Workshop seeks to accelerate development of National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security

Held in both online and offline formats, the event brought together WPS experts and more than 100 representatives from the Vietnam’s National Assembly, Government ministries, United Nations, and other agencies.

By examining six different NAP models from Canada, Norway, Sudan, Uganda, Indonesia, and Thailand, the workshop aimed to raise further awareness among Vietnamese stakeholders about the strategic importance of having a clear plan of action on WPS.

It also called for cross-ministerial collaboration by related government agencies to develop a NAP roadmap that articulates the vision and ambition of Vietnam to advance the WPS Agenda

The workshop was implemented within the framework of UN Women’s regional project ‘Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace: Preventing Violence and Promoting Social Cohesion in ASEAN’.

Speaking at the workshop, Assistant Foreign Minister of Vietnam Do Hung Viet emphasised that NAPs on WPS will help to connect, orient and coordinate efforts at the national level with a goal to promote the role of women and girls in peace processes.

Assistant Foreign Minister of Vietnam Do Hung Viet speaking at the workshop (Photo: UN Women)

He affirmed that the study of these plans will open a new direction to continue Vietnam's initiatives at the United Nations Security Council while lifting Vietnam's active role and realising its strong commitment in gender equality in general and WPS in particular.

For her part, Fernandez Saenz, UN Women Vietnam Representative said that the formulation of the NAP on WPS will allow the Vietnamese Government to reflect its existing efforts for gender equality and the WPS agenda, identify future priorities and opportunities, and ensure policy coherence.

It will also help generate synergies between national strategies such as the National Strategy for Gender Equality and the National Action Plan to implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, she added.

She pledged that UN Women, together with other UN agencies, stands ready to provide full support to the Vietnamese Government and the related stakeholders in realising this task.