This policy brief identifies and discusses four building-blocks for the implementation of a gender-responsive approach to state-building in fragile contexts:
Apply gender analysis consistently. International efforts to build gender-responsive state institutions require gender-sensitive context analysis that is attuned to formal and informal societal processes and power dynamics in society. International actors must ground their state-building interventions in this broader socio-political understanding of the fragile context.
Balance intervention strategies. Applying a gender perspective to state-building interventions points to the need for a thorough reappraisal of the dominant focus on building or rebuilding state institutions in fragile contexts. It is fundamental to balance support to existing governance institutions and structures (whether formal or non-state), stimulate transformation of the often woman-unfriendly elements within these institutions and strengthen local drivers of gender-positive change.
Consider society as an intervention terrain and align with women’s organisations. Another missing link to implementing high ambitions in the area of gender, peace and security is to be found at the level of society. The onus is on the international community to foreground the capacities of women’s groups and organisations and manoeuvre itself into a position where it can better capitalise on capacities for gender-positive change. Instead of framing women as passive victims and subsequently diminishing women’s role in fragile contexts, international actors need to actively look for ways to deploy women’s agency and capacities as a vital entry point for the building of inclusive and stable societies.
Politicise gender-responsive state-building. Implementing an effective, i.e. gender-responsive, policy agenda within state-building strategies is not a technocratic undertaking. It is ultimately a political question, which requires the total commitment of a full-fledged diplomatic apparatus that is willing to devote its diplomatic skills and instruments for the benefit of gender-responsive state-building.
