Corporate report

Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan, report to Parliament 2024 to 2025

Published 17 June 2025

Introduction

This seventh report to Parliament sets out progress from February 2024 to February 2025 against the objectives outlined in the UK’s fifth Women, Peace and Security (WPS) National Action Plan (NAP). The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) jointly led the implementation of the NAP, with input and activity across Government Departments including Home Office, Northern Ireland Office, Ministry of Justice, Northern Ireland Executive and the Scottish Government.  

In the FCDO, Lord Collins is the Minister responsible for WPS and was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) in November. In the MOD, the Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard MP, retains responsibility, alongside Lord Coaker, Minister of State for Defence, who supports the MOD’s international relations on WPS. On 8 March 2025, Baroness Harriet Harman KC was appointed as the UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls. In addition, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh continued to champion both the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI).

In 2024 to 2025 the UK continued to drive forward implementation of the WPS agenda in an increasingly challenging international environment. The proportion of women killed in conflict in 2023 doubled compared with 2022 and UN verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence increased by 50%. In 2023 women made up only 9.6% of peace negotiators.

From day one, this Government has stepped up to tackle this challenge; from calling for the cessation of hostilities and protection of civilians in Sudan and continuing to stand united with Ukraine and Europe in the face of Russian aggression. Across these contexts, and beyond, the UK has called out and endeavoured to address the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls.

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated Russia’s willingness to weaponise civilian harm and gendered forms of violence to achieve military effect. The WPS agenda is therefore critical to strengthening both our institutional composition as much as ensuring we fully understand the gendered dynamics of conflict. Following the launch of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), and as Defence orientates itself to prioritise warfighting readiness, it is essential that Defence is ready to respond to threats and works with Allies and partners to defend our nation and mitigate harm to civilians.

We know that women’s participation leads to improved security decision making. There is a clear moral, legal and strategic imperative to the WPS agenda. As we strengthen Defence, we must ensure that we are able to harness the full talent our society has to offer.  An inclusive approach to women at all levels and across all roles in Defence is therefore critical to the pursuit of national security.

As we approach the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the Government intends to publish a refreshed UK WPS NAP, building on the approach and ambition of the fifth WPS NAP, advancing implementation, and updating priorities.

Delivering across the NAP’s strategic objectives

In 2024 to 2025, the government continued to deliver across the NAP’s 5 strategic objectives.

Strategic objective 1 (SO1): Decision-making: Increasing women’s meaningful participation, leadership, and representation in decision-making processes

The UK supported women’s participation in peace processes and political dialogue

• in 2024 to 2025 the UK-funded ‘Women Mediators Across the Commonwealth’ (WMC), supporting the direct involvement of women in mediation, for example in Niger and Sierra Leone. WMC members built relationships in Niger with civil society, including women leaders, Governors, Director of Women’s Empowerment, the Mayor of Niamey and Chief Administrator to understand how these stakeholders might want to work with international partners, and the opportunities for women’s engagement. South Asian WMC members worked on an initiative to link women working at track 3 with track 2/2.5 processes. WMC also delivered a report into the psychosocial impact of peacebuilding on women mediators and worked to develop their sustainability as a network. Project impact reporting will be available from summer 2025
• in Sudan, through the deployment of technical expertise on gender and inclusion, the UK supported the establishment of the anti-war, pro-democracy Taqaddam coalition, working alongside 200 women, which shaped a national conference in May 2024 to find a political solution. On 9 April, ahead of the London Sudan Conference on 15 April, the FCDO convened with Baroness Harman a ‘Women’s Inclusion Roundtable’ to hear directly from Sudanese women, demonstrating the UK’s commitment to improving women’s meaningful and safe participation in political dialogue and peace processes
• through the Integrated Security Fund (ISF), the UK allocated £13 million between 2020 to 2025 to support the Mindanao peace process in the Philippines by strengthening stability and democratic political settlement of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).This included advocating for women’s rights and their full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in governance and peace processes, with the view to influence government, academics, and communities through effectively implementing the regional WPS action plan and building capacity of women leaders. The UK funded ‘Advancing Inclusion and Political Participation of Women in the Bangsamoro (AIPWB)’ project supported 550 women leaders and 187 women’s associations, training women to engage in governance, influence policy, and lead in political spaces. Several took steps to run for office in May 2025 elections, clear evidence of increased confidence and political engagement among Bangsamoro women

Bangsamoro women leaders during their voter engagement session aimed to increase the political engagement of women.

• in 2024 to 2025, the UK provided the Malian NGO Femmes et Development with £0.9 million to promote the role of women and young people in local governance and peacebuilding processes in Mali and Burkina Faso. In the reporting period, the FCDO deployed a WPS expert to build capacity of the Malian Government, in particular the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children and Family (MPFEF), in order to strengthen their capacity to mainstream WPS across government through training and peer-learning, and evaluate the impact of Mali’s 3rd NAP

• in Ukraine, the UK provided £0.2 million to the ‘Ukrainian Women Leader’s Coalition for Winning Peace’ project (implemented by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security between December 2024 to March 2025). The project is supporting capacity-building with a diverse coalition of Ukrainian women leaders to build their capacity to participate in peace processes. The project emphasises trust-building, goal setting and negotiating skills to help develop a strategic playbook for shaping conflict resolution processes and post-war recovery in Ukraine

• the Scottish Government continued their ‘Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship Programme’, which affirms the importance of the participation of women and the inclusion of gender perspectives in peace negotiations, humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, and post-conflict peacebuilding and governance. Delivered by Scotland-based NGO Beyond Borders and the University of Edinburgh Law School, with funding from the Scottish Government, the Fellowship has trained more than 360 women peacebuilders from 40 conflict-affected countries across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Latin America since 2017. In 2024, alumnae participated in the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Summit, leading discussions on the role of IHL in contemporary conflict, particularly in relation to women, peace and security principles, and the ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Occupied Palestinian Territories. They also facilitated advocacy workshops and undertook public outreach, including at the ‘Beyond Borders’ international festival

Back row (left to right): Mekides Berhanu Alemu, Emily Quispe Ponce de León, Nona Mamulashvili, Arij Soussi, Noor Al-Khateeb, Sofiia Shevchuk, Prativa Khanal, Justine Seruwaia Maravu, Ranya Al-Jaberi, Ayessa Tin, Yakaka Mandara, Hind Abdulrahman, Urooj Shafa Ali, Tasneem Siedahmed. Front wow (left to right): Ana María Aristizábal Ramirez, Kaukab Stewart MSP, Màiri McAllan MSP.

• in November 2024, the UK Government hosted a WPS event with Yemeni women leaders, which included a meeting with Lord Collins, HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh, the US Special Envoy for Yemen and representatives from the Yemen President’s office. Meetings focused on the importance of women in Yemen politics and a future peace process, and led to the Yemen Government mainstreaming WPS language in their political vision

HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh met Yemeni Women, Peace and Security leaders, during a roundtable hosted by the FCDO.

