and Zimbabwe National Action Plan (NAP) for Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), aligned with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and Related Resolutions (2023-2027)
- It was launched in Harara on 3 May 2024, and the development was led by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development together with the Ministry of Defence, with support from stakeholders including civil society, UN Women, etc. It spans 93 pages.
- Developed via consultation with civil society (e.g., Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe), relevant government ministries including Defense and Women’s Affairs, and with support from UN Women.
Objectives of the Zimbabwe NAP
The Zimbabwe WPS NAP has the vision and guiding principles of participation, prevention, protection, and relief & recovery—the four standard pillars of UNSCR 1325.
- Participation: Participation & Leadership — increasing women’s representation and leadership in peace, security, justice, and reconciliation structures and decision-making in peace, security, and governance processes.
- Prevention: Prevention of all forms of violence — addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), harmful practices (child marriage, etc.), early warning, and awareness raising.
- Protection: Protection — strengthening legal frameworks, access to justice, safe spaces, support services for survivors of violence.
- Relief & Recovery: Relief & Recovery — integrating gender considerations into humanitarian responses, disaster resilience, recovery, and reintegration. Ensuring that responses to crises are gender-sensitive and that recovery efforts include women’s needs.
Commentary
Impact Pathway & Implementation
The NAP includes an impact pathway—a logical model showing how outputs are intended to lead to outcomes and impacts.
- There's a section with a detailed implementation plan, including activities, actors responsible, timelines
- Leadership & coordination mechanisms: e.g., a steering committee, roles for ministries (Women’s Affairs, Defense, etc.), civil society, UN agencies.
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)
- The plan has a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework/Matrix with gender-disaggregated indicators.
- It also outlines responsibilities for the collection, reporting, and periodic reviews.
Implementation Mechanisms
- Institutionalization: making sure the NAP is part of government structures, embedded in policy and planning.
- Mapping of actors: Identifies which government ministries, civil society organisations, and community actors have roles.
- Leadership & coordination: steering committees, focal points, oversight.
Selected Indicators from the M&E Matrix
Below are a few of the indicators from the monitoring & evaluation matrix (for various strategic objectives). Note: these are examples, not the full list.
- Strategic Objective / Priority Area
- Sample Indicator(s)
- Participation & Leadership:
Proportion / % of women in leadership/decision-making positions in peace, security, justice, and reconciliation processes. (e.g. % women in security sector leadership; % women on peace committees or commissions).
- Prevention:
Number of awareness campaigns conducted on gender-based violence / harmful practices; number of early warning systems established or strengthened for gender-based harm; incidence / reports of GBV in priority districts (baseline vs target).
- Protection:
Number of survivors of SGBV accessing justice; number of legal cases prosecuted; percentage of facilities providing gender-sensitive services; coverage of safe spaces / shelters.
- Relief & Recovery / Recovery / Post-Conflict / Disaster Response:
Proportion / number of women participating in relief or recovery programmes; % of recovery programmes with gender-responsive design; number of women reintegrated after conflict or disaster.
- Budget & Resourcing:
- There is a dedicated budget section for the NAP covering 2023-2027.
- It also discusses resource mobilization, institutionalization (how the NAP will be embedded in government planning, public finance systems).
- The document devotes a section, “SECTION SEVEN: BUDGET FOR THE NAP ON UNSCR 1325 (2023-2027)” to costing out the planned activities across the plan’s duration.
- The budget is broken down by strategic objectives/priority areas, with costs estimated for various programs and interventions. (e.g., costs for awareness campaigns; legal/protection service expansion; capacity building; leadership/participation initiatives).
- There is recognition of funding gaps and proposals for resource mobilization (government, donors, civil society) to fill them.
- Also, a component of “Gender Responsive Budgeting” is built into the implementation mechanisms to ensure that the NAP’s actions can be costed, tracked, and aligned with broader government budgets.
Civil society involvement in the development of the NAP:
Civil societies have been involved in the development of the NAP and are integral to the implementation and monitoring.
UN Peacekeeping as of 31 March 2025:
As of March 31, 2025, Zimbabwe has contributed 54 personnel for peacekeeping missions (of which only 26 are women).
For detailsWomen in UN and Military Peacekeeping Roles
Zimbabwe is a steady contributor to UN peace operations (details in the Appendix below).
References:
Zimbabwe NAP document:
Zimbabwe UNSCR 1325 NAP 2023–2027 (Full PDF)
UN statistics
https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/05_missions_detailed_by_country_84_march_2025.pdf
Appendix – from Internet sources
Women in UN and Military Peacekeeping Roles
- Zimbabwe is a steady contributor to UN peace operations and, in recent years, has deployed military and police personnel to missions such as UNMISS (South Sudan), MINUSCA (CAR), MONUSCO (DRC) and UNITAMS (Sudan). In a 2022 UN press release Zimbabwe was recorded as contributing 72 military and police personnel, including 41 women across six missions. United Nations Peacekeeping
- Global context: UN peacekeeping has increased female participation but women remain underrepresented among uniformed personnel. (In 2022 women made up 5.9% of military contingents and 14.4% of police contingents in UN missions; overall women in field missions were 7.9% in 2022). United Nations Peacekeeping+1
- Notable Zimbabwean leader: Major Winnet Zharare (also shown above) became the first Zimbabwean recipient of the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year award (2021 edition, awarded 2022), recognized for promoting mixed-gender patrols, protection of civilians and gender-sensitive community engagement in UNMISS. Her work is widely covered by UN sources. United Nations Peacekeeping+1
What Zimbabwean women peacekeepers are doing (examples & impact)
- Women from Zimbabwe have served as military observers, police peacekeepers and in UN field offices — conducting patrols, engaging with women and girls in host communities, supporting reporting on gender-based violence, and building trust between communities and mission personnel. These roles have demonstrable operational benefits (e.g., better access to women in communities and improved protection outcomes). UNMISS
Main barriers and challenges
- Underrepresentation in uniformed ranks: despite progress, the share of women in deployed uniformed contingents remains low across most troop-contributing countries. United Nations Peacekeeping+1
- Institutional & cultural hurdles within armed services and police (norms, recruitment practices, career progression, gender stereotypes) that limit both the pipeline and readiness of women for UN deployments.
- Need for targeted pre-deployment training (gender, SEA prevention, community engagement) and stronger gender focal points in contingents — gaps that various UN and regional training programmes have tried to fill. gate.unwomen.org+1
Progress, good practice & success stories
- Leadership & role models: Major Winnet Zharare’s award illustrates how individual leadership within deployments can change patrol practices, improve gender-sensitive reporting and influence local partners. United Nations Peacekeeping+1
- Mixed-gender patrols and community engagement have been highlighted by UN missions (including UNMISS) as effective at increasing access to women and girls and improving protection outcomes.
- Training initiatives in the region (SADC/RPTC, UN Women-supported programs) have delivered pre-deployment gender and SEA training for many Zimbabwean and regional personnel. gate.unwomen.org
