The Department is committed to advancing the outcomes outlined in the NAP and going even further to promote women’s participation and enhance their protection in conflict-affected environments. This plan provides guidance on how the Department, both in Washington and in the field, can advance these outcomes and actions, inter alia, by better engaging governments, civil society, the public, the private sector, and relevant multilateral institutions to ensure women's inclusion in all aspects of peace processes, reconstruction and stabilization, civilian security efforts, economic revitalization, and the provision of emergency assistance.

We have organized the Department’s commitments by the five high-level objectives directed by the Executive Order and discussed in the NAP: (1) National Integration and Institutionalization; (2) Participation in Peace Processes and Decision-making; (3) Protection from Violence; (4) Conflict Prevention; and (5) Access to Relief and Recovery.

Each commitment identifies responsible bureaus and embassies and includes examples of diplomatic and programmatic actions that advance the NAP, and which will be coordinated, as appropriate. These examples are intended to provide guidance on advancing these commitments and to illustrate ways in which the Department is implementing the NAP; they are not a comprehensive list of the types of activities currently taking place or being planned by the Department. The Department’s undertakings are subject to the availability of appropriated funds, and to be implemented consistent with U.S. law.

1. National Integration and Institutionalization

 

The Department will integrate gender into strategic planning processes. The Department will continue to enhance gender integration in annual planning and budgeting processes and results reporting. (Reference NAP Action 1.1.1)

Responsible/offices bureaus include: African Affairs (AF), East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP), European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR), Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), South Central Asian Affairs (SCA), Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP), the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan (S/USSESSS), Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA), Focus Country Embassies, Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO), Counterterrorism (CT), Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), Economic and Business Affairs (EB), Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), the Global AIDS Coordinator (S/GAC), Global Criminal Justice (J/GCJ), Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI), Global Youth Issues (J/GYI), International Information Programs (IIP), International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), International Organizations Affairs (IO), Political Military Affairs (PM), Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (R), and to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP).

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Analyze existing gender inequalities and identify priority areas of focus and opportunities related to Women, Peace, and Security.
• Set concrete goals with clear outcomes and indicators to address existing gender inequalities and priority areas of focus and opportunity.
• Incorporate public diplomacy and outreach into the strategic planning processes to pursue Women, Peace, and Security goals.

Next Steps: S/GWI, in consultation with the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources (F) and the Bureau of Budget and Planning (BP), will work together to provide guidance on gender integration for the various strategic planning processes and tools for bureaus and embassies. Bureaus and embassies should, as per the relevant guidance, work to identify long-term goals to address gender inequalities. In addition, bureaus and embassies should continue to attribute and report on gender issue in the annual planning and budgeting processes as well as the annual results reporting process.

S/GWI will provide technical assistance on integrating Women, Peace, and Security into the strategic planning process. Bureaus and embassies are encouraged to reference the Women, Peace, and Security elements in other bureau and country level strategic plans posted on intranet websites.

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The Department will develop and integrate training modules on gender, including peace and security, into all relevant Foreign Service Institute courses and bureau-specific training programs. Bureaus and embassies will encourage officers to participate in training opportunities on gender. (Reference NAP Action 1.2.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI), in coordination with S/GWI and regional and functional bureaus, will develop for foreign and civil service personnel:

• A specific classroom training course on gender equality and Women, Peace, and Security issues.
• Modules on gender equality and Women, Peace, and Security, which will be integrated in relevant regional, tradecraft, and leadership classroom training courses.
• An online distance learning training course on gender equality and Women, Peace, and Security issues.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Raise the awareness among employees and contractors of existing regulations related to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA).

Next Steps: Bureaus and embassies will integrate training modules on gender and Women, Peace, and Security, into relevant bureau- and embassy-specific training programs. 

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The Department will develop and share tools to promote gender equality and advance the status of women and girls in crisis, conflict, and transition environments. (Reference NAP Action 1.2.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Develop guidance, checklists, and toolkits to assist Department staff with integrating gender issues in their day-to-day work. In developing these tools, bureaus and embassies may work with the interagency, civil society, and the private sector, as appropriate.
• Report annual performance information on programs and activities that support Women, Peace, and Security goals through the use of standard and custom performance indicators, and to report gender-sensitive and sex-disaggregated data to show the impact of programs on women.

