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Women, Gender and DDR

Summary

Women are increasingly involved in combat or are associated with armed groups and forces in other roles, work as community peace-builders, and play essential roles in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes. Yet they are almost never included in the planning or implementation of DDR. Since 2000, the United Nations (UN) and all other agencies involved in DDR and other post-conflict reconstruction activities have been in a better position to change this state of affairs by using Security Council resolution 1325, which sets out a clear and practical agenda for measuring the advancement of women in all aspects of peace-building. The resolution begins with the recognition that women’s visibility, both in national and regional instruments and in bi- and multilateral organizations, is vital. It goes on to call for gender awareness in all aspects of peacekeeping initiatives, especially demobilization and reintegration, urges women’s informed and active participation in disarmament exercises, and insists on the right of women to carry out their post-conflict reconstruction activities in an environment free from threat, especially of sexualized violence.

Even when they are not involved with armed forces and groups themselves, women are strongly affected by decisions made during the demobilization of men. Furthermore, it is impossible to tackle the problems of women’s political, social and economic marginalization or the high levels of violence against women in conflict and post-conflict zones without paying attention to how men’s experiences and expectations also shape gender relations. This module therefore includes some ideas about how to design DDR processes for men in such a way that they will learn to resolve interpersonal conflicts without using violence to do so, which will increase the security of their families and broader communities.

Special note is also made of girl soldiers in this module, because in some parts of the world, a girl who bears a child, no matter how young she is, immediately gains the status of a woman. Care should therefore be taken to understand local interpretations of who is seen as a girl and who a woman soldier.

Peace-building, especially in the form of practical disarmament, needs to continue for a long time after formal demobilization and reintegration processes come to an end. This module is therefore intended to assist planners in designing and implementing gender-sensitive short-term goals, and to help in the planning of future-oriented long-term peace support measures. It focuses on practical ways in which both women and girls, and men and boys can be included in the processes of disarmament and demobilization, and be recognized and supported in the roles they play in reintegration.

The processes of DDR take place in such a wide variety of conditions that it would be impossible to discuss each of the circumstance-specific challenges that might arise. This module raises issues that frequently disappear in the planning stages of DDR, and aims to provoke further thinking and debate on the best ways to deal with the varied needs of people — male and female, old and young, healthy and unwell — in armed groups and forces, and those of the communities to which they return after war.

1. Module scope and objectives

This module provides policy guidance on the gender aspects of the various stages in a DDR process, and outlines gender-aware interventions and female-specific actions that should be carried out in order to make sure that DDR programmes are sustainable and equitable. The module is also designed to give guidance on mainstreaming gender into all DDR policies and programmes to create gender-responsive DDR programmes. As gender roles and relations are by definition constructed in a specific cultural, geographic and communal context, the guidance offered is intended to be applied with sensitivity to and understanding of the context in which a DDR process is taking place. However, all UN and bilateral policies and programmes should comply with internationally agreed norms and standards, such as Security Council resolution 1325, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action.

2. Terms, definitions and abbreviations

Annex A contains a list of the abbreviations used in this standard. A complete glossary of all the terms, definitions and abbreviations used in the series of integrated DDR standards (IDDRS) is given in IDDRS 1.20.

In the IDDRS series, the word ‘shall’, ‘should’ and ‘may’ are used to indicate the intended degree of compliance with the standards laid down. This use is consistent with the language used in the International Organization for Standardization standards and guidelines:

a) ‘shall’ is used to indicate requirements, methods or specifications that are to be applied in order to conform to the standard.

b) ‘should’ is used to indicate the preferred requirements, methods or specifications.

c) ‘may’ is used to indicate a possible method or course of action.”

3. Introduction

Generally, it is assumed that armed men are the primary threat to post-conflict security and that they should therefore be the main focus of DDR. The picture is usually more complex than this: although males (adults, youth and boys) may more obviously take part in the conflict and make up the largest number of combatants, females (adults, youth and girls) are also likely to have been involved in violence, and may have participated in every aspect of the conflict. Despite stereotypical beliefs, women and girls are not peacemakers only, but can also contribute to ongoing insecurity and violence during wartime and when wars come to an end.

The work carried out by women and girl combatants and other women and girls associated with armed forces and groups in non-fighting roles may be difficult to measure, but efforts should be made to assess their contribution as accurately as possible when a DDR programme is designed. The involvement of women in the security sector reform (SSR) processes that accompany and follow DDR should also be deliberately planned from the start.

Women take on a variety of roles during wartime. For example, many may fight for brief periods and then return to their communities to carry out other forms of work that contribute to the war. These women will have reintegrated and are unlikely to present themselves for DDR. Nor should they be encouraged to do so, since the resources allocated for DDR are limited and intended to create a foundation of stability on which longer-term peace and SSR can be built. It is therefore appropriate, in the reconstruction period, to focus resources on women and men who are still active fighters and potential spoilers. Women who have already rejoined their communities can, however, be an important asset in the reintegration period, including through playing expanded roles in the security sector, and efforts should be made to include their views when designing reintegration processes. Their experiences may significantly help communities with the work of reintegrating former fighters, especially when they are able to help bring about reconciliation and assist in making communities safer.

It is important to remember that women are present in every part of a society touched by DDR — from armed groups and forces to receiving communities. Exclusionary power structures, including a backlash against women entering into political, economic and security structures in a post-conflict period, may make their contributions difficult to assess. It is therefore the responsibility of all DDR planners to work with female representatives and women’s groups, and to make it difficult for male leaders to exclude women from the formulation and implementation of DDR processes. Planners of SSR should also pay attention to women as a resource base for improving all aspects of human security in the post-conflict period. It is especially important not to lose the experiences and public standing acquired by those women who played peace-building roles in the conflict period, or who served in an armed group or force, learning skills that can usefully be turned to community service in the reconstruction period.

Ultimately, DDR should lead to a sustainable transition from military to civilian rule, and therefore from militarized to civilian structures in the society more broadly. Since women make up at least half the adult population, and in post-conflict situations may head up to 75 percent of all households, the involvement of women in DDR and SSR is the most important factor in achieving effective and sustainable security. Furthermore, as the main caregivers in most cultures, women and girls shoulder more than their fair share of the burden for the social reintegration of male and female ex-combatants, especially the sick, traumatized, injured, HIV-positive and under-aged.

Dealing with the needs and harnessing the different capacities and potential of men, women, boy and girl former fighters; their supporters; and their dependants will improve the success of the challenging and long-term transformation process that is DDR, as well as providing a firm foundation for the reconstruction of the security sector to meet peacetime needs. However, even five years since the passing of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on Women and Peace and Security, gender is still not fully taken into account in DDR planning and delivery. This module shows policy makers and practitioners how to replace this with a routine consideration of the different needs and capacities of the women and men involved in DDR processes.

4. Guiding principles

Up till now, DDR efforts have concerned themselves mainly with the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of male combatants. This approach fails to deal with the fact that women can also be armed combatants, and that they may have different needs from their male counterparts. Nor does it deal with the fact that women play essential roles in maintaining and enabling armed forces and groups, in both forced and voluntary capacities. A narrow definition of who qualifies as a ‘combatant’ came about because DDR focuses on neutralizing the most potentially dangerous members of a society (and because of limits imposed by the size of the DDR budget); but leaving women out of the process underestimates the extent to which sustainable peace-building and security require them to participate equally in social transformation.

