Backgrounder: How Canada is supporting UN peacekeepers

As of April 30, 2020, there were just over 82,445 UN military and police peacekeepers, of whom women represented less than 6.5%.

To support the recruitment and retention of more women peacekeepers, Canada is investing an additional:

• $2.5 million to UN Women’s Elsie Initiative Fund, which provides financial incentives, to UN Troop and Police Contributing countries and UN organizations, for a total investment of $17.5 million since 2019.
• $1.77 million with the UN Department of Peace Operations to ensure that the physical design of UN missions better accommodates women and men peacekeepers, bringing Canada’s contribution to $8 million

Canada continues to lead the integration of gender equality in UN operations through its broad-based support for gender advisers, with an additional:

• $972,000 investment, for a total of $2 million, for a senior gender adviser from UN Women to work with the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General in integrating gender equality approaches into UN planning, analysis and policy processes at the highest levels
• $2.1-million investments, for a total of $3.5 million, to strengthen the gender adviser’s capacity and better engage women and girls in peace and stabilization operations in the United Nations multidimensional integrated stabilization missions in Mali and the Central African Republic

Since it was launched in November 2017, the Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations has:

• established bilateral partnerships with the Ghana Armed Forces and Zambia Police Service
• supported the implementation of the gender integration strategy of the Senegal Armed Forces
• launched the Elsie Initiative Fund for uniformed women in peace operations in collaboration with the UN
• funded research to identify and address barriers to women’s meaningful contributions to peace operations
• led significant advocacy efforts around the world to raise awareness of the role women play in UN peace operations