Jordan’s Public Security Directorate Receives Funding from the Elsie Initiative Fund to Increase Uniformed Women’s Participation in UN Peace Operations

The PSD’s project will focus on constructing a dedicated women’s training and accommodation facility to enhance the skills of women police officers and increase the pool of trained women eligible to deploy as UN peacekeepers. The facility has also been designed to enable future expansions. Once established, the facility will be very well positioned to become a regional training center of excellence to prepare police women for deployment to UN peace operations.

Currently deploying over 600 uniformed personnel to UN peace operations, Jordan is the the 7th highest contributor of police personnel as of 31 December 2020. The additional training capacity provided by this project will pave the way for Jordan to achieve gender parity in its future police contributions to UN peace operations.

Deploying its first ever mixed-gender FPU this February, the PSD is committed to increasing the percentage of women personnel to 21% from the current 8%, in accordance with the UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO)’s operational requirements. Jordan’s PSD also aim to scale up the proportion of women who deploy as Individual Police Officers to 44% in 2023 from the current 6%.

Fully aligned with Jordan’s gender-responsive security sector reform and the PSD’s Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2024, this project will also contribute to Jordan’s implementation their National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security 2018-2021 – the JONAP.

Jordan is the sixth recipient of the Elsie Initiative Fund. Created by the United Nations and Canada in 2019, the Elsie Initiative Fund seeks to accelerate progress toward achieving the United Nations gender targets in line with Security Council resolutions and the 2018-2028 Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy.

Funded by contributions and pledges from Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom, the Elsie Initiative Fund supports the sustainable deployment and meaningful participation of uniformed women peacekeepers by offering financial assistance and incentives.

The Elsie Initiative Fund recently launched its second programming round and is inviting Member States and UN organizations to apply for funding and submit a letter of interest by 31 Jul 2021.

For more information on the Elsie Initiative Fund, go to https://elsiefund.org/