Lord Collins, Minister responsible for WPS and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on PSVI, at a roundtable hosted by the FCDO with Yemeni Women, Peace and Security leaders.

The UK supported women peacebuilders and grassroots women’s organisations and movements, championing their participation

• through the UK’s £33 million partnership with The Equality Fund, the UK continued supporting women’s rights organisations (WROs), including in regions affected by conflict. By March 2025, with FCDO support, the Equality Fund channelled over £55 million to 1000 WROs and funds across 100 countries in the Global South since its inception in 2019
• through the FCDO’s ‘Women of the South Speak Out’ programme, in 2024 to 2025 we supported over 100 young women’s rights activist fellows from ODA-eligible countries to participate in decision-making fora, amplifying youth voices and positioning fellows as key contributors to policy discussions. At the regional level this included fellows’ participation in panels and the running of side events at the Asia-Pacific, Africa and MENA Beijing+30 Regional Review processes. Fellows also presented a submission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Safe Abortion at the Southern African Development Heads of State Conference. At the international level, fellows co-authored a brief on SRHR and climate change and launched this in a side event at COP29, participated in and co-delivered the closing speech at the ‘Association for Women’s Rights in Development Conference’ and spoke on multiple panels at the UN Commission on the Status of Women
• in 2024 to 2025, the FCDO also continued its £0.8 million partnership with the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) to support WRO’s and women peacebuilders in Iraq, Myanmar, South Sudan, Turkey and Syria to participate in and improve the sustainability of peace and security processes. This project strengthened the capacity of women and their communities to meaningfully participate in emerging political and peace processes. We also provided additional funding for ICAN’s Syria response following the fall of the Assad regime. Furthermore, the UK supported ICAN’s 10th annual forum, which brought together women peacebuilders from over 40 countries to discuss opportunities and challenges to their work, share lessons learnt and foster peer support
• the ISF-funded Resourcing Change Phase II project ‘Supporting WRO’s and Women’s Networks in Fragile and Conflict Affected States’ was delivered in 2024 to 2025 by a Saferworld-led consortium in Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. Funding of up to £4.8 million was allocated to this project between September 2022 to March 2025, which provided core and flexible funding to 24 WROs. This support enabled increased contributions by the WROs to gender transformative peace and security, improved individual and collective advocacy with national and international decision-makers, organisational capacity-building, and safe spaces for network and movement building. For example, the support in Yemen led WROs to successfully advocate for the establishment of Yemen’s first cybersecurity division within the Attorney General’s Office, creating official mechanisms to combat online harassment, exploitation and blackmail. Funding also supported a movement building event in Nigeria. Key outcomes included strengthened networking among peace actors and funders, insights on funding strategies, a deeper understanding of masculinity in the WPS agenda and valuable peer learning

Through the ISF Gender Peace and Security Portfolio the UK provided flexible funding to a WRO in South Sudan to meet self-defined priorities to strengthen their response to WPS issue.

The UK continued to support the integration of WPS and tackle the barriers to women’s participation in UN peacekeeping

• in 2024 to 2025, the UK provided an additional £0.5 million to the Elsie Initiative, where the UK is the second largest contributor, providing £5.8 million (USD $7.4 million) since 2019. The initiative aims to increase the number of women in UN peacekeeping and address the underlying barriers to female participation. The UK has taken up the role of co-chair of the Elsie Initiative for 2025, following Canada’s departure from the role
• through the British Peace Support Team (Africa) (BPST(A)), the UK continued to help selected African police and troop contributing countries to tackle the barriers to meaningful female participation in Peace Support Operations (PSO), through targeted interventions to address identified shortcomings such as driver training or weapons handling skills. BPST(A) has mainstreamed gender modules across all its training, with a particular focus on ensuring gender considerations are reflected in decision-making at all levels. BPST(A) has also supported the specific development of Foundational Engagement Teams for deployment on UN missions. BPST(A) continues to support curriculum development, working with the ‘International Peace Support Training Centre’ in Nairobi, and the UN and African Union (AU) to review their curricula to ensure that it reflects the most recent operational experiences. BPST(A) is currently working with the AU to develop a train-the-trainer course for gender mainstreaming on PSO. This will build upon previous efforts to help the AU write a draft policy on gender mainstreaming in AU PSOs, the development of which continues, including through the creation of a related monitoring and evaluation framework
• BPST(A) worked with African partners to help address critical issues such as sexual and gender-based violence, and sexual exploitation and abuse, both as part of its wider training on protection of civilians and international humanitarian law, and through dedicated efforts to help selected police forces develop a cadre of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) investigators
• BPST(A) continued to support advocacy in Africa for WPS and gender issues. In March 2025, it hosted a WPS conference alongside the AU, to increase awareness of the specific challenges women encounter in conflict and post-conflict settings, and providing a platform to discuss the specific steps required to progress from commitment to action in strengthening WPS outcomes in PSOs
• the MOD funded and worked on its ‘Gender Barrier Study’, to understand constraints to women in the UK Armed Forces participation in peacekeeping missions. This has included undertaking key informant interviews with decision-makers, a survey and focus groups. The study is now due to complete in 2025
• the MOD continued to provide a Women and Child Protection Adviser to the UN mission in MONUSCO, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The adviser helps to ensure a gender perspective is applied in the peacekeeping operation and international standards are met

The MOD continues to address the barriers to women’s participation and leadership in the UK Armed Forces

• in 2024, the MOD continued work to improve the recruitment of women in the Armed Forces, through inclusive marketing campaigns, candidate nurturing schemes and access to apps to improve preparedness for physical entry standards
• to address the need to retain women in the Armed Forces, the MOD has provided childcare options which benefit some 8,500 serving personnel (24% of which are female); operate a range of Flexible Service options (such as job share, flexible working, alternate ways of work) all of which are authorised locally according to operational requirements. The MOD has also introduced accessible information on women’s health with a Servicewomen’s Health Handbook, which seeks to dispel myths and embarrassment about women’s health issues to allow for better management by commanders (this was also translated into Ukrainian and shared with Ukraine). Furthermore, a new Pelvic Health handbook and additional training for military health care professionals in pelvic health has been introduced. The MOD now also provide emergency sanitary protection when deployed and a urinary support device for women to use when on training, exercise or operations; and have introduced menopause and breastfeeding policies. Improvements have been made to uniform (including maternity uniform), body armour and combat clothing. Following a cutting-edge research report into the impact of arduous training on women in ground close combat the MOD are currently working on an Arduous Training Preparation product specifically for women
• women and gender networks within each Service, continue to act as a conduit for female voices to raise issues to both Chiefs and Ministers

Strategic objective 2 (SO2): Gender-based violence: preventing gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence and supporting survivors to cope, recover and seek justice

The UK has continued to strengthen the global response to Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

