The has announced that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Interim Force in Lebanon (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL) is the first field mission to receive funding to create an enabling and inclusive environment for women peacekeepers.
The US $357,000 grant will allow Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL to build gender-sensitive accommodation and working conditions for women peacekeepers from the Ghanaian battalion.
It will also enable the peacekeeping mission to attain gender parity and equality.
¡°For success in peacekeeping operations, we need more uniformed women to participate. Yet, too often women¡¯s equal participation in these missions is deterred by inadequate gender-responsive living and working conditions,¡± said Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women¡¯s Executive Director, Sima Bahous.
¡°The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL project is setting a great example by specifically tackling this significant structural barrier. Its positive changes will help us attain parity in peace operations.¡±
The project includes installing four accommodation buildings, an ablution unit, and a welfare area for women.
The improved living conditions come at a time when Ghana, which currently deploys 861 military personnel to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL (16% of whom are women) is expected to increase its deployment of women peacekeepers.
¡°Women still face barriers that prevent them from contributing to peacekeeping to the fullest,¡± said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
¡°This includes lack of information about deployment opportunities and not enough access to necessary training, as well as institutional constraints and biases, or inadequate facilities and infrastructure in field missions.
¡°This project represents an expression of our shared values for gender equality and the promotion of women¡¯s full, equal and meaningful participation in our workforce, in line with the Secretary-General¡¯s Action for Peacekeeping initiative, which is critical to increasing performance and mandate implementation,¡± he said.
Over the years, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL has supported the increased participation of women peacekeepers from five percent in 2018 to nearly seven percent (659 women) in 2021.
With this project, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL seeks to support troop- and police-contributing countries to achieve the gender targets set in the .
"Our women peacekeepers participate in all types of operational activities, from de-mining to patrolling the Blue Line,¡± said Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col.
¡°We are proud to put this funding to remove some of the practical barriers that may deter women's participation in our important work.¡±