Next Steps: S/GWI will provide technical assistance to support bureaus’ efforts in the development of tools to assist in promoting the Women, Peace, and Security objectives.

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The Department will have identified Points of Contact on Women, Peace, and Security at bureau and embassy levels, with appropriate seniority, expertise, and training on Women, Peace, and Security. Department bureaus and embassies, where appropriate, will establish working groups on promoting gender equality and the status of women and girls. (Reference NAP Action 1.3.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Have Points of Contact and Working Groups provide technical assistance and training on Women, Peace, and Security-related issues, review policies and proposals to ensure they are gender sensitive, and conduct periodic assessment of Women, Peace, and Security-related activity.
• Incorporate, as applicable, gender expertise skills and competencies requirements into recruitment, training, and evaluations for foreign and civil service staff, as well as locally employed staff.
• Coordinate regionally, via Points of Contact and Working Groups, efforts on Women, Peace, and Security objectives, as appropriate.
• Next Steps: S/GWI will coordinate implementation of the NAP and its commitments, including gathering bureau and embassy input for annual reporting, through the Department Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security.

The Department will encourage award submissions to honor individuals or operating units performing exceptional and innovative work to advance gender equality. (Reference NAP Action 1.3.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Include the promotion of Women, Peace, and Security objectives, along with other key objectives outlined in the U.S. Department of State Policy Guidance on Promoting Gender Equality, among the criteria for bureau and Department awards to foreign and civil service employees and contractors, including the Franklin Award, Meritorious Honor Award, Superior Honor Award, Certificates of Appreciation, and the Extra Mile Award.
• Nominate appropriate foreign service, civil service, or foreign service national employees for the Swanee Hunt Award for Advancing Women’s Role in Policy Formulation.

The Department will incorporate Women, Peace, and Security objectives in program proposals and program design as appropriate. (Reference NAP Action 1.3.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Evaluate needs, opportunities, and disparities to inform priorities and goals to be included in requests for proposals and statements of objectives and/or work. In this process, bureaus and embassies may consult with Department gender experts.
• Develop program objectives that address Women, Peace, and Security.
• Encourage applicants, through requests for proposals/applications, to address gender considerations in their program design and to better track gender-relevant information.
• Give preference, in the proposal review process, to applicants who address gender issues in a meaningful way.
• Include gender-specific data and recommendations in reports, assessments, and after-action reviews.

The Department will set targets and report results for performance indicators to track progress towards goals and objectives related to Women, Peace, and Security. (Reference NAP Action 1.4.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Develop monitoring and evaluation components concurrently with program design to advance Women, Peace, and Security objectives in conflict, crisis, or transition-related operations.
• Ensure collection and appropriate analysis of Women, Peace, and Security-relevant data to determine whether programs are having the desired results.
• Integrate Women, Peace, and Security related indicators into their monitoring and evaluation plans and collect sex-disaggregated data when possible to show the impact of programs on women.
• Address the Women, Peace, and Security Key Issue in annual Operational Plans and Performance Plans and Reports.
• Incorporate standard foreign assistance indicators related to Women, Peace, and Security into monitoring plans and annual performance reporting.

Next Steps: Bureaus and embassies will develop and improve data collection mechanisms to track and report progress on Women, Peace, and Security objectives, assess lessons learned, and identify best practices from existing programs. For example, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan will develop a ‘gender tracker’ to account for agency interventions, progress toward indicators and success/challenges.

To guide evaluation, bureaus and embassies should adapt the framework outlined in the Department of State Program Evaluation Policy (February 2012) to implement evaluations of programs, projects, and activities, with specific guidance on gender.

In order to support coordination and synergy across bureaus’ gender-specific monitoring and evaluations systems, a Department-wide Gender Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) working group will be formed. This will complement the efforts of other M&E groups, such as the interagency M&E subgroup of GHI’s Women, Girls, and Gender Equality (WGGE) Principle Task Force, which is working on ways to facilitate a collaborative approach to sharing and putting to use performance information, as well as a matrix to track programs, budgets, planning, and performance management related to achievement of the NAP objectives.

