The local level implementation of Afghanistan’s National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 – Women, peace and security

This paper seeks to explore the history, aims and delivery record of Afghanistan’s National Action Plan (NAP) on the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325  on women, peace and security, in order to place in context a model for broadening its implementation.

Now is a crucial time to examine the efficacy and impact of the NAP 1325, as we are approaching the mid-way point of the plan’s implementation, which was designed to run from 2015 to 2022. The first four years, which expire at the end of 2018, were always envisaged in the formulation of the plan as the first phase, allowing an opportune moment for reflection.

However, the purpose of this paper is not to provide a thorough or nuanced analysis of the NAP itself – a good amount of literature exists already to that end, including some referenced throughout this paper. Instead, the paper frames the plan and then proposes another ground-up lens through which to view this implementation and asks how various stakeholders might conceptualise this national plan in order to include more of the nation’s citizens.

This paper has been produced in partnership with the Peace Training and Research Organization (PTRO).