The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) launched the third National Action Plan (NAP) III on Women, Peace, and Security on 8th March 2021 amidst COVID- 19 restrictions which was hugely consultative.
It is in this regard that the Women’s International Peace Centre in collaboration with Coalition for Action on 1325, and its partners convened a National Women, Peace and Security Forum on 22nd April 2022 in Kampala to achieve the following objectives;
- Increase knowledge and understanding of the M&E framework for NAP III
- Document what has been achieved and lessons learnt in the first year of the NAP implementation
- Cross-learning with women peacebuilders from other East African countries for more effective WPS implementation.
The forum brought together 96 participants (75female and 21 male) from different sectors including Ministries Departments and Agencies, UN Agencies, Embassies, NAP III Steering committee members, Security institutions, Local Government, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) at the national level and grass root level, the academia, the media, youth peace ambassadors and international WPS players from Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
It also facilitated a review and discussed progress, challenges, emerging issues and recommendations to improve the NAP III implementation process after one year of its launch in 2021. This increased knowledge and understanding of the monitoring and evaluation framework for NAP III, documented key achievements and lessons learnt and facilitated cross-learning with women peacebuilders from other East African countries for more effective Women Peace and Security implementation.
Discussions from the meeting provided a platform for different players from Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda to share experiences in terms of best practices, progress made, challenges and recommendations to best implement National Action Plans on Women Peace and Security agenda. This aimed at inspiring and increasing understanding of what is being done by different stakeholders and countries to best implement the WPS agenda.
By closure of the forum, commitments were made by different partners including leaders of CSOs, UN Women, Austrian Development Agency, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development with each committing to play a significant and unique role in the implementation of the NAP III. These commitments included; continuously working with international agencies, CSOs, and local governments to find lasting solutions to the increasing number of refugees in Uganda, working with the government of Uganda through MGLSD and CSOs to increase funding for effective implementation of NAP III through localization and other strategies, increasing efforts through CSOs and government towards addressing crisis including teenage pregnancies in Uganda to mention but a few.