2. Participation in Peace Processes and Decision-making

The Department will strive to have U.S. Government delegations be models for the inclusion of women in talks and negotiations concerning conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and political transitions. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.1.)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Have U.S. delegations model the meaningful inclusion of women in talks and negotiations in which the United States participates.
• Lead by example by regularly meeting, at both the working and leadership levels, with women’s organizations and by participating in women-focused conferences and events.

The Department will advocate for the inclusion of women in senior positions in international organizations. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.2.)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Encourage the placement of highly qualified women in senior positions in international organizations.
• Encourage placement of highly qualified women candidates and American citizens into the ranks of the UN, especially in senior positions, and put forward such candidates as appropriate.

The Department will support the participation and leadership roles of women in peace and security-related decision-making forums, both formal and informal, during all phases of conflict, resolution, and transition. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Support, through diplomacy and programming, the attendance, participation, and leadership of women in peace negotiations, donor conferences, security sector reform efforts, transitional justice and accountability processes, and other related decision-making forums, including those led by international and regional organizations.
• Encourage governments to include women on their official delegations to decision-making forums, as appropriate.
• Expand support to women with disabilities, especially disabilities incurred during conflict, to ensure that their perspectives are represented in peace and security-related decision-making forums.
• Increase women’s involvement in community level dispute resolution mechanisms.

The Department will assist partner governments in improving the recruitment and retention of women, including minority and other historically marginalized women, into government ministries. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.4)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Engage with government ministries to support recruitment, education and training practices that encourage hiring of women.
• Encourage and assist ministries to develop and implement strategies on gender mainstreaming into their human resources strategy.
• Encourage and assist ministries to provide training, guidelines, and materials on the protection and rights of women.
• Encourage and assist ministries to expand the role and contribution of women serving in the government, including as military members and as civil servants, to decision-making.
• Encourage partner nations to establish working groups on gender equality, for the purposes of fostering best practices in recruitment and retention.

The Department will increase support for women’s political participation and leadership through training and capacity building for political parties, female candidates, female government officials, and women in civil society and the private sector, in crisis, conflict and transition environments. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.5)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Support leadership and other skills-based training to current and aspiring female government officials.
• Provide technical assistance and training to women’s caucuses in legislative bodies.
• Develop education campaigns targeted specifically to female voters on how and where to register to vote and how to understand political parties’ and candidates’ positions.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Seek public diplomacy opportunities to promote women's political participation, including as voters, candidates, and in leadership positions.
• Amplify the voices of women in civil society, government, and the private sector through social and traditional media.
• Shape and mobilize public opinion on women’s political and civic roles, such as by providing capacity building to civil society on advocacy techniques.
• Host public events in parallel to significant internationally recognized days, such as International Women’s Day, the International Day of the Girl Child, The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and International Human Rights Day, as well as in parallel to Department initiatives, such as the annual International Women of Courage Award, to publically promote women’s political and civic participation.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide, as appropriate, diplomatic support for women as political candidates, including by advocating for strategic placement of women on candidate lists to increase the number of females elected.
• Engage women’s civil society groups and individual women in election observation, in order to include their perspectives in the Department’s analysis and recommendations.
• Promote capacity building related to women’s political participation and leadership in fragile environments and during democratic transitions.
• Provide financial and diplomatic support to multilateral organizations, including UN Women and the UN Democracy Fund.

The Department will increase support for women’s participation and leadership in security and judicial sectors. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.6, 2.1.9)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide, as appropriate, diplomatic support, training, equipment, and the necessary physical infrastructure for female-only police/military units and for female police/military personnel operating within co-ed forces.
• Provide diplomatic support and capacity building for women working in the justice sector, including prosecutors and corrections officers.
• Convene discussions on women in national security and judicial sectors, including government, bilateral, multilateral, and civil society partners.
• Leverage the participation of female U.S. military personnel to encourage and model gender integration and reach out to female and male populations in partner nations.
• Encourage partner nations to establish working groups on gender equality, for the purposes of fostering best practices in integrating women’s participation and leadership.

The Department will support and encourage government, civil society, and the private sector to advocate on behalf of women and women’s organizations for their engagement in peace processes. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.7-2.1.8)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Promote the inclusion of civil society in decision-making processes, monitoring committees, and high-level meetings with government officials.
• Provide diplomatic support and training for women’s networks, including representatives across civil society, government, and the private sector.
• Support alumni networks for women who have participated in U.S. government-sponsored programs, seminars, and conferences, to promote networking opportunities for female leaders moving forward.
• Support opportunities for women leaders to connect with women leaders from different countries in order to share common challenges and exchange best practices.
• Emphasize gender analysis in peacebuilding, conflict mitigation, and reconciliation programming.

