Outcome LAC_D_4.1

Coordination of women’s organization’s peacebuilding efforts is strengthened.

In terms of formal peace processes, Colombia increased its efforts to implement Security Council Resolution 1325 through the elaboration of a participatory approach to develop their first National Action Plan and advocating for the meaningful participation of women in the ongoing peace talks with the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional). This was done with the support of UN Women and its technical assistance. The government announced gender parity in the composition of their delegation to the peace talks taking place in Caracas; and initiated the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) elaboration process with a commitment to adopt a participatory, intersectional approach, including through five in-country regional fora to gather inputs from women civil society organization, feminist and women's groups, indigenous and afro-descendant communities. To contribute to this process, UN Women supported the organization of the Colloquium "Peace and Security: a feminist approach to these two concepts" with the participation of 12 feminist organizations. In collaboration with the UN Mission of Verification in Colombia, the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the Joint United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-DPPA on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention, UN Women organized a Regional Meeting of Women Peacebuilders that strengthened the links and capacities of 40 women peacebuilders from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela to through identifying participation avenues in the ongoing NAP’s design processes (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia), strengthening capacities to influence formal peace processes (Colombia) and to actively participate in conflict prevention, transformation and peacebuilding efforts, including through capacity-development session on mediation and dialogue facilitation focused on community-level processes, particularly relevant for indigenous, afro-descendant women and human rights defenders. In Venezuela, more women and girls influenced two dimensions of the peace process: the humanitarian response and the informal dialogues on social cohesion. The gender multi-level mainstreaming strategy designed with assistance of UN Women achieved the effective participation of women in the humanitarian country team with two representatives of national and international women NGOs. Also, UN Women developed a consultation mechanism for women's organizations to ensure their participation in the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and its subsequent updates. The efforts for their integration were complemented by institutional gender mainstreaming capacity-building. Due to the gender analysis of the developed humanitarian situation, the gender approach was improved in the projects to be implemented by the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). Also, 205 humanitarian actors from 90 organizations increased their knowledge and tools to incorporate a gender perspective in the different clusters of the humanitarian response. To complete these efforts, 150 members of local and national women's, youth, and LGBTI+ organizations increased their knowledge of women's leadership across the nexus of humanitarian action, peace, and development. As a result, the Humanitarian Response Plan 2022-2023 included a chapter on the gender-differentiated impact of the crisis and refers to women's and girls' needs and capacities in the response. Their role as leaders in the recovery efforts has been more visible, but the formal acknowledgment by decision-makers remains a challenge. A capacity-building plan was achieved where 205 humanitarian actors from 90 organizations and agencies increased their knowledge about gender, and a strategy to improve 70 women's organizations' capacities to participate in the response effectively, increasing their levels of influence, visibility, and impact of women's voices. Women participants were able to put into practice their skills in two dialogue spaces facilitated by the UN Women Regional Encounter "The Care society: horizon for a sustainable recovery with gender equality" and the "III Meeting of the WEPs Business Community in Venezuela," where debates were facilitated among women civil society representatives, government, private sector, and academia from different political affiliations. Although the formal dialogue process still needs to have a mechanism to guarantee women's effective participation and influence on decision-making, UN Women implemented actions to increase their capacity to participate and influence the vital conflict prevention and social cohesion processes. With this objective, two Community Tables from La Vega and 23 de Enero sectors in Caracas allowed the participation of 57 Women Peacebuilders in training, actions for common understanding, and the development of collective action for inclusive solutions to local problems. Additionally, representatives from 33 women's organizations from different sectors took ownership of consensual decision-making tools designed to improve their communicational skills as mediators in their communitarian work and advocacy and political dialogue scenarios. As a result, more than 86% of the participants were interested in continuing to develop negotiation skills, which settles the basis for more women's voices in the negotiation process and social cohesion construction in Venezuela. Also, women civil society organizations improved their work on intersectoral approaches through the Professional Enhancement Course on "Building Peace from Diversity," designed to promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences with traditionally excluded sectors, such as youth, indigenous, afro descendants, and LGBTIQ+. Consequently, 50-course attendees increased their awareness of the links between the WPS Agenda and their human rights work. Finally, as a critical driver to ensure equal participation of women and girls in development, social cohesion, and humanitarian efforts, two women community-based organizations received technical and financial support to lead gender transformative initiatives at the local level, strengthening their influence in the humanitarian architecture. Aliadas en Cadena (Zulia State) and PLAFAM (Miranda State) in Venezuela implemented community-based initiatives to respond to and prevent GBV, promote positive masculinities and prevent women and girls' human trafficking and sexual exploitation in partnership with youth and community-based organizations.

Coordination of women’s organization’s peacebuilding efforts is strengthened.

Thanks to UN Women ACRO support The Regional Network of Women Mediators of the Southern Cone Women´s has increased their knowledge on existing networks worldwide, governances’ structure, and possible lines of progress. ACRO in partnership with FLACSO Argentina had defined the content of the first Spanish-language course on Gender approach and women's participation in peacebuilding, this course will allow 200 women and young leaders from LAC to increase their capacities for social and political dialogue incorporating peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and mediation tools. UN Women has stablished a partnership with RCO in Venezuela to strengthen women's peacebuilding and conflict prevention participation in 2022. This agreement will allow UN Women to support the design and implementation of women-led initiatives on conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and women's involvement in political and social dialogue, reinforcing the coordination of peacebuilding efforts and prevention of violence against women in public life. In alliance with RCO in Venezuela, UN Women is providing support to the "Women's Community Peacebuilding Roundtables" initiative, designed by advocate Indira Urbaneja, from the organization Reunificados. In this initiative, local women's networks promote social cohesion and participate in decision-making, playing an active role in rebuilding the social fabric and creating new alliances for local well-being.