• the UK committed up to a further £18 million (2024 to 2028) to the UN Trust Fund (UNTF) to End Violence Against Women to support civil society organisations working on the frontlines of GBV prevention and response. The UK is supporting a ‘Special Funding Window on Conflict and Crises’. New grantees were announced in 2024 and included WRO’s working in Myanmar, Syria and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Under the UNTF’s 27th Grant Cycle (2024 to 2028), over 20% of the UNTF’s new and diverse portfolio of grantees will target support to displaced and refugee women
• in June 2024 the UK, as part of an international steering committee that developed a Common Approach to Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment (Home, CAPSEAH), formally endorsed this initiative at a round table launch. With over 200 endorsements to date, CAPSEAH aims to prevent sexual exploitation abuse and harassment (SEAH) and improve accountability and support to survivors; strengthen existing standards towards a more aligned sector-wide approach across humanitarian, development and peace operations; and set expectations about behaviours and minimum actions to protect from SEAH
• in 2024 to 2025, the ‘What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale’ programme continued to pioneer locally-led approaches around the world that have reduced violence in communities by as much as 50% over the course of the programme. In addition, expert GBV support has been provided to a number of FCDO Posts, including South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen and Syria, as part of the Violence Against Women and Children Helpdesk component of the programme. This technical advisory support has enabled the development of innovative GBV prevention programmes in conflict affected contexts and will build the evidence base on what works to prevent violence in challenging environments
• in 2024 to 2025, ISF provided £0.8 million to WILDAF, a WRO’s working with women, girls, youth, traditional leaders, and local authorities in Mali and Burkina Faso to prevent and respond to GBV, economically empower women through income generating activities, and increase their participation in community-level decision making processes
• in Egypt, British Embassy Cairo launched the UK’s لها ومعها Fund (Laha w Maha/ For Her, With Her) in collaboration with Egyptian celebrity actor Ahmed Hatem in June 2023. Investing in eleven small organisations, it reaches throughout Egypt to prevent violence, and provide legal, medical and psychological services to survivors. Laha w Maha is designed to act on what WRO’s have been telling us for years - invest in them directly

The UK’s commitment to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) is resolute

• in November 2024, Lord Collins was named Prime Minister’s Special Representative for PSVI. In this role, he has committed to drive international action to support survivors, bring the perpetrators of these horrific crimes to justice, and end impunity. The UK has continued to strengthen the global response to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) by:

  • strengthening international legal architecture on CRSV and holding perpetrators to account:
    • the UK continues to support the draft UN Crimes Against Humanity Convention. In November 2024, agreement was reached at the UN to formally open negotiations on the convention in 2028. The convention would strengthen the international legal architecture on CRSV and other atrocity crimes. Since July 2024, UK support through PSVI has contributed to 3 landmark convictions on CRSV as a Crime Against Humanity, in Guinea, Kenya and Uganda
    • following a launch in 2023 of a new UK-funded virtual reality app with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to support survivor-centred justice, in 2024 we commissioned a briefing paper on how the ICC could take forward a number of ground-breaking extended reality (XR) court tools to further support CRSV survivors

Lord Collins, Minister responsible for WPS and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on PSVI at the International Alliance on PSVI in Colombia.

• supporting and meaningfully engaging survivors:
  • in November 2024, at the High-Level Meeting of the International Alliance on PSVI, Lord Collins reiterated the UK’s commitment to a survivor-centred approach informed by the expertise of the PSVI’s ‘Survivor Advisory Group’ and called on other states to consider adopting this model. PSVI support to the ‘Global Survivors’ Fund’ (GSF) has helped to provide interim reparative measures to at least 3,250 survivors around the world, including education and psychosocial and livelihoods support. Updated figures following programming in 2024 to 2025 will be available in due course
  • in November 2024, the Ukrainian parliament approved a law on the legal and social protection of CRSV victims. The development of this law was supported by UK funding through GSF
  • in March 2025, Lord Collins attended the International Alliance on PSVI meeting, convened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, to discuss the horrific levels of CRSV globally, including the situation in Sudan, and the need for survivor-centred responses
• strengthening international approaches to CRSV in Security Institutions:
  • the MOD provided a Gratis Officer to the United Nations Office of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (O-SRSG-SVC) to support the UN’s mission to eradicate sexual violence in conflict. The Military Officer has provided technical guidance to improve prevention and accountability of the security sector on CRSV. The Military Officer has worked to push the dial forward particularly in military institutions, including through establishing a Security Sector Reform hub in the O-SRSG-SVC
• strengthening UK approaches to SEA:
  • in the MOD, work to strengthen the implementation and accountability of the ‘Zero Tolerance to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse’ (SEA) policy (JSP 769) has been ongoing. JSP 769 is now included in a multitude of courses including basic training, annually in mandatory Individual Training Requirement (ITR) packages, and in mandatory career and Command courses at various stages of career across the Services. SEA specific training is also delivered within pre-deployment training. All 3 Services (Army, Navy and Air) have appointed leads with regards to aspects of SEA policy/discipline policy and implementation. In order to ensure the policy remains appropriate, JSP 769 will be reviewed and updated as required during 2025

Domestically, through the ‘Safer Streets Mission’, the Government will drive delivery to halve violence against women and girls, halve knife crime, and restore confidence in the policing and justice system to record levels

• the Government is treating the scale of violence against women and girls in this country as a national emergency. We will also go further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy that covers England and Wales to be published later in 2025. The Strategy will set out a blueprint for how Government, frontline agencies, and society should work together to achieve this goal, taking a whole-of-system, whole-of-society approach, so women and girls can be safe from all forms of VAWG, at home, in public, and online

• this Government has already designed bold ‘end-to-end’ measures to strengthen the police response to VAWG, protect victims and hold perpetrators to account. This includes:

  • in November 2024, launching a new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected police forces and courts – which is a huge step towards a new national approach
  • in November 2024, outlining a new package of measures to tackle spiking, strengthen the law and improve the response victims receive, including committing to introduce a new criminal offence for spiking and pilot new spiking training for bar staff
  • in December 2024, a new package of 6 measures to tackle stalking including statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identities of online stalkers to protect victims, and a review of the stalking legislation to ensure it is fit for purpose
  • a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection. The Home Office is investing £13.1 million in 2025 to 2026 to stand-up this new Centre from April 2025. This funding includes an uplift of nearly £2 million to enable policing to better target these crimes – demonstrating the Government’s steadfast commitment to halving violence against women and girls in a decade
  • as of February 2024, offenders convicted of controlling or coercive behaviour, and sentenced to 12 months or longer, are now automatically managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). MAPPA requires cooperative working between the police, probation, and prison services to manage the risks posed by the most serious offenders. This law change means even more domestic abuse offenders will fall under MAPPA and recognises the significant harm this kind of offending can cause by putting controlling or coercive behaviour on par with other forms of domestic abuse
  • from February 2025, under a new approach named ‘Raneem’s Law’, the first domestic abuse specialists were embedded in 999 control rooms in 5 police forces to advise on risk assessments, work with officers on the ground and ensure that victims are referred to appropriate support services swiftly
  • introducing the Crime and Policing Bill in February 2025. Through this Bill, we are introducing a range of legislative measures on sex offender management and stalking. Under the Bill, the police will be given new powers to issue a notice prohibiting registered sex offenders who pose a risk from changing their name without prior authorisation. Other measures include requiring registered sex offenders to provide advance notice before entering premises where children are present, and measures to improve the management of stalkers
• in addition to this, the MoJ provided funding for vital victim support services through a mix of nationally and locally commissioned organisations. This includes ringfenced funding for domestic abuse and sexual violence services, which can be used for Independent Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Advisers (ISVAs and IDVAs)
• to strengthen protection for victims from all forms of domestic abuse, we launched Domestic Abuse Protection Orders in selected areas in November 2024

