Zambia, UNDP plus Canada are now working together to build up a tailored gender plan for the national police program.
Rostering more woman officers
Set up by Canada in 2019 to level the peacekeeping playing field and assistance to meet UN gender parity targets, the fund partners with national authorities plus UN operations in the field. The newest grant aims at tackling these challenges. On schedule is certainly construction of a new facility to accommodate 40 female officers and a daycare centre meant for 15 children, easing females officers’ entry in exercising exercises. “My Command appreciates the recognition of female officers as a catalyst of organized change within the Zambia Law enforcement Service, ” said the particular Inspector General of Law enforcement Lemmy Kajoba. “We take very seriously our part in driving policy reforms, ensuring gender mainstreaming and accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment within our institution. ” Findings showed a lack of ideal lodging for women officers along with available information on deployments. The assessment also found that women encounter more household and local community constraints than men, like parental responsibilities and social stigma.
Bringing down barriers
Tracking progress, UN Law enforcement keeps monthly gender data , including numbers of female officers within peace operations. These forward tips follow Zambia’s recent strides in promoting women’s rights plus ensuring a level playfield in peace and security. The Government of Zambia revised a national gender policy in 2014 and a year later enacted the Gender Equality Act. The new project aims to help overcome existing gender barriers to women’s participation within UN peace operations , supported by a 2, 072 grant from the Elsie Initiative Fund regarding Uniformed Women in Peacefulness Operations and in line with Security Council efforts, including its landmark resolution 1325 (2000) . Named after Elsie MacGill, Canada’s first female aeronautical engineer, who led the national production of Hawker Hurricane fighter planes during the Second World War, the fund has supported projects within 16 countries and EL peacekeeping missions. By 2028, the goal is to reach the following markers: 15 per cent female military peacekeepers in troop contingents, twenty per cent female police in formed police units, twenty five per cent female military observers and staff officers, plus 30 per cent individual police officers.
Building in order to overcome barriers
The national law enforcement service will also train and expand its network of regional focal points to methodically disseminate deployment-related information, especially in rural and remote control areas. A project oversight committee, co-chaired by senior Zambia Police Service and UNDP representatives, will provide strategic guidance to make sure progress. The Zambia project envisions creating a roster of more than 100 women eligible to deploy as peacekeepers.
Recent advances
Supporting similar initial projects in Ghana and Senegal, the Elsie Finance has also issued grants towards the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stablizing Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and UN Interim Power in Lebanon ( UNIFIL ). Committed to ensuring the sustainability of these project outcomes, the Zambia Police Service provides committed to ensure that gender-related coaching is institutionalized within the instruction curriculum, and to continue to finance, train, and prepare police officers, in particular women, for application to UN peace procedures. The particular partners work with the EL Development Programme ( UNDP ), which is implementing a range of projects, including the one in Zambia. A top contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping, Zambia has been among seven countries that piloted an assessment study in 2020 to identify obstacles. To deal with low numbers of women in uniformed peacekeeping, the UN Uniformed Sex Parity Strategy for 2018 to 2028 offers set a series of benchmarks. Also planned is definitely developing an anti-sexual nuisance, exploitation and abuse plan, and the roll out of associated training and gender-mainstreaming workshops to senior Zambian police personnel.
