights. The Department for Community Development and Religion (DfCDR) with support from UN Women, brought together representatives from 14 key government agencies, including the National Council of Women, Correctional Services, Personnel Management, Labour and Industrial Relations, and National Planning and Monitoring, CSOs and other key stakeholder to critically review the policy and ensure it advance gender equality and empower women in governance and decision-making. The processes engaged 212 representatives (154 women, 56 men, 2 undisclosed, and 12 with disabilities) from key government agencies, CSOs, and other stakeholders to review and validate the National Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Policy (2025-2035). .UN Women in partnership with Department of Community Development and Religion made significant progress towards developing Papua New Guinea's first-ever National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (NAP WPS). UN Women sensitized 20 Department of Community Development and Religion 12 female officers, and 8 male officers on Women Peace and Security focusing on, gender equality with a specific focus on gender and conflict, Women Peace Security in the world and in PNG and Women Peace Security National Action Plan overview, case studies, and brainstorming. After the sensitization of the government officials, a roadmap was developed through a participatory approach, focusing on inclusive community engagement in line with the WPS agenda. This initiative successfully amplified the voices of civil society organizations (CSOs) and women’s groups in conflict-affected areas of Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces (SHP). As part of the agenda building, two key community dialogues were conducted in Hela and Southern Highlands provinces from 29 September 2024 to 11 October 2024. The dialogues reached 58 CSOs (26 women and 32 men). Two provincial-level Women’s Agendas on WPS were developed for Hela and SHP, addressing key areas of participation, prevention, protection, and relief and recovery. The agendas were further validated by 51 (46 women and 5 men) CSO representatives from Hela and Southern Highlands provinces.