The Swedish government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Philippines have launched a new partnership to support the integration of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in consolidation efforts. peace in the Bangsamoro region.

Swedish Ambassador to the Philippines Harald Fries and UNDP Resident Representative to the Philippines Selva Ramachandran kicked off the collaboration in a virtual launch with the Bangsamoro Women’s Commission (BWC). Through this agreement, Sweden will support the ongoing work of UNDP and BWC in implementing the Bangsamoro Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, alongside the new Bangsamoro Community Resilience Framework. The initiative also aims to promote the empowerment of women and strengthen communities against natural disasters, conflicts and pandemics respectively.

Among the key projects covered by the partnership is the Women Insider Mediators – Rapid Action and Mobilization Platform (WIM – RAMP) – a group of community mediators from Moro communities and BARMM indigenous peoples who are committed to working together towards the l empowerment of Bangsamoro women as peacemakers, conflict mediators and community leaders in the region.

Ambassador Fries, in his message, stressed the importance of partnership and noted that the promotion of women’s empowerment and gender equality is mainstreamed in the work of the Swedish government, with Sweden being known in the world for its feminist government and feminist foreign policy.

He added that “gender equality is a goal in itself. However, gender equality must also be seen as an essential element in achieving other goals, such as peace, security and development. Studies show that the quality, legitimacy and sustainability of peace agreements and peacebuilding are considerably higher when women are included as active participants and have real influence in the peace process. “

“The launch of this project and its subsequent implementation will certainly contribute to the implementation of the Bangsamoro Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, especially in this period of transition,” said MP. Hadja Bainon Karon, President of the Bangsamoro Women’s Commission.

Developed with the support of UNDP and other United Nations agencies, the Bangsamoro Women’s Commission launched the Bangsamoro Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (RAP-WPS) 2020-2022 in October 2020, which aims to strengthen the role of the women of Bangsamoro in the implementation of the peace agreement and the protection of their human rights in situations of conflict and post-conflict transformation.

In his message, Dr Ramachandran noted that UNDP “recognizes the resilience of women mediators and peacebuilders in the face of cross-vulnerabilities brought about by conflict, natural disasters and the ongoing pandemic. With the support of Sweden, we will be able to expand the work done by BWC and WIM-RAMP members in the areas of humanitarian response, conflict prevention and peacebuilding. “