1. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the November 2017 edition of the SOLLIMS Lessons Learned Sampler –
Operationalizing Women, Peace, and Security.
United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 established the principles of Women,
Peace and Security (WPS). WPS aims to empower half the world’s population as equal partners in
preventing conflict and building peace, while endeavoring to rectify the disproportionate, adverse
impacts of armed conflict on women.
Since UNSCR 1325 was issued in 2000, over 60 nations around the world have created National Action
Plans (NAP) to incorporate WPS principles into their institutions. The United States NAP on WPS
was established in 2011 by Executive Order 13595, with an accompanying Department of Defense
Implementation Guide in 2013. The U.S. NAP strives to institutionalize a gender-sensitive approach
to defense, diplomatic, and development activities by supporting participation of women in decision-
making processes, protection from violence, conflict prevention initiatives, and equal access to relief
and recovery assistance. Of note, in October 2017, the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017
(S.1141) was signed into law after being passed by the U.S. Congress. The Peacekeeping & Stability
Operations Institute (PKSOI) currently serves as the lead for U.S. Army WPS efforts.
Lessons in this compendium demonstrate the incorporation of WPS principles into various initiatives
across the conflict continuum, ranging from conflict prevention & resolution, security cooperation,
and crisis response to peacekeeping and stability operations. These lessons, based on experiences of
peace and stability practitioners around the world, seek to answer two important questions – Why?
and How?
Why is WPS relevant to the security sector?
How can WPS be operationalized across the spectrum of conflict?
The following diagram shows at a glance how lessons from this Sampler are applicable across the range
of interventions to conflict/crisis situations. Read the lessons for yourself to discover more!
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