In September, the Northern Ireland Executive agreed and launched the Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Women and Girls

• the Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) was developed through a co-design process that brought together over 50 representatives from various organisations, including community and voluntary EVAWG experts and lived experience. The 7-year Strategic Framework 2024 to 2031 and a First Delivery Plan covering the period 2024 to 2026 were agreed by the Executive on 5 September 2024 and launched on 16 September when the First Minister made a statement to the Assembly

• the vision of the Strategic Framework is for “a changed society where women and girls are free from all forms of gender-based violence, abuse and harm, including the attitudes, systems and structural inequalities that cause them.” It sets out a 7-year roadmap and describes the changes needed and the range of actions required to bring about an end to violence against women and girls

• the Framework has 6 Outcomes under 4 pillars of Prevention, Protection and Provision, Justice System and Working Better Together. The main focus of the Framework is prevention. EVAWG is a priority in the recently launched Programme for Government (2024 to 2027) which cements the importance of this strategic and cross-cutting area of work. The First Delivery Plan has 3 main strands – community investment, campaigns, and collaboration. Key progress so far includes:

  • community investment:
    • the EVAWG Change fund has been set up in partnership with local councils and will focus on prevention. The Change Fund represents a £3.2 million investment and is intended to enable grassroots community groups and Community and Voluntary Sector EVAWG experts to expand vital on the ground projects and responses that raise awareness, build capacity to take action and equip people to have safe and healthy relationships
    • the Executive Office (TEO) has secured £0.5 million funding from Department for Economy (DfE) Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) to stimulate the development of technological and innovative solutions to improve the safety of women and girls

  • communications and campaigns:

    • the Power to Change Campaign was launched on 29 January. This is a Police Service Northern Ireland led campaign developed in partnership with Department of Justice and TEO EVAWG team with input from EVAWG youth panels. The campaign is aimed at reducing unacceptable behaviour and attitudes that have the potential to lead to an escalation of offending and gender-based violence against women and girls. The campaign harnesses the ‘active bystander’ approach to challenge and reduce unacceptable behaviour and attitudes and provides tools to tackle it
    • work is currently ongoing with Ulster University on a campaign to recognise the signs of Coercive Control using a Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes mnemonic – with the aim to ensure that all members of the public, regardless of age or gender had a mechanism to ‘check-in’ with themselves and their relationships, particularly when there are signs of unhealthy behaviours
  • collaboration and innovation:
    • sectoral groups are key to actions within the First Delivery Plan and each group will deliver on an agreed action plan. TEO has established key-sectoral working groups, to improve outcomes for women and girls in educational, workplace, social and night-time settings
    • TEO continues to work with colleagues across a range of departments to support delivery and communications, as well as advising on innovation and good practice

Strategic objective 3 (SO3): Humanitarian and crisis response: supporting the needs of women and girls in crises and ensuring they can participate and lead in responses

UK government activity in relation to specific humanitarian and crisis responses can be found within the ‘Focus Country Case Studies’, later in this report

The UK has influenced inclusive humanitarian responses

• the FCDO continued to strengthen shock responsive social protection systems and support them to better respond to the needs of the most vulnerable, including women and girls at risk of exclusion and harm in crises contexts, through research, technical assistance, capacity building and programming. This includes research carried out by UNICEF Office of Research in Burkina Faso, DRC, Mali and Ethiopia to strengthen the evidence base on how to address gendered risks and vulnerabilities through social protection programmes. The deployment of a gender and inclusion expert to a technical assistance team in Ukraine supported the government and humanitarian cash providers to ensure the needs of the most vulnerable were supported during the transition from humanitarian cash to shock responsive social protection
• the FCDO hosted a Wilton Park dialogue on WRO’s and Movements in Crises in February 2024 in partnership with the Ford Foundation and Equality Fund. Following the event a group of women’s and feminist funds have led the development of the First Response Fund, an initiative which leverages the women’s and feminist funding ecosystem to resource grassroots WROs in humanitarian response. In 2024 to 2025 FCDO provided £1 million seed funding for this independent initiative. The outcomes of the event are also informing research and convening work led by ODI Global on a blueprint for resourcing women-led organisations and WROs in humanitarian crises. In addition, the UK with Switzerland and Denmark has led convening work on the role of pooled funds in promoting inclusive and locally-led humanitarian action, culminating in donor guidelines which outlines best practice

Strategic objective 4 (SO4): Security and justice: increasing accountability of security actors, institutions and systems to women and girls and ensuring they are responsive to their rights and needs

UK government activity on Security and Justice can also be found under SO1 and SO2 in this report, where the UK has supported women’s participation and engagement with Security and Justice institutions, including on GBV. In addition to examples within SO1 and SO2:

• in FY 2024 to 2025, the ISF provided £0.4 million to UN Office on Drugs and Crime, working in Mauritania, Mali, Niger to enhance the capacity of security first responders (primarily female Mehariste units in Mauritania) and wider the civil populations they work with, to protect vulnerable populations in border or hard to reach areas.
• in Somalia, WROs and networks were supported with £0.8 million from the ISF-funded Women to Women (W2W) project to form a platform to collectively identify their security needs and advocate for security sector reforms. They successfully engaged with security actors, particularly the Somalia Police Force (SPF), to improve their responses to the security needs of women, girls, and marginalised groups and coordinating a more responsive and supportive environment for SGBV survivors
• through UK support, in the margins of the 2024 Commission on the Status of Women, International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), held a 2-day workshop, promoting exchange between women peacebuilders and security sector actors to explore the challenges and opportunities of these actors working together to build trust and create peace. ICAN are due to publish their report, ‘The Odd Couple: Women Peacebuilders and Security Sector Actors Bridging Positions, Building Trust’ from this workshop imminently

