The Elsie Initiative Fund’s goal is to remove financial barriers that some member states face that prevent them from recruiting and deploying more uniformed female peacekeepers.
Troop and/or Police Contributing Countries (T/PCC) who are interested in accessing project funding are required to conduct a credible assessment of the main barriers in their particular national context, to identify the main factors impeding their deployment of uniformed women peacekeepers to UN missions.
The Elsie Initiative Fund provides financial support through the following two different funding types, or modalities:
- Project Funding – where a grant is provided to:
- current or prospective T/PCC to conduct a Barrier Assessment – and is required to access project funding. The suggested criteria for a Barrier Assessment are detailed in Appendix A of the Elsie Initiative Fund’s Terms of Reference (TOR)
- current or prospective T/PCC to undertake one or more approved projects that seek to address specific barriers identified in a Barrier Assessment
- support projects submitted by UN organizations which are designed to implement and test innovations.
- Gender Strong Unit (GSU) Premium – designed to incentivize T/PCCs to deploy and integrate more women into formed police units (FPU) and/or military contingents, with women integrated horizontally and vertically throughout the unit across all roles and ranks.
Eligible projects include:
- a credible national Barrier Assessment, required to access project funding, using either the DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations (MOWIP) Barrier Assessment methodology, or an equivalent reliable methodology, to ascertain the nature and extent of barriers impeding the deployment of trained and qualified women peacekeepers. The DCAF methodology:
- is a comprehensive methodology, designed to be used by a research partner to identify and analyze information and gaps within a specific gendarmerie, military or police institution and within a particular country specific context
- requires both high-level gendarmerie and/ or military and/ or police ownership of the assessment, as well as commitment to address the outcomes, to ascertain the nature and extent of barriers impeding deployment of trained and qualified women peacekeepers
- one or more coordinated initiatives undertaken under the direction of the applicant that aims to address at least one relevant barrier to the meaningful deployment of uniformed women peacekeepers.
The Elsie Initiative Fund’s Terms of Reference (TOR) provides examples of other types of projects, with a focus on innovative and evidence-based project design.
A Gender Strong Unit (GSU) is a military contingent or FPU that includes a high percentage of women in operationally significant roles. The GSU premium is designed to incentivize T/PCCs to train, deploy and integrate more women into formed units, integrated horizontally and vertically – across all roles and ranks.
This funding modality provides an incentive to a T/PCC that deploys a unit with a percentage of women exceeding the targets set in the United Nations Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy (UGPS) 2018–2028 by at least 5%. For example, in 2025, the target for a military contingent (battalion) is 12%. To qualify, a T/PCC would need to deploy a unit with at least 17% women across all roles, including command and leadership, technical and operational roles such as patrolling, demining, serving in engineer construction teams, quick reaction forces (QRF), or utility and attack helicopter units. The proportion of women in the unit must increase each year over a three-year period.
The requirement for the percentage of women in the unit to increase each year over a three-year period is intended to:
- Encourage Sustained Progress – Ensure that the increase in women’s participation is not a one-time effort but part of a long-term structural change.
- Prevent Stagnation or Decline – Without a requirement to grow, a T/PCC might meet the initial threshold but not continue efforts to integrate more women into operational roles.
- Align with the UGPS’s Broader Goals – The UGPS aims for progressive improvement in gender balance. A static percentage could fall behind future targets.
- Strengthen Institutional Change – By increasing the percentage annually, T/PCCs would need to establish policies and systems that support the sustained recruitment, retention, and deployment of women, rather than relying on ad hoc measures.
- Maximise Impact of Incentives – Where funding is provided, it should drive meaningful change over time rather than reward a single instance of compliance.
Approximate Value of GSU Premium, based on 12-month rotations
| Military Battalion (approximately 830 personnel) | Formed Police Unit (approximately 160 personnel) |
|---|---|
| Year 1: $576,883 USD | Year 1: $111,206 USD |
| Year 2 (+25%): $721,104 USD | Year 2 (+25%): $139,008 USD |
| Year 3 (+50%): $865,325 USD | Year 3 (+50%): $166,810 USD |
| TOTAL: $2,163,312 USD | TOTAL: $417,024 USD |