The Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations aims to “support and incentivize efforts to increase the meaningful participation of uniformed women in United Nations peace operations”.

It seeks to accelerate progress towards achieving the United Nations Security Council’s declared target of doubling the rate of women’s participation within police and military contingents by 2020 compared to 2015. The Elsie Initiative Fund is also aligned with the UN’s targets for women serving in uniformed military and police roles – objectives stated in the UN Department of Peace Operation’s Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy 2018-2028 (UGPS).

The Elsie Initiative Fund, hosted by UN Women, was launched on the 28^th of March 2019 and will operate for a limited period of five years – renewable. Designed and established with the support of the broader Canadian Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations, Member States, the UN system and peacekeeping experts, the Elsie Initiative Fund is an important step in encouraging and funding innovation to accelerate the pace of change in security institutions and to enable more uniformed women to meaningfully deploy to and participate in peace operations. 

The Elsie Initiative Fund has been designed as an innovative fund to support and incentivize the increased participation of uniformed women in peace operations. It primarily offers assistance and incentives for Troop and /or Police Contributing Countries (T/PCC) to identify and overcome barriers to the deployment of trained and qualified uniformed women peacekeepers – including members of military contingents and formed police units, and officers who deploy individually, as police officers, or military observers and staff officers.

The Elsie Initiative Fund can also support projects submitted by UN organizations which are designed to implement, and test, innovations aimed at enhancing the meaningful participation of uniformed women deployed in UN peace operations. Detailed information on the Elsie Initiative Fund, its structure and theory of change can be found in the Elsie Initiative Fund’s Terms of Reference (TOR), first published on the 14^th of March 2019 and now extended to 31 December 2025.