MOD action to drive forward WPS in defence and military institutions

• in October 2024, the MOD hosted an event in the margins of Women, Peace and Security Week with the US Department of Defense, the Japanese MOD and DCAF (Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance) on advancing gender perspectives in military institutions. The event brought together civil society, NGO’s, UN and military advisers to discuss challenges and share practical ways to advance WPS
• the UK MOD also provides directing staff on a number of international training courses, such as the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM) Gender Adviser course and the WPS and Human Security component on the UN Protection of Civilian course. By providing directing staff, this allows the UK MOD to share its expertise on these topics and keep at pace with wider developments regarding the application of WPS in military institutions and operations
• the UK supported NATO on WPS, including through the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives (NCGP) as well as directly offering advice to NATO’s WPS policy drafting and its translation into military structures. Furthermore, the NATO International Military Staff (IMS) Office of the Gender Adviser was held by a member of the UK Armed Forces. This office supports the operationalisation of gender within NATO by providing strategic advice on the implementation of the WPS agenda and by supporting the integration of the gender perspective into NATO missions, operations and activities. The MOD also collaborates with the UK Delegation to NATO throughout the year to advance the integration of the WPS agenda across NATO’s core tasks
• the MOD has supported a number of countries in increasing their understanding and capabilities on WPS and Human Security, often through training directly to partner forces or with Defence ministries or departments. In 2024, this included activities with Kazakhstan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Somalia, Georgia, Armenia and Nigeria. Furthermore, in Colombia in December 2024 the MOD integrated one week of Human Security training into a 2-week course on ‘Managing Defence in a Wider Security Environment’, which was attended by military representatives from across South America
• from 6 to 8 November 2024, the MOD supported the 2nd Chief of Defence Staff Network Conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lord Coaker, Minister of State in the MOD, attended this meeting to demonstrate support for the WPS agenda and engage with partner countries on this important matter

Lord Coaker at the 2nd Chief of Defence Staff Network Conference in Sarajevo.

Strategic objective 5 (SO5): Transnational threats: ensuring we respond to the needs of women and girls as part of our approach to transnational threats

The UK has advanced work at the intersection of conflict, climate and gender

• through the ISF Gender, Peace and Security Portfolio (GPS) we have partnered with the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action to strengthen grassroots responses to climate change. This was launched in November 2024 by the Minister for International Development at COP29. Through the project, 6 women led community-based organisations and women environmental human rights defenders from the Philippines, Nigeria, DRC, Mozambique, Brazil and Burkina Faso have received funding to support their leadership and advocacy of gender- just climate solutions
• through the ISF funded WPS Helpdesk, the FCDO commissioned a report on the nexus between Women, Peace and Security and climate security objectives within HMG policy and programming. This included pilot participatory in-context analysis in Fiji and Nigeria, to explore the linkages between gender, climate change, vulnerability and conflict, and outlined recommendations for integrating a gender transformative and NAP-coherent lens into climate security programming

The UK has developed its domestic approach and established global partnerships in response to technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV)

• in March 2024, the UK published the new Digital Development Strategy 2024 to 2030, which commits the FCDO to enable a safe, secure and resilient digital environment through preventing TFGBV and promoting online safety
• in addition to this, in March 2024, the then CSSF NAP Implementation Support Project funded the ‘Preventing and Disrupting the Spread of Gendered Disinformation in the Context of Electoral Processes and Democratic Rollback’ in Nairobi, Kenya. The event was co-sponsored by the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, and members of its Advisory Board, including the Association for Progressive Communication, UN Women and the government of Kenya. The conference focused on bridging the siloed approach to preventing Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence and developing a framework for coordinated action to prevent and disrupt the spread of gendered disinformation and democratic rollback, in the context of electoral processes

Implementation: strategic partnership

We have built strong relationships with strategic partners to effectively push back against hostile actors

Case study: ASEAN

The ASEAN-UK Women, Peace and Security Programme (WPS) is part of a suite of ASEAN-UK programmes designed to support ASEAN-UK Plan of Action (PoA) 2022 to 2026 implementation and delivery of the UK’s commitments as an ASEAN Dialogue Partner since August 2021. The programme equips the ASEAN’s member states with the capacity to adopt and implement the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on WPS – a policy instrument that provides a framework for further WPS adoption at the national and local levels.

ASEAN members acknowledged the programme’s role in supporting the drafting and adoption of WPS National Action Plans (NAPs) in Vietnam and Timor-Leste, which elicited interest from other members, notably Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand, to adopt their own NAPs. The programme further delivered direct WPS capacity building activities for over 4,200 stakeholders, of which over 350 were state actors, and built knowledge library which has been accessed and used by over 3,500 users since its launch in December 2022.

Several UK posts in the region had extensive experience in delivering the programme with their host governments and stakeholders. The programme has been as particularly useful in supporting women in strategic decision-making level, as well as protecting women as individuals in various conflict situations. A couple of specific highlights from the region include the following:

• in Vietnam, the WPS programme has catalysed stronger government commitment to the WPS agenda, notably through the adoption of Vietnam’s first WPS NAP on 21 January 2024. Within the country’s changing political climate, British Embassy in Hanoi and UN Women achieved this through forging strong WPS buy-in from the pre-eminent Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), while also engaging the wider non-governmental stakeholders for evidence and inputs on the agenda’s direction of travel. Some of the impactful activities that helped shape the agenda include engaging high-ranking officials from MPS and MFA, as well as supporting their participation in UN panels in New York; outreach to NGOs, academic institutions, journalists, and female intellectuals network with more than 5,000 members; and connection with the interlinked UN agenda of Youth, Peace and Security at key regional events such as the ASEAN Future Forum
• in Thailand, despite recent turbulence in the domestic political climate, work has continued at the local level – garnering buy-ins from communities, CSOs, and NGOs. On 3 March 2025, UN women launched a community-based WPS implementation mechanism in the Northeastern Border Provinces, through establishing a Women’s Empowerment and Learning Centre. The centre provides space for women to get together and better connect WPS with other important issues, from political representation to economic and cultural development. As time progresses, UN Women plans to connect the centre with regional actors, including the ASEAN WPS network to facilitate intra-regional learning

As of early 2025, ASEAN has been developing its next long-term plan as an organisation up until 2045. This is an opportunity to effectively tailor the programme and any future UK-led WPS support, towards the inclusion of various pertinent WPS-related agenda by the 10 ASEAN members plus its one observer state. Further opportunities also arise in 2025 as the year will see several key WPS moments, including an ASEAN WPS Summit in Malaysia and a year-long commemoration of 25th anniversary of the launch of WPS agenda.

Case study: United Nations

The UK has continued to champion the WPS agenda at the United Nations.

We continue to work with partners to integrate the WPS agenda across the work of the UN Security Council to ensure women’s full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in conflict resolution and peace processes. As the penholder on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and as a signatory of the Shared Commitments on Women and Peace and Security , a cross-regional group of countries championing WPS in the Security Council, the UK has supported women from civil society to regularly engage with the Security Council and helped secure language on women’s rights in Security Council products, such as UN Mission mandate renewals on Colombia (on women’s participation) and Haiti (on gender-based violence).

In October 2024, Attorney General Lord Hermer underscored the UK’s commitment to the WPS agenda at the annual Security Council open debate on WPS. In his statement, he noted the UK would prioritise promoting women’s full, equal, meaningful and safe participation, supporting WRO’s, and fighting impunity for conflict-related sexual violence. In the margins of the debate, the UK showcased leadership by co-hosting events on Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, DRC, women in defence, and financing women peacebuilders. The UK also co-sponsored an event marking the 15-year-Anniversary of the mandate of the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

During our presidency of the Security Council in November 2024, we invited women civil society leaders and women humanitarian experts from Syria, Sudan and South Sudan to brief the Security Council. Lord Collins gathered high-level representatives from members of the International Alliance on PSVI for a briefing on the rapid escalation of CRSV against women and girls in eastern DRC. The UK also organised a press stakeout on the situation for women in South Sudan which was joined by the 10 other signatories of the WPS Shared Commitments.

