This project profile page contains information about The Republic of Senegal Armed Forces project including project results, impact, and effective practices. This page will be updated annually in line with EIF project reporting requirements.
Data source: United Nations Peace Security Data Hub, a free public library of datasets on peace and security published by the United Nations
| T/PCC | Updates | |||||||||||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |||||||
| Total | % | Total | % | Total | % | Total | % | Total | % | Total | % | |
| Senegal | 137 | 6.40% | 195 | 9.22% | 216 | 9.14% | 226 | 11.12% | 205 | 16.12% | 205 | 17.03% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experts on Mission | 0 | / | 0 | 5.88% | 1 | 20.34% | 1 | 50.00% | 1 | 100.00% | 1 | 50.00% |
| Formed Police Units | 76 | 7.53% | 134 | 13.10% | 145 | 12.27% | 171 | 15.16% | 172 | 17.20% | 173 | 18.37% |
| Individual Police | 14 | 19.32% | 24 | 30.36% | 23 | 36.92% | 20 | 32.69% | 20 | 30.76% | 18 | 32.14% |
| Staff Officer | 2 | 7.20% | 2 | 7.07% | 3 | 7.89% | 2 | 6.30% | 2 | 8.33% | 2 | 8.33% |
| Troops | 44 | 4.35% | 34 | 3.51% | 45 | 4.17% | 33 | 4.01% | 10 | 5.56% | 11 | 6.11% |
The Republic of Sénégal Armed Forces (SAF) have established themselves as a committed contributor to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations since their first deployment in 1960, when the country participated in its first United Nations peacekeeping mission by sending approximately 600 troops to the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC). Although Sénégal’s participation in peace operations was initially intermittent, the country surpassed the threshold of 1,000 deployed personnel from the 1980s onwards. It gradually strengthened its contributions throughout the 2000s by deploying troops to the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI), the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the African Union–United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). In total, Sénégal has taken part in more than twenty United Nations peacekeeping missions, deploying over 25,000 military personnel.
At the national level, women were officially admitted into the Armed Forces in 2008. However, their integration began earlier, in 1984, with the admission of the first female medical students to the Military Health School. Since then, Sénégal Armed Forces have taken active steps to advance gender equality within the military and are currently in the process of developing a new Sectoral Gender Strategy for 2025–2035. This strategy aims to strengthen gender mainstreaming and promote a culture of gender equality within the Armed Forces.
Sénégal Armed Forces undertook a comprehensive barrier assessment to better understand the challenges affecting women’s meaningful participation in United Nations Peace Operations. The assessment used the Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations (MOWIP) methodology, developed by the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) and Cornell University, using Partnership Model C. The research was conducted by the Centre des Hautes Études de Défense et de Sécurité (CHEDS) et l’Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANSD).
The assessment aimed to:
1. Identify the main barriers to women’s meaningful participation within the ten issue areas outlined in the MOWIP methodology;
2. Identify existing good practices within the SAF that can be leveraged, scaled up, or shared more broadly;
3. Formulate a set of evidence-based recommendations for future activities to increase the participation of SAF women in United Nations peace operations; and
4. Provide a baseline to measure progress in overcoming barriers to women’s participation.
Following the assessment, the Gender Division will design and implement a clear strategy and action plan to institutionalize gender in the Armed Forces. The project is also expected to support future participation in the Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) to enhance the meaningful participation of uniformed women in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
EIF OUTCOME 1
EXPANDED COUNTRY-KNOWLEDGE OF BARRIERS TO DEPLOYMENT
surveys
802 surveys administered by the MOWIP enumerator team (236 women and 566 men)
interviews
33 key decision-maker interviews (6 women and 27 men)
MOWIP
1 MOWIP report launched
EIF OUTCOME 1
EXPANDED COUNTRY-KNOWLEDGE OF BARRIERS TO DEPLOYMENT
surveys
802 surveys administered by the MOWIP enumerator team (236 women and 566 men)
US$200,458
US$200,458
The Republic of Sénégal Armed Forces
The Republic of Sénégal Armed Forces
Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANSD)
Centre des Hautes Études de Défense et de Sécurité (CHEDS)
9 months
22 April 2022
11 November 2022
30 April 2025
30 months
The project enhanced SAF’s ability to deploy women peacekeepers by identifying and addressing barriers to their participation in UN peace operations. The findings expanded knowledge of these barriers, guided the development of strategies to overcome them in a subsequent action plan to address MOWIP recommendations, and provided critical data for creating policies that promote gender equality within the armed forces.
