The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls - UNFPA

Report <strong>of</strong> Working Group Four:
<strong>The</strong> Role <strong>of</strong> NGOs in Post-<strong>Conflict</strong> Situations for Women and Girls
Introduction
During the last decade, NGOs and other civil-society entities have made
significant advances in shaping the global agenda for democratization,
development and peace. Women’s NGOs have played an especially important
role in mainstreaming gender in the outcomes <strong>of</strong> the United Nations global
conferences <strong>of</strong> the 1990s. <strong>The</strong>y have promoted at all levels women’s human
rights, family reform legislation, reproductive rights and the end <strong>of</strong> violence
against women. NGOs have also played significant roles in highlighting the
adverse consequences <strong>of</strong> globalization on the quality <strong>of</strong> life, particularly for
vulnerable groups such as women and children. <strong>The</strong>ir vision, organizational
flexibility, independence and wide outreach continue to make NGOs major
partners for international organizations and bilateral donors.
<strong>The</strong> last two decades have been a period <strong>of</strong> increased conflicts and
emergencies. NGOs, and increasingly women's NGOs, have been at the
forefront <strong>of</strong> the aid community as it deals with emergencies created by these
conflicts. As such, they are well placed to participate in all processes <strong>of</strong> conflict
resolution and peace-building.
In response to emergency situations, NGOs should be involved in needs
assessment, service delivery, outreach, human rights advocacy, information
dissemination and community feedback. Women's NGOs, in particular, need to
be visibly involved to highlight issues <strong>of</strong> women and girls, whose culturally based
gender roles <strong>of</strong>ten determine their needs. This is typically overlooked in
emergency situations, especially if local and international male agency staffs
marginalize women by interacting solely with other male leaders and
counterparts.
Even with the experience gained during decades <strong>of</strong> addressing conflict
situations and emergencies, NGOs urgently need to strengthen their capacity to
meet challenges <strong>of</strong> the changing international context, which is characterized by
increasing violence, terrorism and nuclear threats.
Given the critical needs <strong>of</strong> emergency situations in the world, NGOs
should be strongly encouraged and supported to adopt preventive and preconflict
approaches, in addition to wartime and post-conflict interventions for
women and girls. For example, such approaches could involve providing
education on sexual and gender-based violence and related issues to armed
forces and police forces in peacetime. Financial and technical support <strong>of</strong> NGOs
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