Outcome WCA_D_4.3

More women and girls in West and Central Africa exercise their voice, agency and leadership, including through an enabling environment that supports women’s and youth organizations working in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings.

In 2025, civil society, supported by UN Women, exerted a decisive influence on 10 major normative, political and humanitarian processes, ensuring the integration of gender into decision-making mechanisms. At the community and local level (Mauritania - PBF Project): Women's organizations directly influenced the design and operationalization of three local mechanisms for preventing conflict and gender-based violence (GBV). Through their advocacy and active participation, these mechanisms adopted inclusive mediation protocols, institutionalizing the role of women mediators in resolving land and social disputes. At the national and political level (Sahel - Netherlands Project): Women's coalitions have influenced five high-level political processes. In Niger, the women's memorandum led to the integration of specific provisions into the resolutions of the Inclusive National Dialogue. In Burkina Faso, the National Reconciliation Strategy was revised to include recommendations from women's organizations regarding transitional justice and support for victims. At the humanitarian and resilience level (Regional - DDR Project): Partner organizations influenced the revision of the intervention frameworks of two regional Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) platforms. Their technical advocacy led to the integration of gender-sensitive indicators into early warning protocols and flood response plans, ensuring better protection for vulnerable groups.

More women and girls in West and Central Africa exercise their voice, agency and leadership, including through an enabling environment that supports women’s and youth organizations working in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings.

The Regional office continued to provide technical support and expertise to 3 regional organizations working on WPS namely: REPSFECO, Platform of women from the G5Sahel region and ROAJELF. An expert was temporary deployed for 6 months to the Platform of women of the G5Sahel region. This organization also received equipment for the operationalization of its regional office based in Mauritania. WCARO continued to support them to organize some advocacy initiatives and for the mobilization of resources. An annual meeting of the Group of women and Youth for peace and security in West Africa and the Sahel was organized in Liberia and the focus was on resource mobilization. Participants were trained on proposal development and resource mobilization. A global program on capacity building of women's organizations for peace was approved and financed by Nethelands for a total budget of USD 10 million . UNWOMEN built the capacities of a group of 45 young women and Girls in Chad . They were trained during a whole week on leadership, WPS agenda and diffrent themes related to GEWE. They have set up a very dynamic national network REJEFT and it has started to advocate for a better protection of young women's rights and their participation in different peace processes. A regional training on " Gender and Disaster Risk reduction, climate change and risk informed development was held in Dakar from 7 to 11 November. There was a total of 35 participants including 31 women and 4 men from 6 francophone countries of the Sahel region. They have built their capacities on integrating gender into national DRR strategies. A group of focal points for different countries have been set up and they will develop plans and projects to improve women's participation in DRR and climate change processes. In the case of humanitarian action indeed women and girls voice and influenced has improved and adquired more visibility due the support and active participation of UN Women in the Humanitarian cycle, Humanitarian Country Team and humanitarian reponses including decision making process, this is related to the new UN WOmen IASC membership and reactivation of regional GiHA network at regional level.

More women and girls in West and Central Africa exercise their voice, agency and leadership, including through an enabling environment that supports women’s and youth organizations working in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings.

UN Women has made significant efforts in providing equitable access to high-quality public goods, services, and resources for women and girls in West and Central Africa, particularly in Peace, Security, Humanitarian, and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings. Here are the key achievements and initiatives: Peace and Security: Women's Participation and Leadership : UN Women supports women's participation and leadership in peace and security processes. This includes advocating for the implementation of Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) commitments and providing technical and policy support to enhance gender-responsive peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Humanitarian Settings: Training Sessions and Leadership Development : Women's organizations across the Sahel have participated in training sessions designed to enhance their roles in humanitarian architecture. These sessions prioritized the development of women’s leadership in humanitarian responses and emphasized their inclusion in the structures of the humanitarian country teams. Access to Funding Opportunities: Information on Funding Opportunities : Women and girls who are members of UN Women-supported organizations in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad have gained access to essential information on funding opportunities for their organizations. This has empowered them to secure resources necessary for their initiatives. These efforts highlight UN Women's significant contributions to fostering inclusion, leadership, and empowerment across the region, ensuring that women and girls are key participants in shaping humanitarian and disaster response systems

More women and girls in West and Central Africa exercise their voice, agency and leadership, including through an enabling environment that supports women’s and youth organizations working in Peace, Security, Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) settings.

The main focus of WPS was related to women's participation in transitions and how they could influence peace in such context. An online meeting was organized with 100 participants from all the 6 african countries in transition namely: Mali, Burkina Faso, chad, Republic of Guinea, Gabon and Sudan. Another meeting was organized by AWLN with women from contries in transition in West Africa . The same debat was conducted during the annual meeting of the Group of Women and Youth for Peace and security in West Africa and the Sahel. Women from those countries continued to make advocacy in many fora at the national and regional level. UNWOMEN also supported women's organizations advocacy for more access to financing. This advocacy was conducted through an online meeting with key donors and representatives from different countries of the region. UNWOMEN has also idnetified implementing partners who will coordinate the project financed by Netherlands aiming to build capacity of 118 WOs. The project will allow to strenghten the advocacy of women's organizations for peace in the Sahel region.