The Department will seek to ensure that women are significantly and appropriately represented in U.S. funded training programs—including exchange programs, conferences, seminars, and other educational opportunities. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.10)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Collaborate across embassy offices, including with public affairs and with interagency representatives, to identify appropriate female candidates for nomination to U.S. funded programs.
• Encourage and incentivize partner governments to nominate female candidates for U.S.-run programs. Clearly articulate to partner nations the competencies and skills required of all candidates—including female candidates—for nomination.
• Ensure that needs assessments conducted ahead of training programs incorporate a gender analysis to more accurately gauge participant needs and knowledge.
• Track progress by collecting sex-disaggregated data on participation in these programs via the annual Performance Plan and Report and bureau processes.

Next Steps: The Department will develop model criteria for the inclusion of female candidates in U.S.-funded training programs, which bureaus and embassies can adapt to meet their own purposes. Bureaus and embassies will identify and share best practices to increase the participation of women in training programs.

The Department will mobilize men as allies in support of women’s leadership and participation in security-related processes and decision-making. (Reference NAP Action 2.1.11)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Conduct outreach to male politicians, decision-makers, community leaders, and religious leaders, among others, on the value of women’s roles in peace and security.
• Increase initiatives to foster support among male elected officials for current or future female colleagues in the legislature.
• Encourage and support the engagement of young women and men in gender equality and women’s empowerment trainings and initiatives.

Next Steps: The Department will develop a number of tools to facilitate increased engagement with the audiences identified above on the issue of women’s political empowerment. For example, S/GWI will develop a set of standard talking points on the value of women in the public and political life for bureaus, offices, and embassies to adapt as Department principals and officers engage with their counterparts, the public, and civil society.

Examples of Ongoing Work: Department principals, including the Secretary, Ambassadors, and Assistant Secretaries, routinely engage with their male counterparts on the important role that women can play in advancing peace and security. The Department also leads by example, by ensuring that  U.S. officials, including the Secretary, meet with women's organizations and participate in women-focused conferences and events. Furthermore, U.S. Embassies serve a convening role, providing a venue for women’s civil society organizations to meet with U.S. and partner nation officials.

The Department will engage partner governments, at national and local levels, on the passage and enforcement of laws and policies that promote gender equality and advance the status of women and girls. (Reference NAP Action 2.2.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Leverage bilateral dialogues to discuss the importance of laws and policies related to gender equality. Encourage partner governments to work with civil society to develop relevant laws and policies.
• Support through diplomacy and technical assistance the creation of effective measures to criminalize gender-based violence and adopt effective procedural laws.
• Support through diplomacy and technical assistance the creation of effective laws and policies that advance women’s participation in parliaments, the judicial sector, and other political, peace, and/or security decision-making bodies, including those calling for affirmative measures, where appropriate.
• Support capacity-building of legislators to introduce legal reforms that address gaps in existing legislation, and raise public awareness and public support for required legislation.
• Encourage countries to consider ratifying international agreements that include protections for women’s rights, and to implement appropriate non-binding instruments like the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
• Conduct public diplomacy and outreach to help ensure that women understand the rights and opportunities afforded to them.

The Department will assist partner governments in building the capacity of their Defense, Interior, Justice, Gender Ministries, and other relevant ministries to implement and enforce laws and policies that promote gender equality and protect women’s rights. (Reference NAP Action 2.2.2-2.2.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Discuss the implementation of relevant laws with interlocutors in Ministries of Defense, Interior, Justice, and Gender, and other relevant ministries. This will be done as a part of regular engagement and at introductory meetings with new government officials. Embassies’ political sections may draft standard points that can be updated as necessary.
• Incorporate modules on the promotion and protection of women’s rights in trainings for government partners.
• Encourage and provide technical assistance for multi-sectoral task forces to promote and protect women’s rights.