In UN-supported DDR, the following principles of gender equality are applied:

Non-discrimination, and fair and equitable treatment: In practice, this means that no group is to be given special status or treatment within a DDR programme, and that individuals should not be discriminated against on the basis of gender, age, race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, political opinion, or other personal characteristics or associations. This is particularly important when establishing eligibility criteria for entry into DDR programmes (also see IDDRS 4.10 on Disarmament);

Gender equality and women’s participation: Encouraging gender equality as a core principle of UN-supported DDR programmes means recognizing and supporting the equal rights of women and men, and girls and boys in the DDR process. The different experiences, roles and responsibilities of each of them during and after conflict should be recognized and reflected in the design and implementation of DDR programmes;

Respect for human rights: DDR programmes should support ways of preventing reprisal or discrimination against, or stigmatization of those who participate. The rights of the community should also be protected and upheld.

5. International mandates

5.1. Security Council resolution 1325

Security Council resolution 1325 marks an important step towards the recognition of women’s contributions to peace and reconstruction, and draws attention to the particular impact of conflict on women and girls. On DDR, it specifically “encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration to consider the different needs of female and male ex-combatants and to take into account the needs of their dependants”. Since it was passed, the Council has recalled the principles laid down in resolution 1325 when establishing the DDR-related mandates of several peacekeeping missions, such as the UN Missions in Liberia and Sudan and the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

5.2. The Beijing Platform for Action

At the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, 189 Member States committed themselves to a range of strategic objectives and actions aimed at achieving gender equality. The Member States repeated their commitment to ensuring that women make up 30 percent of all decision-making bodies and further committed themselves, among other things, to:

increase the participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels, and protect women living in situations of armed and other conflicts or under foreign occupation (E.1);

reduce excessive military expenditures and control the availability of armaments (E.2);

encourage and support women’s contribution to fostering a culture of peace (E.4).

5.3. The Secretary-General’s Study on Women, Peace and Security

In his 2002 Study on Women, Peace and Security, the Secretary-General recommended the following actions on DDR:

Action 1: Incorporate the needs and priorities of women and girls as ex-combatants, ‘camp-followers”’ and families of ex-combatants in the design and implementation of DDR programmes, including the design of camps; the distribution of benefits; and access to basic resources and services, including food, water, health care and counselling, in order to ensure the success of such programmes, women and girls’ full participation, and their access to benefits;

Action 2: Increase the number of programmes for child soldiers, fully include attention to the specific situation and needs of girl soldiers, and identify means to support child soldiers, including girls, who do not enter DDR programmes;

Action 3: Recognize the impact of armed conflict and displacement on family relations, and develop awareness of the risk of increased domestic violence, especially in the families of ex-combatants; and develop programmes on the prevention of domestic violence that are designed for families and communities, and especially male ex-combatants;

Action 4: Recognize and use the contributions of women and girls in encouraging ex-combatants to lay down arms and participate in weapons-collection programmes, and ensure that they benefit from any incentives provided for such activities;

Action 5: Ensure full access of women and girls to all resources and benefits provided in reintegration programmes, including skills development programmes.

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6. Gender-responsive DDR

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6.1. Negotiating DDR: Ensuring women’s political participation

A gender-responsive approach to DDR should be built into every stage of DDR. This begins with discussions during the peace negotiations on the methods that will be used to carry out DDR. DDR advisers participating in such negotiations should ensure that women’s interests and needs are adequately included. This can be done by insisting on the participation of female representatives at the negotiations, ensuring they understand DDR-related clauses and insisting on their active involvement in the DDR planning phase. Trained female leaders will contribute towards ensuring that women and girls involved in DDR (women and girls who are ex-combatants, women and girls working in support functions for armed groups and forces, wives and dependants of male ex-combatants, and members of the receiving community) understand, support and strengthen the DDR process.

6.1.1. Negotiating DDR: Gender-aware interventions

Negotiation, mediation and facilitation teams should get expert advice on current gender dynamics, gender relations in and around armed groups and forces, and the impact the peace agreement will have on the status quo. All the participants at the negotiation table should have a good understanding of gender issues in the country and be willing to include ideas from female representatives. To ensure this, facilitators of meetings and gender advisers should organize gender workshops for women participants before the start of the formal negotiation. The UN should develop a group of deployment-ready experts in gender and DDR by using a combined strategy of recruitment and training, and insist on their full participation in the DDR process through affirmative action.

6.1.2. Negotiating DDR: Female-specific interventions

Facilitators, Special Representatives of the Secretary-General (SRSGs) and senior UN personnel supporting the peace process should receive an explicit mandate to cater for the needs and interests of women and girls, whether combatants, supporters or dependants. Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms should be set in place to assess the effectiveness of their interventions. (See Annex D for a gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation framework.)

Peace process facilitators, SRSGs and envoys should be made aware of the internationally agreed minimum standard of 30 percent female participation in any democratic decision-making forum. Women who are familiar with the needs of female fighters, veterans and other community-based women peace-builders should attend and be allowed to raise concerns in the negotiation process. In circumstances where the participation of women is not possible, DDR planners should hold consultations with women’s groups during the planning and pre-deployment phase and ensure that the latter’s views are represented at negotiation forums.

Women in leadership positions at national and local levels, including female local councillors, representatives of women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and female community leaders, all of whom will assist the return of male and female ex-combatants, supporters and dependants to civilian life, are stakeholders in the peace process, and should be enlisted as partners in the DDR process. Furthermore, governmental ministries or departments with gender-related mandates should be included in negotiations and decision-making whenever possible.

To facilitate women’s participation, the UN advance team or country team should carry out a risk assessment to evaluate the threat posed to women who take up a public role in the peace process. Adequate protection should be provided by governmental bodies or the UN itself if these women’s security is at risk. Facilitators and other participants in the peace process should attempt to create an inclusive environment so that female representatives feel comfortable to raise their concerns and needs.

The release of abducted women and girls from within the ranks of an armed force or group should be made a condition of the peace agreement.

The requirement for the representation of women in structures established to manage DDR processes, such as a national DDR commission, should be included in the peace accord. Information about the DDR programme and process should be made available to any subsidiary bodies or sub-committees established to facilitate the participation of civil society in the peace process.

6.2. Assessment phase

Planners should develop a good understanding of the legal, political, economic, social and security context of the DDR programme and how it affects women, men, girls and boys differently, both in the armed forces and groups and in the receiving communities. In addition, planners should understand the different needs of women, men, girls and boys who participate in DDR processes according to their different roles during the conflict (i.e., armed ex-combatants, supporters, or/and dependants). The following should be considered.

Different choices: There may be a difference in the life choices made by women and girls, as opposed to men and boys. This is because women, men, girls and boys have different roles before, during and after conflicts, and they face different problems and expectations from society and their family. They may, as a result, have different preferences for reintegration training and support. Some women and girls may wish to return to their original homes, while others may choose to follow male partners to a new location, including across international boundaries;

Different functions: Many women and girls participate in armed conflict in roles other than as armed combatants. These individuals, who may have participated as cooks, messengers, informal health care providers, porters, sex slaves, etc., are often overlooked in the DDR process. Women and girls carry out these roles both through choice and, in the case of abductees and slaves, because they are forced to do so.

Within receiving communities, in which women already have heavy responsibilities for caregiving, reintegration may place further burdens of work and care on them that will undermine sustainable reintegration if they are not adequately supported.

Box 2 Definition of female beneficiaries

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(See Annex B for an integrated assessment checklist on gender and DDR.)

6.2.1. Assessment phase: Gender-aware interventions

Gender expertise should be considered an essential element of any assessment mission carried out by the UN, specifically those teams with DDR-related mandates, and gender analysis and information should be adequately reflected in reporting to the Security Council and the UN Development Group that coordinates joint assessment missions before the deployment of a peacekeeping mission.

The assessment team should identify community responses to giving female ex-combatants the option of joining reconstructed peacetime armies and other security institutions such as intelligence services, border police, customs, immigration services and other law-enforcement services. To boost the number of female peacekeepers, women’s eligibility for peacekeeping roles in other conflict zones should also be determined.

