BACKGROUND PAPER Leading the Way to a More Equal Peace: Senior Management and Gender Mainstreaming

Developing the ideas from the Designing Mandates and Capabilities for Future Peace Operations report with material from the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operation report, the Global Study on UNSCR 1325, and the following Secretary General’s reports, this paper discusses key questions, challenges and lessons for senior management of multidimensional peacekeeping operations when they seek to implement a gendermainstreamed operation. In sum, when gender mainstreaming is enforced more strategically through the regular chain of command as outlined in the reports.

In essence, the paper discusses how the senior management can more concretely interpret the mandated tasks to identify what gender-sensitive implementation means when seeking to move from policy to practice. Moreover, it considers what organizational capacity is needed, how to ensure national ownership and context adaptation, and how to institutionalize consultations with women leaders and women’s organizations from the host community. Last but not least, the paper addresses how senior management can more instrumentally ensure an effective use of the expertise of the senior gender adviser.

While all material for this paper underline that we have a long way to go in order to deliver more effectively on the decisions taken in the resolutions on women, peace and security, there is by now many lessons and developed policy to build on in order to create a more gender-equal peace.