In March 2025, during the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the UK hosted and joined a number of events highlighting different WPS priorities. This included co-hosting an event on women’s medical education in Afghanistan with the UAE and Norway and jointly calling for a Security Council meeting on CRSV in Sudan with Denmark. The UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls Baroness Harman hosted a meeting which gathered Member States, UN and civil society representatives to highlight the shocking level of threats and reprisals against women human rights defenders (WHRDs). Special Envoy Harman heard from 5 WHRDs from Afghanistan, DRC, Sudan and Syria.

Implementation: UK capabilities

We have continued to strengthen the UK Government’s knowledge and understanding of WPS

Case study: Women, Peace and Security Helpdesk

The WPS Helpdesk is an expert call-down facility that provides technical advice and support on WPS and gender in conflict, crisis and insecurity contexts. It offers services to the Integrated Security Fund (ISF) and UK Government, with a global remit.

Tasks completed by the Helpdesk this year (FY 2024 to 2025) have had a particular focus on exploring the links between transnational threats and WPS. These tasks have covered topics such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, climate change and serious and organized crime, among others. As this NAP is the first to include Transnational Threats as a strategic objective (SO5), the intersection of these issues with WPS remains a relatively new area of research. The WPS Helpdesk’s work contributed valuable knowledge helps bridge gaps in evidence, analysis and programming. For example:

• a gender and counter-terrorism toolkit was created to support the mainstreaming of gender considerations in HMG counter-terrorism activity. The rollout of the toolkit will be aided by trained leads within respective teams and departments to support facilitation
• several climate tasks were completed such as Climate Security and Gender in the Overseas Territories, WPS and Climate Security in Ukraine and WPS and Climate Resilience in the Pacific Islands all highlighting the intersection of climate change and WPS and recommending gender transformative programming approaches
• Serious Organised Crime (SOC) tasks such as SOC and Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence (AI), SOC and Gender. The SOC and Climate Change report establishes the existence of a nexus between the effects of climate change increasing gender vulnerability and, as a result, individuals’ exposure to SOC, with recommendations for programming. Similarly, the AI, SOC and Gender report makes policy and technical recommendations, which aim to address the risks of AI from a gender perspective, propose ways of better harnessing its opportunities for combatting crime and protecting women, and solve some of the important data gaps in this domain
• defence tasks were also completed by the Helpdesk. A literature review of Women in Decision-Making in Security Spaces, which highlights the value of diversity for making effective decisions within defence and security contexts. A gender analysis of the leadership training included in the Northumbrian Universities Officer Training Corps curriculum to identify how cadets (both women and men) are being equipped for leadership. This review will aid the MOD with their ambition for improving recruitment of women in the armed forces
• lastly, the Helpdesk wrote a paper on inclusive conflict prevention. The paper aims to stimulate deeper thinking about the parlous state of conflict prevention, and the feminist and WPS dimensions to it. It is drawn from a longer analysis developed for the UK-funded WPS Helpdesk.  It provides a reflection on the state of WPS and conflict prevention, identifying how conflict prevention has been included, or more precisely, buried, in the WPS agenda, followed by areas of promising practice, and closes with select areas for action

Case study: MOD capabilities

• in 2024, the MOD undertook a number of initiatives to drive forward the mainstreaming of WPS and Human Security across UK Defence. This included a mapping exercise of the different levels of expertise and understanding area of Human Security and WPS that is required across different Defence capabilities. It considered decision-making, planning and operational roles and identified where there are gaps that need to be filled. Alongside this, a Human Security Training Needs Analysis (TNA) has further identified what specific information is already being taught on courses across different parts of Defence and identified areas for improvement. A self-taught e-learning package on Human Security was launched on the Defence learning portal for personnel to upskill on this topic. In late 2024, 464 policy and strategy professionals in the MOD were engaged in a short Human Security training course. In 2025, the MOD will continue to drive forward these internal change programme initiatives
• in 2024, the UK’s Human Security in Military Operations course was run twice. This has resulted in 76 persons being trained as Human Security advisers. 64 being UK Defence personnel and 12 from other countries (Canada, Ireland, Nigeria, Ukraine, Armenia, Japan, Lebanon and Colombia). This course includes training on WPS and associated UN Security Council Resolutions, the UK WPS NAP, gender perspectives and CRSV. In the second week of the course students are tasked with integrating Human Security considerations into a military planning process, which includes WPS, providing them an opportunity to apply theory to a practical military context. Furthermore, the MOD have been inputting WPS and Human Security into key military training exercises, including on joint NATO exercises

Focus country case studies

A sub-section of WPS Focus Countries have been selected as case studies for this report: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Syria and Ukraine. In addition, we have included case studies on UK support in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Sudan, to demonstrate how the UK prioritises its efforts and responds quickly to emerging crisis.

Afghanistan

Since 2021, the Taliban has excluded women and girls from all aspects of public life, including limiting access to education and banning women from accessing medical training. In August 2024, the Foreign Secretary called the Taliban’s further oppression of women with its so-called vice and virtue law appalling. The UK has continued to urge the Taliban to reverse these decisions and has provided support to women and girls inside of Afghanistan to mitigate the worst impacts of these restrictions.

The UK has worked closely with the UN and INGOs to innovate in humanitarian delivery in the face of restrictions on female participation in society. We ensure aid delivery reaches women and meets their needs, for example by supporting paying towards expenses incurred due to the Taliban directive for women to be accompanied by a male guardian. In 2023 to 2024, UK support enabled the training of 4,000 health workers, of whom 2,000 were women; 43,000 teaching and learning materials to be distributed; and access to education for 54,000 girls. At least 2,000 teachers were provided with training or stipends, of whom half were women. The UK has worked with partners to sustain and where possible increase access for vulnerable women and girls to psycho-social counselling, medical assistance and referrals to other services in response to gender-based violence incidents. We look forward to publishing the results of our aid delivered in 2024/25 later this year, including those from our support to women and girls.

We are also committed to providing platforms for Afghan women to speak out, advocate for their full inclusion in society, and promote their rights. In 2024 to 2025 Ministers and officials regularly engaged with a range of Afghan women and women’s groups to ensure our policy and programming reflect their viewpoints and needs. In addition, the UK supported Afghan women peacebuilders and interlocutors to develop their advocacy skills and work towards a future where all Afghans have a voice. Through 2024 to 2025 ISF funding, we have supported 12 women-led organisations in Afghanistan working towards meaningful participation and inclusion of Afghan women in dialogues and decision-making spaces. This funding provided them with direct financial support, technical assistance, and capacity development.