In order to plan how to deal with obstacles to reintegration and better prepare the community and returnees to play supportive roles, an ongoing assessment should be conducted of community attitudes towards returning female combatants, supporters and dependants. Baseline data and analysis should be gathered and then reassessed at various stages of the process. Analysis should focus closely on potential causes of insecurity for returning women and on the extent of gender-based insecurity (e.g., gender-based violence) in communities more generally.

If the assessment team has the task of identifying sites for cantonment, such sites should be able to provide separate facilities for women and men, and girls and boys, as required. Sanitary facilities should be designed in a way that allows for privacy, in accordance with culturally accepted norms, and water and sanitation should be available to meet women’s and girls’ hygiene needs.

6.2.2. Assessment phase: Female-specific interventions

The number and percentage of women and girls in armed groups and forces, and their rank and category, should be ascertained as far as possible before planning begins. Necessary measures should be put in place — in cooperation with existing military structures, where possible — to deal with commanders who refuse to disclose the number of female combatants or associates in the armed forces or groups that they command. It is the human right of all women and girls who have been abducted to receive assistance to safely leave an armed force or group.

Baseline information on patterns of weapons possession and ownership among women and girls should be collected — if possible, before demobilization — to gain an accurate picture of what should be expected during disarmament, and to guard against exploitation of women and girls by military personnel, in attempts either to cache weapons or control access to DDR.

The assessment team should identify local capacities of women’s organizations already working on security-related issues and work with them to learn about the presence of women and girls in armed groups and forces. All interventions should be designed to support and strengthen existing capacity. (See Annex D for gender-responsive needs assessment and the capacities and vulnerabilities analysis matrix of women’s organizations.)

Along with community peace-building forums, women’s organizations should routinely be consulted during assessment missions, as they are often a valuable source of information for planners and public information specialists about, for instance, the community’s perceptions of the dangers posed by illicit weapons, attitudes towards various types of weapons, the location of weapons caches and other issues such as trans-border weapons trade. Women’s organizations can also provide information about local perceptions of returning female ex-combatants, and of women and girls associated with armed groups and forces.

Working closely with senior commanders within armed forces and groups before demobilization to begin raising awareness about women’s inclusion and involvement in DDR will have a positive impact and can help improve the cooperation of mid-level commanders where a functioning chain of command is in place.

Female interpreters familiar with relevant terminology and concepts should be hired and trained by assessment teams to help with interviewing women and girls involved in or associated with armed groups or forces.

Women’s specific health needs, including gynaecological care, should be planned for. Reproductive health services (including items such as reusable sanitary napkins) and prophylactics against sexually transmitted infection (both male and female condoms) should be included as essential items in any health care packages.

When planning the transportation of people associated with armed groups and forces to cantonment sites or to their communities, sufficient resources should be budgeted for to offer women and girls the option of being transported separately from men and boys, if their personal safety is a concern.

The assessment team report and recommendations for personnel and budgetary requirements for the DDR process should include provision for female DDR experts, female translators and female field staff for reception centres and cantonment sites to which women combatants and women associated with armed forces and groups can safely report.

6.3. Demobilization

A strict ‘one man, one gun’ eligibility requirement for DDR, or an eligibility test based on proficiency in handling weapons, may exclude many women and girls from entry into DDR programmes. The narrow definition of who qualifies as a ‘combatant’ has been motivated to a certain extent by budgetary considerations, and this has meant that DDR planners have often overlooked or inadequately attended to the needs of a large group of people participating in and associated with armed groups and forces. However, these same people also present potential security concerns that might complicate DDR.

If those who do not fit the category of a ‘male, able-bodied combatant’ are overlooked, DDR activities are not only less efficient, but run the risk of reinforcing existing gender inequalities in local communities and making economic hardship worse for women and girls in armed groups and forces, some of whom may have unresolved trauma and reduced physical capacity as a result of violence experienced during the conflict. Marginalized women with experience of combat are at risk for re-recruitment into armed groups and forces and may ultimately undermine the peace-building potential of DDR processes. The involvement of women is the best way of ensuring their longer-term participation in security sector reform and in the uniformed services more generally, which again will improve long-term security.

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Box 3: Why are female supporters/FAAFGs eligible for demobilization?

6.3.1. Demobilization mandates, scope, institutional arrangements: Gender-aware interventions

In drafting a peace mission’s plan of operations, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) shall reflect the recommendations of the assessment team and produce language that defines a mandate for a gender-sensitive DDR process in compliance with Security Council resolution 1325. Specifically, DDR programme participants shall include those who play support functions essential for the maintenance and cohesion of armed groups and forces, and reflect consideration of the needs of individuals dependent on combatants.

When the Security Council establishes a peacekeeping operation with mandated DDR functions, components that will ensure gender equity should be adequately financed through the assessed budget of UN peacekeeping operations and not voluntary contributions alone. From the start, funds should be allocated for gender experts and expertise to help with the planning and implementation of dedicated programmes serving the needs of female ex-combatants, supporters and dependants. Gender advisers and expertise should be considered essential in the staffing structure of DDR units.

The UN should facilitate financial support of the gender components of DDR processes. DDR programme budgets should be made gender-responsive by allocating sufficient amounts of resources to all gender-related activities and female-specific interventions.

When collaborating with regional, bilateral and multilateral organizations, DDR practitioners should encourage gender mainstreaming and compliance with Security Council resolution 1325 throughout all DDR efforts that they lead or support, encouraging all partners, such as client countries, donors and other stakeholders, to dedicate human and economic resources towards gender mainstreaming throughout all phases of DDR.

DDR practitioners should ensure that the various personnel of the peacekeeping mission, from the SRSG to the troops on the ground, are aware of the importance of gender considerations in DDR activities. Several strategies can be used: (1) ensuring that DDR training programmes that are routinely provided for military and civilian staff reflect gender-related aspects; (2) developing accountability mechanisms to ensure that all staff are committed to gender equity; and (3) integrating gender training into the training programme for the troops involved.

Box 4: Gender training in DDR

6.3.2. Demobilization mandates, scope, institutional arrangements: Female-specific interventions

Definitions of who is a dependant should reflect the varied nature and complexity of the conflict situation, where dependent women and girls may not be legal wives of ex-combatants. Where a male ex-combatant and a woman or girl live as man and wife according to local perceptions and practices, this will guarantee the eligibility of the woman or girl for inclusion in the DDR programme. Eligibility criteria should be determined so that they include — where relevant — multiple wives (both formal and informal) of a male ex-combatant. The dependants of an ex-combatant should include any person living as part of the ex-combatant’s household under their care.

In situations where governments are responsible for all or part of the DDR process, UN representatives should encourage national DDR commissions to work closely with government ministries in charge of women’s affairs, as well as women’s peace-building networks. National DDR commissions should be encouraged to employ women in leadership positions and assign gender focal points within the commission.

Troop-contributing countries should be encouraged by DPKO to make it an urgent priority to deploy women in peacekeeping operations. Female military personnel with gender training should be used as much as possible during the DDR process, in particular during the initial stages of screening and identification. Female military personnel should also play an important role in receiving and transmitting information on gender-based violence and/or sexual exploitation and abuse occurring in DDR sites.

6.4. Transitional support

Transitional support can include one or more of the following: financial resources; material resources; and basic training. The overall aim should be to ensure that the distribution of benefits enables women and girls to have the same economic choices as men and boys, regardless of the roles they performed during the war, and that women and men, and girls and boys are able to engage constructively in reintegration activities that contribute to overall security in their communities.

A good understanding of women’s rights and social attitudes relating to women’s access to economic resources is needed when designing the benefits package. This will assist planners in designing the package in a way that will allow women to keep control over benefits, especially financial reinsertion packages, after leaving the cantonment site. For example, providing land as part of the benefits package may not be appropriate in a country where women cannot legally own land.