3. Protection from Violence

The Department will prioritize diplomatic engagement with multilateral partners as key levers in the prevention of and response to gender-based violence in countries affected by crisis, conflict, and transition. (Reference NAP Action 3.1.1-3.1.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Advocate for UN peacekeeping missions to have strong mandates on protection of civilians, including on protecting civilians from sexual violence.
• Provide diplomatic support for initiatives in the UN General Assembly Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) and budget committees to build the capacity of military and police peacekeepers to protect civilians and prevent gender-based violence.
• Bolster UN and regional peacekeeping missions’ abilities to understand and assess baseline vulnerabilities for civilians, including women and girls, and the range of threats in the region.
• Support UN and regional organizations' training programs on the protection of civilians, including from gender-based violence.
• Promote better coordination and sharing of information across UN country teams, agencies, bodies, and mechanisms in order to develop and implement holistic strategies to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, including domestic violence.
• Support initiatives at the UN aimed at promoting accountability for gender-based violence.

The Department will increase training and capacity building to support human rights, address gender-based violence, combat trafficking in persons, and for other Women, Peace, and Security-related topics for the security and judicial sectors in partner countries to strengthen gender equality and prevent violence. (Reference NAP Action 3.1.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Support the development and implementation of training, guidance, and other operational tools to build the capacity of partner security and judicial sectors to promote gender equality and address gender-based violence, including through laws, policies, reconciliation, transitional justice, and accountability mechanisms, at local and national levels.
• Incorporate human rights, gender-based violence, trafficking, and other Women, Peace, and Security-related topics into existing Department -funded training courses for security actors.
• Leverage existing training on Women, Peace, and Security, such as resources from FSI; African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA); UN; bilateral partners; and civil society.

The Department willmonitor and promote our partners’ observance of appropriate international guidelines relevant to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. (Reference NAP Action 3.1.3-3.1.5; 3.2.4)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Support education and awareness initiatives for aid workers on PSEA.
• Promote multilateral and international organizations’ implementation of appropriate mechanisms for prevention, response, and accountability for sexual exploitation and abuse among their own personnel.
• Establish standard operating procedures for U.S. Government to follow up on cases of sexual exploitation and abuse by international personnel to ensure accountability.

Next Steps: PRM will share best practices in training and program management with respect to supporting international standards on PSEA and partner accountability with other bureaus, offices, and embassies with programmatic functions.

The Department will support programming and learning on the use of technology as a means of improving the safety of women and girls. (Reference NAP Action 3.1.6)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Integrate best practices and international guidelines with regards to the use of technology as a protection tool, such as solar lighting, fuel-efficient cook stoves, and provision of cell phones as part of an early warning system.

Next Steps: The Department will support research, programming, and learning on technological approaches to protection, such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves’ efforts to help women adopt clean, safe, and efficient cooking stoves and fuels that will to reduce women’s and girls’ vulnerability to gender-based violence, in addition to acute and chronic illness and burns.

The Department will support and encourage through investments in the recovery and reintegration of survivors of gender-based violence, in furtherance of efforts by partner governments and civil society, and in coordination with multilateral and non-governmental organizations and the private sector. (Reference NAP Action 3.1.7)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Encourage and provide a range of age- and sex-appropriate services and tools to assist and empower survivors of gender-based violence, including health, psychosocial, and legal services. Invest in opportunities for survivors through increased access to livelihood training, economic opportunities, education, and rest and recreation, including athletics, art, and play. Programs should be targeted to survivors – women, men, girls, and boys – as well as their families and communities, as appropriate, including assistance for persons with disabilities.
• Enhance government, multilateral partners, and civil society capacity to respond to gender-based violence in a competent and timely manner, such as training for staff in prevention, recognition, screening, and treatment, and monitoring, analysis, and reporting on gender-based violence.
• Engage with community and religious leaders to support survivors’ recovery and reintegration, including through the reduction of stigma and discrimination.
• Support public information and rights awareness campaigns on the prevention and response to gender-based violence.
• Contribute towards public-private partnerships, where appropriate, to advance shared goals to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in crisis, conflict, and transition environments.

