Since its launch in 2023, the Gender and Identity Factors Platform (), implemented by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOCT with support from Global Affairs Canada, has served as a hub for knowledge-sharing and capacity-building on gender and intersectionality in counter-terrorism and preventing and countering violent extremism conducive to terrorism (CT/PCVE), contributing to the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and related United Nations frameworks.
GIFP builds practitioners¡¯ capacities on integrating gender in CT/PCVE through dedicated events, learning tools, and a resource . Under the Platform, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOCT also supports Member States through targeted capacity-building.
In 2025, the GIPF was accessed by nearly 7,000 users, highlighting significant interest in gender-responsive approaches to prevent and counter terrorism. This year, the Platform will expand to include an e-learning course, as well as a global Training-of-Trainers Manual on Gender Mainstreaming in CT/PCVE.
A Training Manual for Trainers in Kenya
On 29-30 January 2026, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOCT convened, in partnership with the National Counter Terrorism Centre of Kenya and the Centre of Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a national workshop in Nairobi to finalize the localization of the GIFP Training-of-Trainers Manual on Gender Mainstreaming in CT/PCVE. The workshop brought together Kenyan officials, civil society representatives, and gender experts to tailor Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOCT¡¯s global manual to national policies, institutional mandates, and local PCVE priorities. The resulting localized manual provides a practical tool for users at the national and county level to help strengthen Kenya¡¯s ability to implement inclusive, human rights-based and gender-responsive CT/PCVE initiatives.The Nairobi workshop also demonstrated the value of collaboration between United Nations entities, national institutions, regional bodies, and community-level actors through the GIFP.
Webinar series
In 2025, the GIFP and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women convened a webinar series marking the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
Security practitioners, policymakers, and civil society leaders reflected on strategies to strengthen women¡¯s full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in CT/PCVE. Speakers highlighted that CT/PCVE efforts must be inclusive, transparent, human rights-based, and gender-responsive. Achieving effective inclusion requires structural change within institutions and systems, addressing how CT/PCVE is planned, designed, implemented, monitored, and reviewed, rather than tokenizing women¡¯s contributions. The webinars explored barriers to full, equal and meaningful participation of women in CT/PCVE efforts, ranging from institutional bias to limited funding and unsafe engagement channels for women-led civil society organizations. They also emphasized solutions such as mentorship and leadership pipelines, gender-sensitive policies, and consistent consultation with women¡¯s organizations.
How to turn commitments into action
The experiences shared by practitioners and civil society leaders below highlight not only why women¡¯s full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation matters, but also how Member States, security institutions, and United Nations entities can create conditions to enable it.
Ines Zeitner, Assistant Chief Constable of Germany serving as the first-ever Police Adviser in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women
¡°The starting point is structural change. It isn¡¯t enough to encourage women to adapt to a system that isn¡¯t built with them in mind. To navigate these challenges, I focused on leading by examples, I advocated for more flexible scheduling, encouraged more open communication, and prioritized mental health and team cohesion. These efforts did not just help me to alleviate pressure; they contributed to a culture shift in the department, and slowly, we began to move toward a model that valued both operational excellence and human resilience.¡±
Dr. Rosalind Nyawira, Senior Lecturer, National Intelligence and Research University, Kenya and former Director of Kenya¡¯s National Counter-Terrorism Centre
¡°I kept telling myself, ¡®I am the expert in this field, I speak from a point of knowledge, so when it¡¯s my time to speak, I¡¯ll speak with confidence.¡¯ Once you know your subject matter, and you¡¯re confident, then you realize you start getting ears to listen. And once they start listening, you start getting doors to open.¡±
Judy Kimamo, Country Director for Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, Search for Common Ground
¡°Peace has a pulse, and it cannot be sustained without recognizing the essential role that women play in keeping it alive¡ªthrough an intersectional lens. Across diverse contexts, women peacebuilders and community leaders are often the first responders in mediation, prevention, and trust-building. Yet discriminatory institutions, exclusion from decision-making, unsafe workplaces, and technology-facilitated harassment continue to limit women¡¯s leadership and participation, weakening the prospect of peace from within.¡±
Debbie Affianty, Lecturer at Universitas Muhammadiyah Jakarta; Women and PCVE Working Group in Indonesia
¡°Women activists sometimes face suspicions, stigma, or even threats when engaging with security actors. Unless these barriers are addressed, collaboration will remain limited and unequal. Safe participation means women can speak up without fear of stigma, intimidation, or harassment. In practice, it looks like women leading community programs, shaping national strategies, being visible in international platforms and properly resourced to do their work. In short: It¡¯s about power sharing, not just tokenism.¡±
Professor Adjaratou Wakha Aidara Ndiaye, Leader of the Network Women Sentinels of Women, Peace and Security, and Social Cohesion (West Africa and the Sahel), Senegal
¡°Women are sentinels of our society, and we need more women in the community and taking decisions at each level¡ªat the grassroots, at the intermediary level, and at the strategic level, too.¡±