Although DDR planners have assumed that financial packages given to male ex-combatants will be used for the benefit of family members, anecdotal evidence from the field suggests that demobilized men use their start-up cash irresponsibly, rather than to the benefit of family and community. This compromises the success of DDR programmes and undermines security and community recovery. On the other hand, much empirical evidence from the field indicates that women use the resources they are given for family sustenance and community development.1 For reintegration to be sustainable, gendered strategies must be developed that will equally benefit women and men, and ensure the equitable distribution of aid and resources within the family unit.

6.4.1. Transitional support: Gender-aware interventions

When planning the demobilization package, women/girls and men/boys who were armed ex-combatants and supporters should receive equitable and appropriate basic demobilization benefits packages, including access to land, tools, credit and training.

Planning should include a labour market assessment that provides details of the various job options and market opportunities that will be available to men and women after they leave demobilization sites. This assessment should take place as early as possible so that training programmes are ready when ex-combatants and supporters need them.

Opportunities for women’s economic independence should be considered and potential problems faced by women entering previously ‘male’ workplaces and professions should be dealt with as far as possible. Offering demobilized women credit and capital should be viewed as a positive investment in reconstruction, since women have an established record of high rates of return and reinvestment.

Demobilization packages for men and boys should be also sensitive to their different gender roles and identities. Demobilization packages might be prepared under the assumption that men are the ‘breadwinner’ in a household, which might pressurize men to be more aggressively hierarchical in their behaviour at home. Men can also feel emasculated when women appear more successful than them, and may express their frustration in increased violence. More careful preparation is needed so that transitional support packages will not reinforce negative gender stereotypes.

6.4.2. Transitional support: Female-specific interventions

If cash hand-outs are given to DDR participants as part of their transitional support, the needs and spending patterns of women should be taken into account, and accommodated as much as possible (e.g., do women prefer large payments of cash or monthly payments? Does either form of payment subject women and girls to additional security risks?).

Women’s traditional forms of money management should be recognized and supported (e.g., through rotational loan and credit schemes or other innovative forms of microcredit), and, where available, women should be given access to banks and encouraged to open private bank accounts to safeguard their money.

Education and training efforts should deal with the needs and desires of the women and girls and start as soon as possible during the demobilization phase. Experience has shown that women and girls tend to be overwhelmed by household responsibilities and may be unable to move around freely once they return home, and are therefore less likely to be able to attend training programmes. Women’s access will be greatly improved if efforts are made to provide child-care and other services.

In many countries, women and girls have lower educational levels and are skilled in jobs that earn less money than their male peers. This should be taken into account in training programmes through providing additional resources for literacy and training in high-earning skills for women and girls. Skills should be culturally appropriate as far as possible, although efforts should be made not to restrict women to low-paid ‘traditional’ female work, since the post-conflict period offers the possibility of social transformation, including making use of skills acquired by women in wartime.

Educational opportunities should be equally available to female and male children of ex-combatants and widows.

The spouse or other female family members of a male ex-combatant should be brought in to witness the signing of an agreement on how his money will get paid. In this way, the resources may actually get passed on to the family, and from there move into the broader community.

Receiving communities and women community leaders should be informed about the intention and use of reintegration packages and their potential impact. It cannot be assumed that the benefits of DDR will automatically enrich the community that they enter; they may in fact cause resentment and violence. Efforts should be made to include communities when deciding how development packages will be provided so that ex-combatants’ access to these resources can be influenced and monitored by the community to which they return.

6.5. Assembly

Female ex-combatants are less likely to ask to participate in DDR than their male peers, for a variety of reasons:

a failure to adequately assess the number of women and girl combatants, supporters and dependants in the assessment phase, so that women and girls are neither expected nor catered for;

women and girls in many post-war contexts having poorer access to news sources such as radios and being less likely to be able to read than men;

the stigma during peacetime of being associated with an armed force or group;

the perception or fact that a weapon is required for participation in a DDR programme;

security concerns or a fear of exposure or re-exposure to sexual and gender-based violence;

in some cases, commanders deliberately holding girls back because they are considered essential workers and the most desirable sexual partners within the group.2 They may also hide women and girls who have been abducted, for fear of legal and social consequences. Measures should be put in place to ensure women know they have the right to leave, and the capacity to do so in safety.

6.5.1. Assembly: Gender-aware interventions

Male and female ex-combatants should be equally able to get access to clear information on their eligibility for participation in DDR programmes, as well as the benefits available to them and how to obtain them. At the same time, information and awareness-raising sessions should be offered to the communities that will receive ex-combatants, especially to women’s groups, to help them understand what DDR is, and what they can and cannot expect to gain from it.

Information campaigns though the media (e.g., radio and newspapers) should provide information that encourages ex-combatants, supporters and dependants to join programmes. However, it is important to bear in mind that women do not always have access to these technologies, and word of mouth may be the best way of spreading information aimed at them.

Eligibility criteria for the three groups of participants should be clearly provided through the information campaign. This includes informing male ex-combatants that women and girls are participants in DDR and that they (i.e., the men) face punishment if they do not release sex slaves. Women and girls should be informed that separate accommodation facilities and services (including registration) will be provided for them. Female staff should be present at all assembly areas to process women who report for DDR.

Gender balance shall be a priority among staff in the assembly and cantonment sites. It is especially important that men see women in positions of authority in DDR processes. If there are no female leaders (including field officers), men are unlikely to take seriously education efforts aimed at changing their attitudes and ideas about militarized, masculine power. Therefore, information campaigns should emphasize the importance of female leadership and of coordination between local women’s NGOs and other civil society groups.

Registration forms and questionnaires should be designed to supply sex-disaggregated data on groups to be demobilized.

6.5.2. Assembly: Female-specific interventions

It is imperative that information on the DDR process, including eligibility and benefits, reach women and girls associated with armed groups or forces, as commanders may try to exclude them. In the past, commanders have been known to remove weapons from the possession of girls and women combatants when DDR begins. Public information and advocacy campaigners should ensure that information on women-specific assistance, as well as on women’s rights, is transmitted through various media.

Many female combatants, supporters, females associated with armed groups and forces, and female dependants were sexually abused during the war. Links should be developed between the DDR programme and the justice system — and with a truth and reconciliation commission, if it exists — to ensure that criminals are prosecuted. Women and girls participating in the DDR process should be made aware of their rights at the cantonment and demobilization stages. DDR practitioners may consider taking steps to gather information on human rights abuses against women during both stages, including setting up a separate and discreet reporting office specifically for this purpose, because the process of assembling testimonies once the DDR participants return to their communities is complicated.

Female personnel, including translators, military staff, social workers and gender experts, should be available to deal with the needs and concerns of those assembling, who are often experiencing high levels of anxiety and facing particular problems such as separation from family members, loss of property, lack of identity documents, etc.

In order for women and girl fighters to feel safe and welcomed in a DDR process, and to avoid their self-demobilization, female workers at the assembly point are essential. Training should be put in place for female field workers whose role will be to interview female combatants and other participants in order to identify who should be included in DDR processes, and to support those who are eligible. (See Annex C for gender-sensitive interview questions.)

Box 5: Gender-sensitive measures for interviews

6.6. Cantonment

6.6.1. Cantonment: Gender-aware interventions

The physical layout of the reception centre should be structured so that women and girls may register separately from their male partner, and receive separate identity cards. This will help ensure the safety and autonomy of women and girls who are sex slaves or forced ‘wives’, for whom the assembly point may offer a rare opportunity for escape from their captors.

Separate facilities will be made available to male and female DDR participants at the cantonment site. However, it is also important to make space available for families that do not wish to be separated. Men, women, boys and girls will initially be escorted to separate facilities, but reassured and shown that there will be frequent opportunities offered for contact in the early stages of the demobilization processes, as families may have joint decisions to make about their futures. However, women and girls should be given the option of being out of contact with their male counterparts, if they choose to be.