The Department will support the development of effective accountability and transitional justice mechanisms that address crimes committed against women and girls and increase accountability. The Department will engage other governments on the passage and enforcement of laws and policies on the local and national level designed to combat exploitation, abuse, discrimination, and violence against women and girls. (Reference NAP Action 3.2.1-3.2.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Leverage bilateral dialogues to discuss the importance of laws and policies related to combating exploitation, abuse, discrimination, and violence against women and girls. Encourage partner governments to work with civil society to develop relevant laws and policies.
• Support through diplomacy, development, and technical assistance the creation of effective measures to investigate gender-based violence promptly, effectively, independently, and impartially and to bring those responsible for gender-based violence to justice, including consideration of mobile courts, and other mobile justice mechanisms, where appropriate. Offer technical assistance to build the capacity of legislative, judicial, and law enforcement actors to develop, implement, and enforce laws and policies that promote and protect women’s rights.
• Support the establishment of mechanisms for survivors and witnesses of gender-based violence so that they can make complaints safely and confidentially, and build capacity so that there can be appropriate follow-up to these complaints.
• Establish multi-sector linkages regarding violence prevention and response programs, with particular attention to the legal, judicial, and medical/health sectors.
• Engage governments to identify weaknesses in legal and assistance mechanisms for survivors of gender-based violence and help survivors navigate the justice system.
• Support, where appropriate, compensation or reparations for survivors and their families.
• Align with efforts to prevent and respond to atrocities, including to hold accountable perpetrators of mass atrocities, including mass rape, and support others who do the same.

The Department will use public diplomacy and outreach capabilities to strengthen gender-based violence prevention and response. (Reference NAP Action 3.2.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Conduct and support outreach efforts to help ensure that survivors of gender-based violence understand the accountability options available to them.
• Disseminate messages on preventing gender-based violence and on holding perpetrators accountable.
• Conduct public diplomacy, including through publicizing in local media, on projects highlighting resources available to victims of gender-based violence, including counseling and law enforcement actions.

The Department will engage with multilateral, bilateral, and civil society partners and will invest in programs to strengthen the prevention of trafficking in persons and the protection of trafficking survivors. (Reference NAP Action 3.3.1-3.3.5, 3.3.10)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Engage with international and/or civil society organizations to ensure that standard operating procedures are in place to prevent human trafficking, especially among refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), including appropriate assistance and procedures for unaccompanied minors, to identify potential trafficked persons, and to refer survivors to appropriate service providers.
• Provide support, as appropriate, to international and civil society organizations to set up emergency care services for trafficking survivors.
• Promote establishment of local coalitions or taskforces comprised of relevant government authorities and civil society organizations to combat human trafficking as part of the justice reform measures in post-conflict areas.
• Advance collaborative efforts to prevent trafficking in persons by sharing training and public awareness resources with U.S. personnel abroad, embassy staff and other international partners, and by additionally sharing investigative resources with foreign law enforcement counterparts as appropriate.
• Support coordination of the anti-trafficking-related items of the NAP with the ongoing work of the U.S. Presidential Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Senior Policy Operating Group on Trafficking in Persons.

The Department will build on efforts to increase programs and advocacy campaigns to promote the protection of men and boys from gender-based violence, and to mobilize men and boys as partners in promoting gender equality and preventing gender-based violence within their communities. (Reference NAP Action 3.4.1-3.4.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Support the collection of data on the prevalence of gender-based violence against boys, in order to inform programming.
• Support community-level approaches to facilitate discussion among families, community organizations, religious and traditional leaders, and other community leaders on human rights, gender norms and behaviors, and gender-based violence.
• Engage a broad range of potential allies, including religious and traditional leaders, youth, and the private sector, in promoting gender equality and addressing harmful norms and practices contributing to gender-based violence.
• Provide support for advocacy campaigns and programs designed to reduce family and community level violence.
• Increase attention to the needs of male survivors in gender-based prevention and response programs, and in diplomatic engagement, including with partner governments’ Ministries of
• Interior, Justice, Health, and Education.

4. Conflict Prevention

The Department will integrate gender considerations in conflict assessments and humanitarian response strategies, including through participatory models. (Reference NAP Action 4.1.1-4.1.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Ensure that interviewees in all participatory conflict assessments undertaken by bureaus and crisis response teams include women and girls representing all demographics (e.g. urban/rural, government/civil society).
• Promote gender considerations in conflict assessments conducted by partner governments and multilateral organizations.
• Ensure conflict and atrocity early warning systems and conflict assessment methodologies incorporate gender considerations.
• Develop mechanisms to incorporate gender analysis in atrocity prevention efforts.

