Japan’s Development Cooperation Initiatives to Promote Women, Peace and Security (WPS)
Japan is promoting Women, Peace and Security (WPS) with the aim of further contributing to realizing a peaceful international community. This section introduces some of Japan’s initiatives (for details on WPS, see Part III, 3(6)).
* This article highlights three of the five pillars of Japan’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (Third Edition, FY2023-2028) that are related to international cooperation initiatives:
I. Promoting Women’s Participation and Gender Perspective in Peacebuilding
II. Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
III. Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Response, and Response to Climate Change
South Sudan
Reach Alternatives (REALs) / Japan Platform (JPF)
Project for the Distribution of Protection Items to Refugees, Returnees, and Internally Displaced Persons Affected by the Sudan Crisis in Juba
I. Promoting Women’s Participation and Gender Perspective in Peacebuilding
With support from Japan Platform, REALs distributed essential items to residents of an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp to safeguard the health and human rights of women and girls, protect them from gender-based violence, and ensure dignified living conditions in shelters, even amid displacement.
(Photo: ©REALs)
Ukraine
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Multi-sectoral response to urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine with a view to laying the foundations for community, development, and peace in Ukraine
II. Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Japan, through UNHCR, supports capacity building, training, and awareness-raising efforts to enhance protection for vulnerable displaced and war-affected individuals and communities, including survivors of gender-based violence.
(Photo: UNHCR)
Kenya
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Building Resilience for Sustained Provision and Uptake of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) Services in Selected Climate Change and Disaster Prone Counties in Kenya
III. Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Response, and Response to Climate Change
In areas seriously affected by climate change-induced disasters such as droughts and floods, Japan, through UNFPA, provides comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, along with gender-based violence prevention and response, to mothers, children, and pregnant women whose lives and health are at risk.
(Photo: UNFPA Kenya)
Mozambique
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Strengthening the fishing sector in Northern Mozambique for gender-inclusive programming to counter violent extremism in Northern Mozambique
I. Promoting Women’s Participation and Gender Perspective in Peacebuilding
Japan, though IOM, provides fishing-related livelihood and income-generating opportunities to internally displaced persons who were forced to flee due to attacks by insurgent groups, as well as to returnees and host communities, with a focus on women and gender equality.
(Photo: IOM)
Sri Lanka
JICA
Project for Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Networking
I. Promoting Women’s Participation and Gender Perspective in Peacebuilding
Japan supports the implementation of pilot activities and the development of models to empower women running small businesses. These activities include business skills training, the development of demand-driven services and products, and collaboration with business partners to expand market access. The initiative also strengthens the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs.
(Photo: JICA)
Iraq
Global Survivors Fund (GSF)
Interim Relief Measures for Victims of Conflict-Related Violence
II. Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Japan, through GSF, provided assistance for the formulation and implementation of interim relief measures—including livelihood support, medical care, education, and psychological services—for the Yazidi, a religious and ethnic minority in Iraq who suffered conflict-related sexual violence at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
(Photo: ©Katie van der Werf / GSF)
Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)
Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection in Human Mobility Crisis in Central America
II. Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Japan, through UN Women, supports capacity building for migrant women and women in host communities, and provides assistance for responses to gender-based violence, including protection for survivors and psychological and legal support.
Guatemala
JICA
Advisor for Strengthening Intervention Capacities for Women Entrepreneurs
I. Promoting Women’s Participation and Gender Perspective in Peacebuilding
The advisor aims to improve the livelihoods and incomes of women entrepreneurs by providing basic entrepreneurship knowledge, technical training, and financial management support to women in impoverished areas, women’s groups, and technical staff of the Secretariat of Social Works of the Wife of the Presidente of the Republic (SOSEP).
(Photo: JICA)
Asia, Oceania, Latin America
JICA
Gender- and Diversity in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change
III. Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Response, and Response to Climate Change
Since 2016, JICA has conducted the Knowledge Co-Creation Program on disaster response for government officials and civil society organizations engaged in disaster risk reduction and the promotion of gender equality in developing countries, with a focus on incorporating gender and diversity perspectives and ensuring inclusive participation.
(Participating countries in 2023: Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Uganda)
(Photo: IC Net Limited)