Men, women, boys and girls should be offered equal (but, if necessary, separate) access to education about HIV/AIDS, including voluntary testing, and other health services and supplies (also see IDDRS 5.60 on HIV/AIDS and DDR).

Efforts should be made to balance domestic duties between men and women so that rather than collecting fuel or water, women and girls can take equal advantage of briefings, retrainings and other facilities at the site. An unequal division of domestic duties can also make women and girls more likely to suffer gender-based violence as they leave the site to fetch water, food or fuel.

6.6.2. Cantonment: Female-specific interventions

If women and girls are to take advantage of training and education opportunities offered in the cantonment phase, child-care provisions cannot be optional or considered as non-essential.

In order to safeguard against sexual violence, latrines, ablution areas, and washing and kitchen facilities should be placed in open areas and should be well lit at night. Cooking facilities, fuel and water should be provided so that women and girls do not need to leave the cantonment area.

Health care services, which include reproductive and psychosocial health services, are essential. Women and girls may have specific health and psychosocial needs, e.g., relating to maternity or gender-based violence. Cantonment sites should provide birthing kits, sufficient clean water, supplemental feeding and medical facilities. Women and girls who have been abducted and/or suffered sexual assault during and after the conflict should be assisted by women who are trained in trauma management and offered counselling services, provided that these are culturally acceptable and appropriate. Such assistance is essential to allow female ex-combatants in particular to participate in training and receive any health care or counselling services required.

Opportunities should be provided during cantonment to educate women and girls about their rights, e.g., the right to own land or the right to take legal action against those who have committed crimes against them.

In some countries, demobilized soldiers are offered opportunities to be employed in new security structures. Female ex-combatants should be provided with the same opportunities as their male counterparts to join the restructured police and security forces.

6.7. Disarmament

Weapons possession has traditionally been a criterion for eligibility in DDR programmes. Because women and girls are often less likely to possess weapons even when they are actively engaged in armed forces and groups, and because commanders have been known to remove weapons from the possession of women and girls before assembly, this criterion often leads to the exclusion of women and girls from DDR processes (also see IDDRS 4.10 on Disarmament).

6.7.1. Disarmament: Gender-aware interventions

Women’s equal access to secure disarmament sites is important to ensure that gendered stereotypes of male and female weapons ownership are not reinforced.

Ongoing programmes to disarm, through weapons collections, weapons amnesties, the creation of new gun control laws that assist in the registration of legally owned weapons, programmes of action such as weapons in exchange for development (WED; also referred to as WfD), and other initiatives, should be put in place to support reintegration and development processes. Such initiatives should be carried out with a full understanding of the gender dynamics in the society and of how gun ownership is gendered in a given context. Media images that encourage or support violent masculinity should be discouraged.

Other incentives can be given that replace the prestige and power of owning a weapon, and social pressure can be applied when communities have a sense of involvement in weapons-collection processes. Men are traditionally associated with the use, ownership and promotion of small arms, and are injured and killed by guns in far larger numbers than are women. However, the difference between female and male gun ownership does not mean that women have no guns. They may pose threats to security and are not only nurturers, innocents and victims in situations of armed conflict.

6.7.2. Disarmament: Female-specific interventions

At the weapons-collection sites, identification of female ex-combatants who return their weapons and female community members who hand in weapons on behalf of ex-combatants is vital in order to collect and distribute different types of information. Female ex-combatants can be a source of information about the number, location and situation of hidden weapons, and can be asked about these, provided there are adequate security measures to protect the identity of the informant. Programme staff should also ask female community members if they know any female ex-combatant, supporter or dependant who has ‘self-reintegrated’ and ask them to participate in any WED programmes and other disarmament processes.

6.7.3. Arms reduction and control: Female-specific interventions

WED projects are ideal opportunities for delivering specific training for women and girls, as such projects are often tied to the provision of services or goods that can reduce the burden of care disproportionately placed on women and girls in many parts of the world, such as water and fuel collection.

Existing efforts of women’s NGOs and female community leaders to raise awareness of weapons spread and misuse should be identified and recognized when planning long-term disarmament processes.

Women’s knowledge of trading routes, weapons caches, and other sources of hidden small arms and light weapons should be accessed, where this can be done safely, during the field assessment phase, and this information should be used in disarmament planning. Those conducting interviews will need to establish a close relationship with interviewees; and there is a moral responsibility on the part of such interviewers to protect their sources.

When surveys are being carried out to determine attitudes to small arms and light weapons, women and girls (both those who participated in conflicts and community members) should be interviewed at the same time as, but separately from, men.

Educating and including women prominently in disarmament activities can strengthen women’s profile and leadership roles in the public sphere, and should be encouraged. Opportunities should be taken to link women’s knowledge and awareness of disarmament to the promotion of their broader political participation and involvement in community development.

Collected weapons should be properly guarded and, ideally, destroyed. The involvement of women’s groups in monitoring weapons collection and destruction, and as participants in destruction ceremonies, can be a powerful way of solidifying community support for and investment in the peace process.

6.8. Resettlement

6.8.1. Resettlement: Female-specific interventions

After demobilization, mechanisms should be put in place to allow female ex-combatants and supporters to return to their destination of choice using a safe means of transport that minimizes exposure to gender-based violence, re-recruitment and abduction or human trafficking.

Female ex-combatants and supporters should be properly catered for and included in any travel assistance that is offered after encampment. If a journey will take several days, the needs of women and girls and their children should be catered for, with separate vehicles made available if required.

Female ex-combatants and supporters should be free to choose where they will live, and can decide to return to a rural area from which they or their partner came, or to move to a semi-urban or urban area where they may have more freedom from traditional gender roles. Those who have been attached to an armed force or group for a long period of time might not know where they want to go, and therefore need more time and special support to help them decide.

A transitional safety net should be put in place to help resettled female ex-combatants and supporters with housing, health care and counselling, and offer educational support to get their children (especially girls) into school.

Female ex-combatants and supporters should be fully informed about, and able to access, any reintegration support services, e.g., a local demobilization support office, if one is established.

Measures should be put in place to help reunify mothers and children.

6.9. Social reintegration

6.9.1. Social reintegration: Gender-aware interventions

Ex-combatants who have been wounded or disabled in action, or have become chronically ill owing to exposure to combat, should be provided with medical care, counselling, rehabilitation facilities and relevant vocational training. Counselling should also deal with problems such as drugs, alcohol and gender-based violence. These measures will reduce the burden of care that is carried by women and girls, usually unpaid, and can lead to negative coping mechanisms, such as the withdrawal of girls from school to care for disabled relatives.

Ex-combatants, their partners and dependants, and receiving families and communities need to be sensitized to the difficulties of readjustment to civilian life of persons participating in or associated with armed groups and forces. Messages of reconciliation should also deal with the problems and specific needs of women and girls who may have suffered abuse in armed groups or forces.

Leadership training for community leaders, including church leaders, traditional authorities and women’s NGOs, should be carried out before community sensitization projects begin, in order to inform them about community development projects associated with reintegration programmes and to strengthen their leadership skills. Training for community members should also include gender training.

The media and arts should be used to exchange ideas and experiences and encourage a culture of peace, and respect for human rights and women’s rights

6.9.2. Social reintegration: Female-specific interventions

As part of the broad consultation carried out with a wide variety of social actors, community awareness-raising meetings should be held to prepare the community to receive ex-combatants. Inclusion of women and women’s organizations in these processes shall be essential, as women often play a central role in post-conflict reconstruction and the provision of care.

