DKI APCSS and Women, Peace and Security

As signatories of UNSCR 1325, all 193 member states of the United Nations are legally obligated to advance its objectives. Over 70 states have National Action Plans aligned with this effort and more are being crafted. The United States unveiled its first National Action Plan in 2011 with the enduring and foundational principle that states and societies are more peaceful and prosperous when women are empowered to realize their full potential through full and equal rights and opportunities. In October 2017, the passage of the Women, Peace and Security Act demonstrated the US government’s commitment to gender inclusion as a pathway to global peace and stability through a legislative framework.

1. Increasing the percentage of female course participants
   
   
   Since 2012, DKI APCSS has taken robust steps to achieve at least 25% enrollment of women in its courses and workshops. The results show a notable rise in our enrollment trends by gender (refer to graph) inspiring us to increase female participation to 33% or one-third. The increased attention to and participation of women have created greater awareness in course attendees of the value of inclusion in security sector institutions. Participants leave our engagements with an increased appreciation of the security imperatives for and contributions of women, creating more opportunities, assisting in their career progression, and enhancing national and international security. Senior male leaders around the Asia-Pacific region in military, justice, law enforcement and other security professions have actively increased female recruitment and are placing women in a broader variety of positions.
2. Integrating WPS in the curriculum
   Course offerings include a special emphasis on Women, Peace and Security as a core theme in plenary settings and elective offerings.  WPS is integrated in teaching a wide range of topics such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response, terrorism and transnational crime, governance, and global climate change.
3. Facilitating the development of Fellow’s Projects specific to WPS
   A Fellow’s Project is a key component of our in-resident courses. It is an opportunity for course participants to use knowledge gained at DKI APCSS to develop strategies to address security challenges in their countries and regions. A Fellow’s Project may be designed by course participants individually, or collaboratively by country-specific inter-agency and regional cohorts.
   
   Examples of recent Fellow’s Projects designed for implementation in the region include:
   
   • Building the capacity of women in grassroots de-radicalization programs
     Problem: The roots of radicalization are sometimes traced within the home and community environment.
     Outcomes and impact: Create awareness and give mothers in vulnerable communities the tools to partake in family-based de-radicalization efforts to counter the spread of extremist narratives.
   • Deployment of women border security guards
     Problem: Absence of women security guards at border check points prevents adequate security screening of female refugees, enabling the flow of illicit materials by transnational criminal groups and terrorists.
     Outcomes and impact: Improved security screening of refugees, including females, mitigates trafficking of weapons, drugs, and humans across the border, reducing terrorist and criminal activity.
   • Advancing mixed gender teams in peacekeeping operations
     Problem:International peacekeeping troops that are predominantly male are sometimes perceived as a threat by the communities they are mandated to protect. Service delivery and operational effectiveness is deterred by limited capacity to engage with the local communities.
     Outcomes and impact: Gain greater access to and build better relationships with local communities by having mixed gender teams; provide access to healthcare for women and children with respect to local customs; women in local communities are more likely to report gender-based sexual violence to female peacekeepers; conflict with local communities is reduced during disarmament operations requiring peacekeepers to search their home.
   • Developing National Action Plans on WPS
     Problem: Country does not have a policy framework on gender inclusion in security sector governance.
     Outcomes and impact: Design a policy framework aligned with UN norms to advance greater inclusion of women in the security sector through civilian and military inter-agency cooperation, promote awareness and importance of community security as a fundamental element of state security, create plans for creating a pool of women in security sector institutions, building their capacity and policies to retain and advance them to leadership positions.
     
4. Conducting workshops and dialogues on WPS
   DKI APCSS organizes multilateral workshops in the Asia-Pacific region to highlight the value of inclusion for more effective security sector governance, and the development of regional norms and networks.
   
5. Integrating WPS into our research
   Faculty and alumni research on the role of gender in a wide range of areas including counter terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, national security policy formulation, and state-building in post-conflict environments.