The quality and nature of leadership has a major effect on the success of UN peace operations and is key to the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping. Mission leaders set the strategic vision to implement mission mandates, they identify priorities that enable various mission components to conduct operational activities, and they foster organizational culture and oversee human resources.
Across UN operations, gender-responsiveness is required by leadership to not only realize the Women, Peace and Security agenda and foster more gender-equal operating environments for people serving in missions, but also to strengthen the ability of missions to implement their mandates and address gendered conflict dynamics in their areas of operation more effectively. Yet, without a common understanding of what is meant by or expected in terms of ‘gender-responsive leadership’ in peace operations, gaps in operational implementation will continue to remain.
The project will build evidence on how to frame and foster stronger gender-responsive leadership throughout UN peace operations, by clarifying how the concept of ‘gender-responsive leadership’ can be translated into practice, assessing how gender-responsive leadership manifests in mission settings, and analyzing the approaches of other deploying organizations.
The project will run for two years from 2023 to 2025 supported by a grant from the Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations.
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