Receiving communities should be informed about the intention and use of reintegration programmes and their potential impact on community development and sustainable peace-building. WED projects should recognize the important role of women in development activities, and should organize information campaigns specifically for female community members.

Resources should be allocated to train female community members, ex-combatants and supporters to understand and cope with traumatized children, including how to help abducted girls gain demobilization and reintegration support. It is unfair to burden women with the challenges of reintegrating and rehabilitating child soldiers simply because they are usually the primary caregivers of children.

Women’s organizations should be supported; and should be trained to participate in healing and reconciliation work in general, and, in particular, to assist in the reconciliation and reintegration of ex-combatants from different factions. Have women in the post-conflict zone already begun the process of reconstruction after war? Is this work recognized and supported?

The expertise of female ex-combatants and supporters — which may be non-traditional expertise — should be recognized, respected and utilized by other women. Female ex-combatants’ reintegration should be connected to broader strategies aimed at women’s post-conflict development in order to prevent resentment against fighters as a ‘privileged’ group.

Radio networks should include women’s voices and experiences when educating local people about those who are being reintegrated, to prevent potential tensions from developing.

Community mental health practices (such as cleansing ceremonies) should be encouraged to contribute to the long-term psychological rehabilitation of ex-combatants and to address women’s and girls’ specific suffering or trauma (often a result of sexualized violence), as long as they encourage and support rather than undermine women’s and girls’ human rights and well-being.

Female ex-combatants should have equal access to legal aid or support to assist them in combating discrimination (in both the private and public spheres).

The establishment of formal/informal network groups among female ex-combatants and supporters should be encouraged, with support from women’s NGOs. This will give them an opportunity to support each other and foster leadership. Particularly for those who decide to go to a new place rather than home, such support will be essential.

Box 6: Example of factors that may contribute to women’s social reintegration

6.10. Economic reintegration

Women and girls may have acquired skills during the conflict that do not fit in with traditional ideas of appropriate work for women and girls, so female ex-combatants often find it more difficult than male ex-combatants to achieve economic success in the reintegration period, especially if they have not received their full entitlements under the DDR programme.

Women often find it more difficult to get access to credit, especially the bigger amounts needed in order to enter the formal sectors of the economy. With few job opportunities, particularly within the formal sector, women and girls have limited options for economic success, which has serious implications if they are the main providers for their dependants. The burden of care that many women and girls shoulder means they are less able to take advantage of training and capacity-building opportunities that could offer them better opportunities for economic self-sufficiency.

6.10.1. Economic reintegration: Gender-aware interventions

Measures should be put in place to prevent women ex-combatants, supporters, dependants and war widows from being forced to live on the fringes of the economy. Even excessive reliance on women’s unpaid or low-paid NGO activity might become a substitute for their meaningful participation in the labour market.

One of the greatest needs of ex-combatants and their families is access to land and housing. In securing these, specific gender dynamics should be taken into account, particularly when traditional practices do not allow female-headed households or women’s land ownership. Legal reform should aim to get rid of this exclusion.

In many societies, the production of crops and animal husbandry is divided among household members according to gender and age. This division of labour should be assessed and should be taken into account when providing reintegration assistance that is aimed at reviving the agricultural sector, improving food security and securing livelihoods for ex-combatants.

6.10.2. Economic reintegration: Female-specific interventions

Special measures have to be put in place to ensure that female participants have equal training and employment opportunities after leaving the cantonment site. Funding should be allocated for childcare to be provided, and for training to be conducted as close as possible to where the women and girls live. This will also reduce the chances of irregular attendance as a result of problems with transport (e.g., infrequent buses) or mobility (e.g., cultural restrictions on women’s travel). Barriers such as employers refusing to hire women ex-combatants or narrow expectations of the work women are permitted to do should be taken into account before retraining is offered. Potential employees should be identified for sensitization training to encourage them to employ female ex-combatants.

Women and girls should be given a say in determining the types of skills they learn. They should be provided with options that will allow them to build on useful skills acquired during their time with armed groups and forces, including skills that may not usually be considered ‘women’s work’, such as driving or construction jobs. They should be taught vocational skills in fields for which there is likely to be a long-term demand. Those successfully completing vocational training should be issued with certificates confirming this.

Widows, widowers and dependants of ex-combatants killed in action may need financial and material assistance. They should be assisted in setting up income-generating initiatives. Widows and widowers should be made active participants in reintegration training programmes and should also be able to benefit from credit schemes.

Because women’s homes are often the main geographical base for their work, technical and labour support systems should be in place to assist demobilized women in building a house and to support self-employment opportunities.

Single or widowed women ex-combatants should be recognized as heads of household and permitted to own and rent existing housing and land.

Measures should be taken to protect women ex-combatants or war widows from being forced into casual labour on land that is not their own.

Where needed, particularly in rural areas, women should be provided with training in agricultural methods and they should have the right to farm cash crops and own and use livestock, as opposed to engaging in subsistence agriculture.

Security should be provided for women on their way to work, or to the marketplace, particularly to protect them from banditry, especially in places with large numbers of small arms.

Women should have equal access to communally owned farming tools and water-pumping equipment, and have the right to own such equipment.

Greater coordination with development agencies and women’s NGOs that carry out projects to assist women, such as adult literacy courses, microcredit facilities and family planning advice, is essential to make this reintegration programme sustainable and to reach all beneficiaries.

Annex A: Terms, definitions, and abbreviations

Terms and definitions

Empowerment: Refers to women and men taking control over their lives: setting their own agendas, gaining skills, building self-confidence, solving problems and developing self-reliance. No one can empower another; only the individual can empower herself or himself to make choices or to speak out. However, institutions, including international cooperation agencies, can support processes that can nurture self-empowerment of individuals or groups.3 Empowerment of participants, regardless of their gender, should be a central goal of any DDR interventions, and measures should be taken to ensure that no particular group is disempowered or excluded through the DDR process.

Gender: The social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships between women, men, girls and boys, as well as the relations between women and those between men. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes. They are context/time-specific and changeable. Gender is part of the broader sociocultural context. Other important criteria for sociocultural analysis include class, race, poverty level, ethnic group and age.4 The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity). The concept of gender is vital, because, when it is applied to social analysis, it reveals how women’s subordination (or men’s domination) is socially constructed. As such, the subordination can be changed or ended. It is not biologically predetermined, nor is it fixed forever.5 As with any group, interactions among armed forces and groups, members’ roles and responsibilities within the group, and interactions between members of armed forces/groups and policy and decision makers are all heavily influenced by prevailing gender roles and gender relations in society. In fact, gender roles significantly affect the behaviour of individuals even when they are in a sex-segregated environment, such as an all-male cadre.

Gender analysis: The collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated information. Men and women perform different roles in societies and in armed groups and forces. This leads to women and men having different experience, knowledge, talents and needs. Gender analysis explores these differences so that policies, programmes and projects can identify and meet the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men, which can greatly improve the long-term sustainability of interventions.6 In the context of DDR, gender analysis should be used to design policies and interventions that will reflect the different roles, capacity and needs of women, men, girls and boys.

Gender balance: The objective of achieving representational numbers of women and men among staff. The shortage of women in leadership roles, as well as extremely low numbers of women peacekeepers and civilian personnel, has contributed to the invisibility of the needs and capacities of women and girls in the DDR process. Achieving gender balance, or at least improving the representation of women in peace operations, has been defined as a strategy for increasing operational capacity on issues related to women, girls, gender equality and mainstreaming.7

Gender equality: The equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same, but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, while recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue, but should concern and fully engage men as well as women. Equality between women and men is seen both as a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centred development.8

Gender equity: The process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field. Equity is a means; equality is the result.9

Gender mainstreaming: Defined by the 52nd session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1997 as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetrated. The ultimate goal of this strategy is to achieve gender equality.”10 Gender mainstreaming emerged as a major strategy for achieving gender equality following the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. In the context of DDR, gender mainstreaming is necessary in order to ensure that women and girls receive equitable access to assistance programmes and packages, and it should, therefore, be an essential component of all DDR-related interventions. In order to maximize the impact of gender mainstreaming efforts, these should be complemented with activities that are directly tailored for marginalized segments of the intended beneficiary group.