We have promoted human rights on the international stage, including supporting the mandate of the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, and are disappointed by the Taliban’s August 2024 decision to ban him from visiting Afghanistan. Additionally, the UK is supporting the initiative to refer Afghanistan to the International Court of Justice for violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as we announced in January 2025 and we welcome the continued focus on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan by the International Criminal Court.

Hamish Falconer, Minister of the Middle East and North Africa met Afghan students studying in Doha. He shared the UK’s support for an equal Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls.

Hamish Falconer, Minister of the Middle East and North Africa met Malala Yousafzai to discuss the importance of women’s rights and girls’ education in Afghanistan.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Eastern DRC is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and girls. The scale of sexual and gender-based violence in eastern DRC is getting worse. The UK government has and continues to work with the government of the DRC, multilateral organisations, civil society and the international community to combat widespread impunity for the perpetrators of conflict related sexual violence.

Between 2023 to 2025 we supported TRIAL International with £250,000 to strengthen access to justice to survivors of CRSV and improve national capacity to effectively tackle CRSV in South Kivu. Our funding aimed at reinforcing the rule of law and reducing the recurrence of conflict related sexual violence in the DRC by empowering survivors to seek justice and reparations, reinforcing criminal accountability for perpetrators, promoting adequate transitional justice mechanisms and supporting Congolese justice practitioners to strengthen documentation of crimes through a survivor-centred approach and the provision of holistic support.

On 19 June 2024, the DRC endorsed the International Alliance joint statement in response to the Secretary General’s report on CRSV. In July 2024, DRC became the first state in the world to condemn the crime of forced pregnancy. Moreover, in November 2024 the verdict in the Donat case in South Kivu recognised for the first time in a Congolese court of law children born of wartime rape as direct victims of the crimes suffered by their mothers, and ordered the State to provide them with socio-economic, psychological and educational support as a form of reparation. UK funding through TRIAL International helped support these cases. 

In August 2024, Lord Collins met the DRC Minister for Human Rights and Minister for Gender to discuss CRSV, as well as women’s empowerment more broadly. In November, Lord Collins chaired a roundtable in New York with NGOs, Civil Society and the International Community on how we can work together to deliver a step change in the response to conflict-related sexual violence in eastern DRC. On 25 November 2024, Lord Collins met Dr Mukwege to discuss the Luanda peace process.

The FCDO has also engaged with HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh’s Vesico-Vaginal Fistula Initiative (VVF), with the Scar Free Foundation and Dr Mukwege. Sponsored by the Welsh government, in July 2024, Private Secretary HRH DssE and HMA Alyson King OBE visited Panzi Hospital with the specialist team of doctors from the UK who tested an innovative cross-speciality approach to fistula repair. HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh and Dr Mukwege hosted an event in Swansea in October 2024 to launch VVF, which had FCDO representation from PSVI London team. HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh also met government of the DRC Minister of Foreign Affairs in November 2024 and February 2025.

Throughout the year, the UK has continued to engage with the government of DRC on their third iteration of their WPS National Action Plan as well as key interlocuters from Synergie des Femmes pour la Paix et Sécurité, the leading women’s platform who attended the Luanda talks in July 2024. This coming year, the 4-year £16 million bilateral peace and stability programme will look to promote women’s leadership in peace structures in, increasing law enforcement on community policing including SGBV to providing psychosocial support/SGBV services.

Since the fall of Goma and Bukavu, the UK has continued our humanitarian assistance, having provided £62 million this financial year, enabling lifesaving assistance including support for victims of sexual violence. During the Foreign Secretary’s visit in February 2025, he announced an additional package of £14.6 million humanitarian support to help those in eastern DRC who are suffering most.

Ethiopia

The conflict in Tigray has left deep emotional and psychological wounds, particularly among women who survived CRSV. Recognizing the urgent need for trauma healing, the UK provided direct funding to CARE International (December 2022 to March 2027) to support locally led initiatives addressing this crisis.

The programme aims to lay the foundation for women’s participation in peace and recovery processes. To achieve this, it addresses individual barriers such as lack of self-confidence, psychosocial safety, and access to leadership opportunities. Through the Analyse, Co-Create, and Reflect steps of the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) model, the project strengthens women’s agency. Women are supported in identifying context-specific barriers to participation in their communities, allowing them to gain leadership experience and build confidence in communication and negotiation. Given the widespread trauma caused by the conflict, the programme also provides direct support to women and girls in rebuilding their psychosocial safety, enabling them to engage in public life. Additionally, the initiative supports learning on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to scale up community-based trauma healing across the region.

With UK funding, CARE facilitated the Tigray Trauma Healing Learning Event in Mekelle from 3 to 5 June 2024, led by the Women’s Association of Tigray (WAT). This event brought together civil society organizations, trauma practitioners, government representatives, and survivors to share experiences and explore sustainable approaches to healing. Discussions focused on integrating mental health into public services, expanding community-led responses, and ensuring trauma healing efforts reach the most affected populations. A key outcome of the event was the groundwork for developing the Tigray Trauma Healing Manual, a practical tool designed to scale interventions and guide professionals in the field.

Another UK-funded programme running from February 2024 to March 2025, and implemented by Daughters of Charity through the PSVI fund, also participated in the Learning Event. They shared their Helpful Active Listening (HAL) Circles approach a peer-support model inspired by Rwanda’s post-genocide recovery. This initiative empowers women survivors to support one another by creating safe spaces where they can share experiences and begin their healing journey. Trained facilitators, many of whom are survivors themselves, continue to provide psychosocial support, ensuring that trauma healing remains embedded within communities.

The UK’s support played a crucial role in bridging the gap between community-led and professional mental health approaches, reinforcing the importance of locally driven solutions. The learning event provided a platform for survivors and practitioners to exchange knowledge while engaging policymakers and international organizations in discussions on sustaining and expanding these efforts. This initiative directly advanced the WPS agenda by centring women in post-conflict recovery, addressing CRSV, and strengthening the role of women-led organisations in peacebuilding.

Lord Collins, the Prime Minister's Special Representative for PSVI and Minister responsible for WPS, visiting Ethiopia to meet women peace builders in Tigray.

Syria

Support to women and girls is at the heart of the UK’s policy and programmes in Syria, including through active engagement with women’s rights activists, women-led organisations and women involved in the political process. In December 2024, the fall of the Assad regime resulted in a wave of internal displacement, affecting a significant number of women and girls. Our £6 million contribution in 2024 to UNFPA’s annual appeal has led to 185,730 women benefitting from sexual and reproductive health services, 219,883 women accessing established safe spaces, 753 communities accessing a GBV response service for survivors and/or women at risk, and 142,680 women benefitting from GBV awareness and outreach activities. In addition, 9 new safe spaces were established in northeast Syria, and 18,147 reproductive health and dignity kits were provided to women across Syria. In addition, our flexible support to women-led organisations allowed them to adapt their support to respond to the needs of their communities.

Through our Syria Education Programme, we supported 41,473 female students to access education, including 1,022 female students with disabilities. In addition, 2,354 female staff were supported with stipends as part of the UK’s support to the educational system in northwest Syria, and 2514 staff were trained on gender inclusive pedagogy.

