Senegal

Project description:

Gendarmerie

As at December 2020, Senegal is the highest police contributing country (PCC) deploying 12% of police officers in United Nations peace operations (1,071 total with 7% women among formed police units (FPUs) and 14% among individual police officers (IPOs): combined deployments of Senegal Police and Gendarmerie). The Senegal Gendarmerie seek to address barriers to women’s meaningful participation in United Nations peace operations, including: lack of understanding of gender equality in the institution, difficulties for women to reconcile family obligations with international deployments, and insufficient numbers of female gendarmes to participate in peace operations. The project aims to increase the recruitment of women within the Senegal Gendarmerie and their deployment to United Nations peace operations through a range of training initiatives, particularly additional training on gender equality. It also seeks to tackles structural barriers by adopting a gender policy, training on women’s leadership and constructing a daycare center.

This project funding over three years will enable the:

1. Development of a gender policy including training of decision-makers and personnel (2021).
2. Increased recruitment to 10% women of total intake per year (baseline: 5.4%).
3. Creation of a roster of 140 to 150 women for deployment to peace operations.
4. Deployment of up to three gender-strong units for (up to) three consecutive years: 16% in 2021, 17% in 2022, and 18% in 2023 in MINUSCA, MINUSMA and MONUSCO (baseline: 4%).
5. Deployment of IPOs: 23% women in 2021- 22 and 24% in 2023 (baseline: 13%).
6. Mass recruitment drive for women (2021-2023)
7. Training and recruitment activities:(a) 2,400 women for recruitment, (b) 160 women for promotions, (c) 30 women on leadership, (d) 186 women in preparation for the UN-led test for IPOs, (e) 843 female and male officers for additional gender-related training prior to deployment (2021-2023).
8. Construction of a daycare center (2021).

Police

Senegal is the highest police contributing country (PCC) deploying 12% of police officers in United Nations peace operations (1,071 total with 7% women among formed police units (FPUs) and 14% among individual police officers (IPOs): combined deployments of Senegal Police and Gendarmerie).

The Senegal Police seek to address barriers to women’s meaningful participation in United Nations peace operations, including: lack of institutionalization of gender equality; lack of women in the police; lack of information on deployment opportunities and lack of necessary skills to pass internal and United Nations-led tests on minimum proficiency levels for deployment as FPUs and IPOs. The project aims to increase the recruitment of women within the Senegal police and their deployment to United Nations peace operations through a range of training initiatives. It also seeks to tackle structural barriers by adopting a gender policy, dialogue with police leadership, empowering female police officers across all ranks, and a national communication strategy. 

This project funding over three years will enable the:

1. Development of a gender policy including a strategy and implementation plan, and the establishment of gender units across the institution (2021).
2. Increased recruitment and retention of women in the Senegal police to 15% (baseline: 9,18%) (2021 – 2023).
3. Creation of a roster of 100 women for deployment as FPU and 50 women as IPO (ongoing).
4. Deployment of up to three gender-strong units for (up to) three consecutive years, with an average of 21% women in 2021, 25% in 2022 and 30% in 2023 in MINUSCA, MINUSMA and MONUSCO (baseline: 14%).
5. Deployment of IPOs: 35% women in 2021, 50% in 2022 and 75% women in 2023 (baseline: 28%)
6. Training support for (a) 150 women for recruitment; (b) 150 women for promotion in the national police; (c) 300 women for preparation to undergo the Senegalese internal selection process for FPU and the UN-led tests, and (d) 150 women for the UN-led test for IPOs (2021-2023).
7. Creation of a Female Police Association and roll out of a national communication strategy including the development of a film and community outreach.

Armed Forces

Senegal will conduct a comprehensive barrier assessment on the armed forces using the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) – Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace operations (MOWIP) barrier assessment methodology.

The project contributes to the Elsie Initiative Fund’s outcome on expanded country specific knowledge of barriers to the deployment of women peacekeepers to United Nations peace operations. 

By implementing a MOWIP assessment, this project will achieve the following results: 

• Provide factual data and information on the nature and scope of obstacles and opportunities in Senegal related to the deployment of women military to United Nations peace operations; 
• Use the findings and recommendations from the assessment to develop tailored interventions, as well as evaluate and update strategies to address the identified barriers to increase the number of women eligible for deployment to UN peace operations.