Gender relations: The social relationship between men, women, girls and boys. Gender relations shape how power is distributed among women, men, girls and boys and how that power is translated into different positions in society. Gender relations are generally fluid and vary depending on other social relations, such as class, race, ethnicity, etc.

Gender-aware policies: Policies that utilize gender analysis in their formulation and design, and recognize gender differences in terms of needs, interests, priorities, power and roles. They recognize further that both men and women are active development actors for their community. Gender-aware policies can be further divided into the following three policies:

Gender-neutral policies use the knowledge of gender differences in a society to reduce biases in development work in order to enable both women and men to meet their practical gender needs.

Gender-specific policies are based on an understanding of the existing gendered division of resources and responsibilities and gender power relations. These policies use knowledge of gender difference to respond to the practical gender needs of women or men.

Gender-transformative policies consist of interventions that attempt to transform existing distributions of power and resources to create a more balanced relationship among women, men, girls and boys by responding to their strategic gender needs. These policies can target both sexes together, or separately. Interventions may focus on women’s and/or men’s practical gender needs, but with the objective of creating a conducive environment in which women or men can empower themselves.11

Gendered division of labour is the result of how each society divides work between men and women according to what is considered suitable or appropriate to each gender.12 Attention to the gendered division of labour is essential when determining reintegration opportunities for both male and female ex-combatants, including women and girls associated with armed forces and groups in non-combat roles and dependants.

Gender-responsive DDR programmes: Programmes that are planned, implemented, monitored and evaluated in a gender-responsive manner to meet the different needs of female and male ex-combatants, supporters and dependants.

Gender-responsive objectives: Programme and project objectives that are non-discriminatory, equally benefit women and men and aim at correcting gender imbalances.13

Practical gender needs: What women (or men) perceive as immediate necessities, such as water, shelter, food and security.14 Practical needs vary according to gendered differences in the division of agricultural labour, reproductive work, etc., in any social context.

Sex: The biological differences between men and women, which are universal and determined at birth.15

Sex-disaggregated data: Data that are collected and presented separately on men and women.16 The availability of sex-disaggregated data, which would describe the proportion of women, men, girls and boys associated with armed forces and groups, is an essential precondition for building gender-responsive policies and interventions.

Strategic gender needs: Long-term needs, usually not material, and often related to structural changes in society regarding women’s status and equity. They include legislation for equal rights, reproductive choice and increased participation in decision-making. The notion of ‘strategic gender needs’, first coined in 1985 by Maxine Molyneux, helped develop gender planning and policy development tools, such as the Moser Framework, which are currently being used by development institutions around the world. Interventions dealing with strategic gender interests focus on fundamental issues related to women’s (or, less often, men’s) subordination and gender inequities.17

Violence against women: Defined by the UN General Assembly in the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private. Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to, the following:

(a) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;

(b) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;

Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.”18

Abbreviations

DDR DPKO FAAFG IDDRS M&E NGO SRSG SSR UN UNIFEM WED

disarmament, demobilization and reintegration Department of Peacekeeping Operations female associated with armed forces and groups integrated disarmament, demobilization and reintegration standard/standards monitoring and evaluation non-governmental organization Special Representative of the Secretary-General security sector reform United Nations UN Development Fund for Women weapons in exchange for development

Annex B: DDR gender checklist for peace operations assessment missions19

How many women and girls are in and associated with the armed forces and groups? What roles have they played?

Are there facilities for treatment, counselling and protection to prevent sexualized violence against women combatants, both during the conflict and after it?

Who is demobilized and who is retained as part of the restructured force? Do women and men have the same right to choose to be demobilized or retained?

Is there sustainable funding to ensure the long-term success of the DDR process? Are special funds allocated to women, and if not, what measures are in place to ensure that their needs will receive proper attention?

Has the support of local, regional and national women’s organizations been enlisted to aid reintegration? Has the collaboration of women leaders in assisting ex-combatants and widows returning to civilian life been enlisted? Are existing women’s organizations being trained to understand the needs and experiences of ex-combatants?

If cantonment is being planned, will there be separate and secure facilities for women? Will fuel, food and water be provided so women do not have to leave the security of the site?

If a social security system exists, can women ex-combatants easily access it? Is it specifically designed to meet their needs and to improve their skills?

Can the economy support the kind of training women might ask for during the demobilization period? Have obstacles, such as narrow expectations of women’s work, been taken into account? Will childcare be provided to ensure that women have equitable access to training opportunities?

Do training packages offered to women reflect local gender norms and standards about gender-appropriate behaviour or does training attempt to change these norms? Does this benefit or hinder women’s economic independence?

Are single or widowed female ex-combatants recognized as heads of households and permitted access to housing and land? Are legal measures in place to protect their access to land and water?

Annex C: Gender-sensitive interview questions20

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Annex D: Gender-responsive DDR programme management frameworks and indicators

1. Gender-responsive field/needs assessment

Field/Needs assessment for female ex-combatants, supporters and dependants should be carried out independently of general need assessment, because of the specific needs and concerns of women. Those assessing the needs of women should be aware of gender needs in conflict situations. The use of gender-analysis frameworks should be strongly encouraged to collect information and data on the following:

The methodology of data collection should be participatory, and sensitive to gender-related issues. The assessment group should include representatives from local women’s organizations and the local community. This might mean that local female interpreter(s) and translator(s) are needed (also see IDDRS 3.20 on DDR Programme Design).

1.1. Matrix to assess capacities and vulnerabilities

The Capacities and Vulnerabilities Framework21 can be used to plan and measure the outcome of gender-responsive DDR programmes. This framework is also useful for assessing needs by mapping the strengths and weaknesses of the target population.

The matrix below is an example of how the framework can be used. A similar approach can be created in the field, based on collective interviews and/or focus groups with women’s NGOs, community leaders, female ex-combatants and supporters:

Capacities refer to the existing strengths of individuals and groups to cope with a crisis and to improve the quality of their lives;

Vulnerabilities refer to factors that weaken the people’s ability to create positive changes in their lives and community.

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2. Gender-responsive programme design

The formulation of a project/programme should reflect the results of needs assessments of female ex- combatants and other FAAFGs. Gender dimensions should be included in the following components:

programme goals;

project objectives;

outputs;

indicative activities;

inputs;

indicators (for baseline data and monitoring and evaluation).

(Also see IDDRS 3.20 on DDR Programme Design.)

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3. Gender-responsive budgeting in DDR programming

The formulation of a gender-responsive budget is a way of ensuring that female-specific interventions will be sufficiently funded. It also ensures that equal attention is paid to females and males by disaggregating costs by gender. Budgetary processes should ensure the participation of a DDR gender adviser, women’s organizations and community members in order to encourage accountability and transparency.

In addition to objectives, indicators and outputs defined in the programme design, there is a need to specify the following categories within a results-based budgeting framework:

female-specific activities (e.g., job training for female ex-combatants, counselling for the victims of gender-based violence) and its inputs (trained staff, adequate facilities);

gender training (to programme staff, government officials, ex-combatants, supporters and dependants) and its inputs (trained staff, adequate facilities);

gender adviser(s);

unit cost (per participant) of all activities disaggregated by gender.

It is also advisable to ask donors to specify the allocation of funds to female-specific interventions and gender training (also see IDDRS 3.41 on Finance and Budgeting).

4. Gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation

Gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is necessary to find out if DDR programmes are meeting the needs of women and girls, and to examine the gendered impact of DDR. At present, the gender dimensions of DDR are not monitored and evaluated effectively in DDR programmes, partly because of poorly allocated resources, and partly because there is a shortage of evaluators who are aware of gender issues and have the skills needed to include gender in their evaluation practices.

To overcome these gaps, it is necessary to create a primary framework for gender-responsive M&E. Disaggregating existing data by gender alone is not enough. By identifying a set of specific indicators that measure the gender dimensions of DDR programmes and their impacts, it should be possible to come up with more comprehensive and practical recommendations for future programmes. The following matrixes show a set of gender-related indicators for M&E (also see IDDRS 3.50 on Monitoring and Evaluation of DDR Programmes).

These matrixes consist of six M&E frameworks:

1. Monitoring programme performance (disarmament; demobilization; reintegration)

2. Monitoring process

3. Evaluation of outcomes/results

4. Evaluation of impact

5. Evaluation of budget (gender-responsive budget analysis)

6. Evaluation of programme management.

The following are the primary sources of data, and data collection instruments and techniques:

national and municipal government data;

health-related data (e.g., data collected at ante-natal clinics);

programme/project reports;

surveys (e.g., household surveys);

interviews (e.g., focus groups, structured and open-ended interviews).

Whenever necessary, data should be disaggregated not only by gender (to compare men and women), but also by age, different role(s) during the conflict, location (rural/urban) and ethnic background.

Gender advisers in the regional office of DDR programme and general evaluators will be the main coordinators for these gender-responsive M&E activities, but the responsibility will fall to the programme director and chief as well. All information should be shared with donors, programme management staff and programme participants, where relevant. Key findings will be used to improve future programmes and M&E. The following tables offer examples of gender analysis frameworks and gender-responsive budgeting analysis for DDR programmes.

Note: Female ex-combatants = FXC; women associated with armed groups and forces = FS; female dependants = FD

4.1. Gender-responsive monitoring of programme performance

Purpose of monitoring: To monitor programme performance for female ex-combatants, supporters and dependants at each stage of DDR:

monitoring of disarmament;

monitoring of demobilization;

monitoring of reintegration;

Data collection frequency: Every month during the implementation of the programme.

4.1.1. Monitoring of disarmament

Key questions to ask:

To what extent did the disarmament programme succeed in disarming female ex-combatants?

To what extent did the disarmament programme provide gender-sensitive and female-specific services?

Click here to see the chart in a new window.

4.1.2. Monitoring of demobilization

Key questions to ask:

To what extent did the demobilization programme succeed in demobilizing female ex-combatants and supporters?

To what extent did the demobilization programme provide gender-sensitive and female-specific services?

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4.1.3. Monitoring of reintegration

Key questions to ask:

To what extent did the reintegration programme succeed in reintegrating female ex-combatants, supporters and dependants?

To what extent did the reintegration programme provide gender-sensitive and female-specific services?

Click here to see the chart in a new window.

4.2. Gender-responsive monitoring of process

Purpose of evaluation: To examine if and to what extent DDR programmes meet the needs of female ex-combatants, supporters and dependants, and to examine the level of participation of women;

Process: (1) Reaching the right target population; (2) meeting the needs of stakeholders; (3) the dynamics of participation of stakeholders;

Gendered dimensions of process: (1) Reaching female target population; (2) meeting the needs of women and girls; (3) equal participation of women and women’s organizations;

Data collection frequency: Every three weeks during the implementation of the programme.

Key questions to ask:

To what extent did the DDR programme meet the needs of female ex-combatants, FAAGFs, and dependants?

To what extent did the DDR programme encourage and support the participation of women and women’s organizations at each stage of the programme?

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4.3. Gender-responsive evaluation of outcomes/results

Purpose of evaluation: To examine the contribution of DDR programmes to the creation of security for female ex-combatants, FAAGFs and dependants;

Outcomes and intermediate results: (1) Capacity-building of ex-combatants and community members; (2) human security; (3) social capital;

Gender dimensions of outcomes: (1) Reduction of gender-based violence and discrimination against women and girls; (2) human security for women and girls; (3) capacity-building of female ex-combatants, FAAGFs and dependants;

Data collection frequency: Every three months upon the completion of programme.

Key question to ask:

To what extent did the DDR programme increase human security (physical, psychological, economic, social, political, cultural) for female ex-combatants, FAAFGs and dependants?

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4.4. Gender-responsive evaluation of impact

Purpose of evaluation: To examine (1) the impact of DDR on empowerment of female ex-combatants, FAAGFs and dependants; (2) the contribution of DDR programme towards the creation of gender-responsive community development:

Impact/Long-term goals: (1) Community development; (2) sustainable peace;

Gender dimensions of impact: (1) Gender equality in community development and peace; (2) empowerment of women;

Data collection frequency: Every six months for at least one to three years after the completion of the programme.

Key questions to ask:

To what extent did the DDR programme empower female ex-combatants, FAAGFs and dependants?

To what extent did the reintegration programme encourage and support the creation of gender-responsive community development?

Click here to see the chart in a new window.

4.5. Gender-responsive evaluation of budget (gender-responsive budgeting analysis)

Purpose of evaluation: To examine the level of gender mainstreaming in the DDR budget;

Budget: Allocation of resources, balancing revenue and expenditure, cost efficiency;

Gender dimensions of budget: (1) Allocation of sufficient resources for female-specific interventions and gender-related interventions, such as gender training; (2) equal treatment of male and female ex-combatants in the overall programmes; (3) participation of women and women’s NGOs in budgetary processes;

Data collection frequency: Every stage of the budget cycle (preparation, approval, appreciation, auditing, revision, reporting).

Key questions to ask:

To what extent did the budget specify female-specific and gender-related activities, their inputs, and the cost?

To what extent was the allocation of resources adequate to effectively implement female-specific and gender-specific activities?

To what extent did gender specialists/advisers and women’s organizations participate in the processes of the budget cycle (e.g., preparation, auditing)?

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4.6. Evaluation to assess the level of gender mainstreaming in programme management

Purpose of evaluation: To examine the level of gender mainstreaming in each DDR programme/project cycle and its management;

Programme/Project cycle: (1) Situational analysis and need assessment; (2) project design; (3) project appraisal; (4) secure funding; (5) project implementation; (6) M&E;

Gender dimensions of project cycle: (1) Assessment of women’s and girls’ participation; (2) gender-responsive project design and M&E; (3) understanding and implementation of gender mainstreaming among programme staff;

Data collection frequency: Every month during the implementation of the programme, and before and after the implementation of the programme.

Key question to ask:

To what extent was gender mainstreamed in the DDR programme management and its project cycle?

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Annex E: Further reading

This module was largely derived from: UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Getting It Right, Doing It Right: Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, UNIFEM, New York, October 2004.

Other key sources include:

Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), ‘Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective into Multi-dimensional Peace Operations, DPKO Lessons Learned Unit, New York, July 2000, http://pbpu.unlb.org/pbpu/library/Gender%20Mainstreaming%202000.pdf.

Farr, Vanessa, ‘Gendering Disarmament as a Peace-building Tool’, Paper No. 20, Bonn International Center for Conversion, 2002, http://www.bicc.de/publications/papers/paper20/paper20.pdf.

March, Candida, Ines Smyth and Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, A Guide to Gender-analysis Frameworks, Oxfam Press, Oxford, 1999.

Mazurana, Dyan and Susan McKay, Where Are the Girls? Girls in Fighting Forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique, Canadian International Development Agency, Child Protection Research Fund, March 2004, http://www.ichrdd.ca/english/commdoc/publications/women/Girls/girlsmainEN.html.

Rehn, Elisabeth and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Women, War, Peace: The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building, UNIFEM, New York, 2002.