Twenty-five years after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda has grown into a framework that governments, multilateral bodies, and civil society around the world rely on. India sits at an unusual crossroads regarding the WPS agenda. As one of the largest Troop and police-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions, India is a leading implementer of WPS in practice. At home, though, progress remains sedate.
In the absence of a National Action Plan (NAP), policy conversations have narrowed to women’s participation in peacekeeping, while broader WPS efforts among India’s domestic stakeholders remain scattered and in need of greater collaboration. Beyond peacekeeping, India’s WPS story has also drifted away from wider global engagement. India remains one of the last major peacekeeping nations without an NAP, even as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal have adopted theirs.
This project aims to advance an inclusive agenda on WPS for India through an unofficial “shadow” NAP. This shadow NAP will articulate an inclusive domestically owned WPS agenda – one that is acutely responsive to India’s local priorities, sensitivities, and context. The project brings together voices from government, the armed forces, civil society, academia, and policy think tanks to co-create this inclusive agenda. The aim is not to speak for any one group, but to build a shared, multi-stakeholder picture of India’s WPS priorities and the pathways to reach them through partnership and collaboration.
By reconnecting fragmented local stakeholder perspectives and efforts with global conversations, the project hopes to reinvigorate WPS discourse in India and support the country’s ambition to lead on this agenda across the Global South.