As Syria transitions, we have also increased our engagement with women civic actors in Syria to explore opportunities for increased participation of women in political and public spheres given the evolving context. In engagement with the Interim Authorities, we have pressed for an inclusive and consultative political process and the UK Special Representative for Syria has travelled to Damascus where she met the Head of the Women’s Affairs Department to discuss ways to empower and support women in Syria and build their capacities to take on an active and influential role in society.

Ukraine

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK has prioritised the protection and inclusion of women and girls in Ukraine. The UK champions the voices and leadership of women and girls in Ukraine, recognising the critical contribution women are making on the frontline and in communities affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

In April 2024, HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh became the first member of the Royal Family to visit Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, in her role as a champion of the WPS and PSVI agendas. Her visit served to demonstrate solidarity with the women, men and children impacted by the war. Whilst there, she met survivors of sexual violence and torture, and spoke to President Zelensky and First Lady Zelenska about how best to ensure long-lasting support for survivors as well as how women peacebuilders are playing a vital part in Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction.

The UK provided at least £100 million in humanitarian aid through to the end of FY 2024 to 2025 bringing our total contribution to £457 million since the start of the full-scale invasion. The needs of women and girls have been embedded in that: including funding for humanitarian aid, civil society and inclusion, sexual and reproductive health services, and assistance to tackle GBV. Through UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UK is helping the Ukrainian Government to strengthen the security protection of women and girls from GBV, including CRSV, by transforming social norms that condone GBV, improving access of survivors to quality assistance and developing mechanisms of comprehensive response to CRSV at the national and local levels, and creating a network of specialised services, including Survivor Relief Centers for CRSV survivors, shelters, crisis rooms, day-care centers, establishment psycho-social mobile teams, 24/7 hotline and a medical mobile teams hot line for GBV survivors. We are also helping to embed international guidelines and best practice, including on survivor-centred approaches, into the work of Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators through our PSVI Team of Experts. The UK has now provided more than £11 million to support projects aimed at building the domestic capacity of war crimes investigations, including through projects under the Atrocity Crimes Advisory (ACA) Group. The ACA is the coordinating mechanism between the UK, US and EU to support Ukraine’s domestic investigations and prosecutions of core international crimes.

In April 2024 HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh became the first member of the Royal Family to visit Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, in her role as a champion of the WPS and PSVI agendas.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

The UK has provided humanitarian funding in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to address the urgent needs for women. The UK announced £129 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) for financial year 2024 to 2025, including £41 million for UNWRA, providing vital services to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and to Palestinian refugees across the region delivered through partner agencies.

UK support has meant over half a million people have received essential healthcare, 647,000 have received food, and 284,000 people have improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene services. UK funding of £4.25 million for UNFPA is enabling them to distribute reproductive health kits and midwifery kits across Gaza, containing individual clean delivery kits, pharmaceuticals, consumable medical devices and equipment for basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care, as well as cash transfers for vulnerable women and psychological support services. 

In 2024, FCDO undertook a Gender, Equality, Diversity and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) analysis in the OPTs. This comprehensive review was able to inform us about the current status of GEDSI issues in Gaza and to make suggestions and recommendations for future funding and programming which are now being taken on board.

The UK has been unequivocal in its condemnation of reports of sexual violence on 7th October 2023 and thereafter. We have consistently called for all alleged violations and abuses to be fully investigated to ensure justice for victims and survivors. On 11 March 2024, the UK led calls for a UN Security Council emergency debate on sexual violence in Israel and the OPTs, following publication of a key report by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten. On 23 April 2024, Barbara Woodward delivered the UK’s intervention at the annual UN Security Council open debate on CRSV where she reiterated calls for reports of CRSV against Israelis and Palestinians to be investigated in a survivor-centred manner. We have also raised strong concerns around treatment of detainees and International Humanitarian Law compliance with the Government of Israel. 

The UK has also supported a survivor-centred response to reports of sexual violence, drawing on expertise from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI). In 2024, a member of the PSVI Team of Experts visited Israel and the West Bank and met a range of organisations to discuss how the UK could best add value to the international response to sexual and gender-based violence in the conflict.

Sudan

The UK has consistently condemned the significant escalation of CRSV in Sudan, through the UN Human Rights Council, Security Council and 2 joint statements of the International Alliance on PSVI. Lord Collins used our UN Security Council (UNSC) Presidency in November 2024 to call for concerted action on the protection of civilians in Sudan and co-hosted a side event during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week to draw attention to the plight of women and girls in Sudan and stress the importance of local-led response. The UK also co-led a Resolution at the UNSC with Sierra Leone on the protection of civilians which called on parties to take urgent steps to prevent CRSV and to improve protection and access to services. Despite unanimous support from the Council, the resolution failed to pass due to a Russian veto. 

In January 2025, the Foreign Secretary visited the Sudan-Chad border to raise awareness of the conflict in Sudan and its impact on neighbouring countries, speaking directly to Sudanese refugees, including survivors, who shared harrowing stories of sexual violence and torture. In March, Lord Collins chaired a UN Security Council Briefing on CRSV in Sudan, highlighting the worsening trends and emphasising the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities. This event followed his Sudan Roundtable with the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan in Geneva in February for permanent representatives, which aimed to raise awareness of the critical human rights situation and build consensus on the urgent need to hold perpetrators to account for violating international law.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy met Sudanese refugees during a visit to the border town of Adré, Chad.

In September 2024, the Minister for International Development visited South Sudan where she met women and girls that had fled the conflict, hearing directly from them about the challenges they face and the solutions they need. During the visit she announced an £86 million package, which included an additional £15 million for people in Sudan, as well as those who have fled to South Sudan and Chad, including women and girls, who have been forced to flee violence and seek safety.

The UK has been working to address the long-term drivers of gender-based violence in Sudan and to increase women’s participation in the peace process. UK technical and diplomatic support has been instrumental in the establishment of the anti-war pro-democracy Somoud coalition, led by the former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. This includes providing technical expertise on gender and inclusion and working with 200 women to shape a national conference to find a political solution. On 9 April, ahead of the recent Sudan Conference, the FCDO convened with Baroness Harman a Women’s Inclusion Roundtable to hear directly from Sudanese women, demonstrating the UK’s commitment to improving women’s meaningful participation in political dialogue and peace processes.

In October 2024, HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh, in her role as PSVI champion, visited the Sudan border in Chad and met survivors of CRSV to spotlight the detrimental impact of conflict and widespread CRSV on women and girls. In March, HRH also met Sudanese WRO’s in New York, in the margins of CSW69, to discuss their work and challenges

Through the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme, we have provided sexual and reproductive services to women, girls, persons living with disability and men, in both IDP camps and non-IDP settings. We have also enhanced our atrocity risk monitoring, including monitoring of conflict-related sexual violence and are working with UN and NGO partners to provide safe spaces, clinic treatments, dignity kits and psycho-social services for survivors.