Next Steps: CSO will ensure that gender considerations are incorporated in revisions of the Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework (ICAF) – an interagency tool to assess conflict situations systematically and collaboratively to inform interagency planning for conflict prevention, mitigation and stabilization. CSO will continue to share its conflict assessment tools and findings with the Department.

The Department will provide diplomatic and programmatic support for community-based early warning and conflict prevention activities, including preventing the spread of violent extremism. (Reference NAP Action 4.1.4-4.1.6)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide diplomatic and development support for community-based early warning and response groups of local women and men designed to notice, report, and respond to outbreaks or escalation of violence, including gender-based violence.
• Provide diplomatic and development support to empower women’s coalitions working in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and promote their inclusion in formal government conflict prevention processes. Identify and support existing indigenous mediation and negotiation capacities, where appropriate, bringing them to the attention of the host government to develop policy to strengthen these resiliencies and harness them as a part of the host government’s conflict prevention policy.
• Expand support for women’s roles in community-policing.

The Department will promote women’s roles in countering terrorism and preventing the spread of violent extremism. Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Build the capacity of local, national, and multinational women’s and peace groups committed to working against violent extremism to more effectively conduct public outreach.
• Provide train-the-trainer opportunities to help sensitize women to the role that they can play in countering violent extremism within their communities, and to recognize signs of radicalization.
• Seek the feedback of local civil society members, including women, in the development of countering violent extremism programs, as well as all other programs, when feasible and appropriate.
• Encourage counterterrorism and countering violent extremism program recipients to include women in their training and/or implementation, when feasible and appropriate.
• Increase the number of female participants in Anti-Terrorism Assistance programs, including the training of women-only units.
• Promote the role of women in countering violent extremism through multilateral organizations, including the Global Counterterrorism Forum.

The Department will leverage public diplomacy to amplify the work of women in preventing conflict. Bureaus and embassies will aim, where appropriate, to:

• Publicize meetings between senior U.S. officials and women in civil society and the private sector working on conflict prevention within their communities.
• Note the work of women working on conflict prevention in senior U.S. officials’ speeches.
• Support and amplify advocacy and public awareness campaigns and programs that highlight women’s role in reducing family violence and broader societal violence.
• Recognize women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and advancement, including by nominating them for the annual International Women of Courage award and other scholarship and award opportunities.

The Department will strengthen stabilization by providing diplomatic and development support to advance women’s economic opportunities. (Reference NAP Action 4.2.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide diplomatic encouragement and development support for cash for work programs, conditional cash transfers, and increased access to land, financial services including saving and credit, and enterprise support activities for women, as appropriate.
• Support legislative initiatives to provide women with equal rights to inheritance and property ownership in conflict affected countries. Support awareness raising around those rights.
• Engage female political and business leaders who can influence the development and implementation of economic policy, especially on the inclusion of women and girls.
• Convene poverty alleviation, development, and business organizations and industry associations to discuss issues concerning women’s and girls’ economic participation.
• Provide capacity building to increase economic empowerment of women and girls.
• Leverage diplomatic tools, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to promote investments in women’s and girls’ economic empowerment.
• Partner with the private sector and non-government organizations, where appropriate, to make strategic investments in women’s economic empowerment.
• Encourage a discussion in our trade-related dialogues, including Trade and Investment Framework Agreements, on how our partners are assisting women in business and increasing the capacity of women-owned businesses to trade with the U.S. and regionally.
• Advocate, in cooperation with the Department of Treasury, for continued operationalization within the multilateral development banks of the relevant information from the 2011 and 2012 World Development Reports on the role women can play both in preventing conflict and in promoting stability in post-conflict situations.
• Support advocacy campaigns and public awareness through public diplomacy programs that promote women’s economic empowerment.

The Department will strengthen stabilization by promoting access to primary, secondary, and vocational education for children and youth. (Reference NAP Action 4.2.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide support for education for all children, with special incentives for girls’ attendance and retention, taking into account special protection needs.
• Leverage diplomatic tools, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to promote investments in women’s and girls’ education and training.
• Partner with the private sector and non-government organizations, where appropriate, to make strategic investments in women’s and girls’ education and training.
• Support advocacy campaigns and public awareness through public diplomacy programs that promote education for all children.

