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 sees a T/PCC paid an incentive to deploy a unit with a percentage of women that exceeds the United Nations Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy (UGPS) 2018-2028 target by 5%. For example, in 2020, the military contingent target is 6.5%; therefore, a military contingent would require to deploy with at least 11.5% women working in all roles including operational roles such as patrolling or demining, or as members of engineer construction teams, a quick reaction force (QRF) or a utility or attack helicopter unit.
Approximate Value of GSU Premium, based on 12-month rotations
| Military Battalion (approximately 850 personnel) | Formed Police Unit (approximately 160 personnel) |
|---|---|
| Year 1: $580,000 USD | Year 1: $110,000 USD |
| Year 2 (+25%): $730,000 USD | Year 2 (+25%): $137,000 USD |
| Year 3 (+50%): $875,000 USD | Year 3 (+50%): $165,000 USD |
| TOTAL: $2.2M USD | TOTAL: $412,000 USD |