Five years on, has Bangladesh’s WPS agenda lived up to its promise?

In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)—a landmark move that recognised the critical role of women in conflict prevention, resolution, and peacebuilding processes.

Almost two decades later, Bangladesh took a momentous step to localise this global commitment by launching its first National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security in 2019. As we approach the five-year milestone since its implementation, this is a timely opportunity to assess not only the progress made but, importantly, how the next phase of the NAP can build on past experiences, become more inclusive, and increase its impact for the people it seeks to benefit.

Bangladesh's 2019–2022 NAP was a milestone at the policy level. It aligned with the four pillars of the WPS agenda—Participation, Protection, Prevention, and Relief & Recovery—while adapting them to Bangladesh's national priorities and institutional context. 

Led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with guidance from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and several other national actors, the NAP positioned Bangladesh as a responsible global actor and a peacebuilder committed to gender equality. The country's strong record in peacekeeping—having long been one of the largest troop-contributing nations to UN missions—lent credibility to this initiative.

Significant progress has been witnessed over the past five years, particularly in the growing involvement of Bangladeshi women in United Nations peacekeeping missions, notably within police and medical contingents. This not only fulfils international obligations but also challenges traditional gender norms and creates role models for young women across the country. 

Parallel efforts have included capacity-strengthening workshops, inter-ministerial coordination meetings, and awareness-raising campaigns involving the armed forces, civil society, and development partners. In many ways, these activities reflected an eagerness to move beyond rhetoric and towards concrete action.

However, with the conclusion of the NAP's first phase in 2022 and the nation preparing for the next, there arises a valuable opportunity for introspection and recalibration. The goal now is not merely to measure past shortcomings but to ensure that the next version of the NAP is more accurate, comprehensive, and firmly rooted in the everyday lives of women and girls across diverse geographical locations and identities.

The first recommendation is to ensure that the next NAP is more participatory in both design and implementation. Although the 2019–2022 NAP was developed through consultation with key stakeholders, the process can be broadened. Civil society organisations—particularly those working at the grassroots level with women in climate-vulnerable, conflict-prone, or borderland zones—should be directly involved in both the formulation and monitoring phases. 

Women with lived experiences of displacement, economic violence, or informal conflict are not merely beneficiaries—they are experts whose insights must inform national strategy.

Second, the new NAP must address emerging threats to women's peace and security. Climate change, for example, is no longer merely an environmental issue—it is a security concern with profound gendered implications. Women in Bangladesh's coastal and flood-prone areas are often hardest hit by resource competition, forced displacement, and loss of livelihoods. 

Similarly, digital insecurity—particularly targeted online abuse of women journalists, activists, and politicians—has emerged as an escalating form of gendered political violence. These realities demand a broadened framework that recognises 21st-century threats to peace and security.

A third priority area for improvement is monitoring and accountability. The inaugural NAP presented a robust strategic framework, but its efficacy is difficult to evaluate without public and transparent progress monitoring. Looking ahead, a standalone results framework with defined indicators, regular review cycles, and public reporting mechanisms should be established.

This would not only enhance the NAP's credibility but also enable citizens and stakeholders to track the country's progress along its WPS trajectory. Leveraging technology to make monitoring instruments available in local languages and accessible formats would further democratise this process.

Budgeting is also crucial. For a national action plan to be genuinely actionable, it must be backed by committed financial resources. Gender-responsive budgeting, which Bangladesh is increasingly adopting in overall development planning, should also be applied to the WPS agenda. 

Earmarking dedicated funds for women's participation in peace processes, for community-level protection programmes, and for psychosocial support services can make all the difference. A well-funded plan is not only a sign of commitment; it is a driver of change.

Training and education likewise warrant particular attention. Beyond the valuable work already undertaken with peacekeepers and law enforcement officials, this can be extended to teachers, journalists, local government representatives, and youth leaders. 

Peace education, gender justice, and nonviolent conflict-resolution curricula should be integrated into public institutions. Such preventive, culture-shifting strategies align with the spirit of the WPS agenda and are particularly effective in a society like Bangladesh, where social cohesion remains relatively strong.

The forthcoming NAP can also make a bold move towards localising the WPS agenda. Peace and security are often discussed in high-level military or diplomatic terms, yet they are lived realities—in the safety of public spaces, access to justice, protection from child marriage or domestic violence, and women's ability to participate meaningfully in local dispute resolution forums. 

Embedding the WPS agenda within Union Parishad development planning, disaster preparedness mechanisms, and the activities of local women's organisations can root this agenda where it matters most: in the community.

Finally, NAP communications should be scaled up to increase public awareness. Most women across Bangladesh remain unaware of the WPS framework's existence or intent. Yet they are the very subjects—and often agents—of peace and resilience within their communities. 

A communications strategy using storytelling, radio programmes, local theatre, and online campaigns in regional languages can close this gap. Profiling local women peacebuilders, amplifying youth-led activism, and providing platforms for public debate can lend the agenda both visibility and vitality.

Bangladesh has shown that it does not wait for others to take the lead when it comes to global responsibility. Whether through its peacekeeping role or humanitarian work with displaced communities, the nation has consistently upheld a commitment to peace and dignity. 

The WPS agenda presents a special opportunity to match this global leadership with national transformation—to ensure that peace is not only brokered in international halls but also experienced in the daily lives of women and girls across Bangladesh.

The question, therefore, is not whether Bangladesh has honoured its WPS commitments, but how it can do so even more substantively in the years ahead. With a revised, well-resourced, participatory, and inclusive NAP, Bangladesh can lead by example in the region—demonstrating how a global agenda can be transformed into a grassroots reality. In doing so, it can reaffirm that peace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of justice, voice, and security—for everyone.

Major Shajeda Akter Moni, BSP, psc is the Deputy Director of  BUP Research Centre and PhD Researcher, Women, Peace & Security and Urban Climate Adaptation

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.