Transformational Change to Gender Equality: Enhancing the High-Level Military Leaders’ Skills through Gender Coach Programme in the Western Balkans

In November 2024, SEESAC completed the 9th Gender Coaching Programme (GCP) cycle with the decision-makers and high-level military commanders in the Ministries of Defence (MoDs) and Armed Forces (AFs) in the Western Balkans. The GCP is a tailor-made programme aimed at advancing the knowledge and skills of key military leaders to integrate a gender perspective into their everyday jobs effectively.

Implementing gender perspective at all levels in defence policy and practice and military operations in line with UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security cannot be achieved without senior leadership's full support and buy-in. With this in mind, increasing the understanding and skills of high–level leaders in the MoD and AFs on gender is essential.

Initially developed by and implemented in the Swedish Armed Forces, tailor-made for the senior leadership of agencies within the Swedish security sector and crisis management institutions, the Gender Coach Programme has been identified as an excellent method for supporting the leaders of MoDs and AFs in the Western Balkans. It is an innovative method to strengthen an organization’s ability to gender mainstream through a top-down perspective. The coaching programme cycles conducted in the Western Balkans by UNDP SEESAC consisted of six one-on-one learning and interactive sessions with the key leaders, focusing on their areas of responsibility.

The programme covers some core topics, such as gender, sex, gender roles and gender relations, gender stereotypes and prejudices, gender-based discrimination and measures to combat and prevent discrimination.  Aiming to enable leaders to meet their organization’s obligations set out in the national action plans to implement UNSCR 1325 and to improve their ability to deal with organizational obstacles and resistance to gender mainstreaming, the GCP covered a range of areas relevant to the leaders’ position.  Thus, the programme included topics like gender and security sector reform, integrating gender-responsive human resources in the military, the position of women in the Armed Forces, and gender and military education.

At the end of the program, leaders create personalized action plans to apply their knowledge in collaboration with their colleagues and gender equality mechanisms within the defence system, thus steering transformational change.

Since 2019, nine high–level representatives from MoDs and AFs have completed the Gender Coach with UNDP SEESAC support. The continuous interest of the MoDs and AFs in this tailor-made programme over the past five years underscores its relevance, effectiveness, and substantial commitment to gender equality in the MoDs in the Western Balkans.

In September 2024, the Secretary-General released the 2024 report on Women, Peace, and Security, underlining the Western Balkan's contribution to implementing the WPS Agenda, among others,  through the continuous Gender Coach Programme:  “In the Western Balkans, UNDP supported gender equality and parity initiatives in the defence sector that included coaching programmes for high-ranking officers and military leaders on how to integrate a gender perspective, and changes in military education and training material, thereby contributing to a steady increase in the share of women in uniform”.

This recognition highlights the critical role of such programmes in fostering gender equality within the defence sector, with the Western Balkans serving as a region that can offer examples of good practice.

The GCP was organised within the scope of the second phase of SEESAC’s project financed by the Governments of Norway and the Slovak Republic Strengthening of Regional Cooperation on Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans, which provides support for mainstreaming gender in the security sector reform, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.