The Department will strengthen stabilization by supporting women’s and girls’ increased access to health services. (Reference NAP Action 4.2.3)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide support for women’s and girls’ increased access to and utilization of health services.
• Establish multi-sector linkages regarding violence prevention and response programs, with particular attention to the medical/health, legal, and judicial sectors.
• Leverage diplomatic tools, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to promote investments in women’s and girls’ health care.
• Partner with the private sector and non-government organizations to make strategic investments in women’s and girls’ health care.
• Support advocacy campaigns and public awareness through public diplomacy programs that promote women’s and girls’ access to health services.

5. Relief and Recovery

The Department will promote equal access and integrate gender considerations into humanitarian relief and recovery programs. The Department will evaluate the impact of gender integration in these programs. (Reference NAP Action 5.1.1-5.1.8)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Incorporate special protection considerations for the most vulnerable, including women, children and youth, the disabled, and lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender persons in crisis response and programming.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Ensure that Department crisis response and recovery teams have access to appropriate gender expertise, such as pre-deployment training and a designated gender advisor, to ensure that gender considerations are well integrated in U.S. Government-supported relief and recovery efforts.
• Conduct joint monitoring missions with other U.S. Government agencies, such as CDC and USAID, to assess United States Government-funded humanitarian programs to document strengths and gaps in gender programming.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Work with international partners to identify the most vulnerable in need of resettlement and with NGO partners to provide services to address the specific protection needs of these individuals.
• Support the work of international organization partners on gender issues, including gender-based violence, where appropriate.
• Explore opportunities to introduce resolution language in international forums to underscore the need to integrate and evaluate gender and protection issues explicitly and systematically as part of responses to crisis and disaster.
• Review, when circulated for Board approval and in cooperation with the Department of Treasury, multilateral development banks’ post-conflict assessments, country assistance strategies, and proposed programs in countries prone to or emerging from conflict, and advocate for the inclusion of sound gender analysis and actions to address the specific needs of women and girls.

The Department will provide support in relief and recovery assistance for direct services for survivors of gender-based violence, and for prevention of gender-based violence. (Reference NAP Action 5.2.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Provide and encourage a range of appropriate services and tools to assist and empower survivors of gender-based violence, including health, psychosocial, economic, and legal services. Programs should be targeted to survivors, as well as their families and communities, as appropriate, including assistance for persons with disabilities.
• Increase support to international efforts relating to equitable access to education for youth in crisis, conflict, and transition environments, including in helping to shape the agenda on education of youth in emergencies.
• Engage a broad range of potential allies, including religious and tribal leaders, youth, and the private sector, in promoting gender equality and addressing harmful norms and practices contributing to gender-based violence.
• Make available to the public information and analysis on United States Government-supported gender-based violence programming in relief and recovery contexts, in order to promote learning and dissemination of best practices.

The Department will encourage international organization and NGO partners to adhere to existing internationally-agreed upon protocols and guidelines. (Reference NAP Action 5.2.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Encourage international organization and NGO partners to provide gender sensitivity training, including on gender-based violence, to staff members on existing international guidelines.

The Department will ensure that the active participation and the distinct needs of men and women are reflected in reintegration and early recovery programs in order to strengthen accountability to beneficiary populations. (Reference NAP Action 5.3.1)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Encourage and support humanitarian assistance programs that incorporate active participation by beneficiaries, especially women, access to education, and social and economic empowerment programs, among others, as part of crisis and disaster response.
• Increase support to international efforts relating to equitable access to education for youth in post-conflict environments.
• Support durable solutions for the return and reintegration of refugees that specifically address the needs of female (adults and children) returnees.
• · Support programs that build the capacity of partners – both international and local – to assist returnee populations and receiving communities.

The Department will ensure that demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration (DDR) programs address the distinct needs of female ex-combatants and those associated with armed forces in other capacities. (Reference NAP Action 5.3.2)

Responsible bureaus include:
Regional bureaus and offices, focus country embassies, and functional bureaus.

Bureaus and embassies will aim to:

• Support relevant UN peacekeeping mandates.
• Support voluntary contributions for DDR programming.