Ukraine
As Ukraine’s National Action Plan for the period 2016-2020 timeframe came to an end, Ukraine drafted a new plan for the period 2020-2025 that could provide solutions to existing and emerging challenges and problems. As of 2022, the context of the NAP implementation is being further shaped by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea. The second Ukrainian NAP also situates itself within the context of some achievements from the previous NAP, including changes to institutional policies and enhanced protection for women and girls affected by armed conflict. Two of the principles guiding the NAP revolve around ensuring timely responses to challenges and results-oriented monitoring of the NAP. To this end, given the new context of the 2022 Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government will be updating its NAP to respond to the invasion and its associated impacts. (Page 2)
Ukraine adopted its first National Action Plan (NAP) in 2016 for the period 2016-2020. The NAP was developed through the joint efforts between different national institutions reporting to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The NAP includes six pillars of action: peacekeeping and peace-protecting activities; women’s participation in peacebuilding; prevention of conflicts and violence; protection of women and girls affected by conflicts; provision of assistance and rehabilitation of people affected by conflicts; and monitoring efforts. The NAP approaches the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda both domestically and internationally, with the overall goal to eliminate cultural barriers that hinder the full participation of women in all aspects of negotiations and resolution of conflicts and/or matters of peace and security. The NAP includes a detailed monitoring and evaluation framework, including an allocated budget.
At the multilateral level, Ukraine most recently served as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2016-2017.

CEDAW
1981

Global Gender Gap Index 2022
81st

Arms Trade Treaty Ratified
2014

Military expenditure (2021)
$5.422 billion USD
Explore Ukraine's National Action Plan
- Actors
- Timeframe
- Objectives
- Actions/Activities
- Indicators
- M&E
- Budget
- Disarmament
- 2016-2020
Development
According to the document, the Ukrainian Action Plan was developed as a result of consultations held in separate regions and with the participation of the expert community and the public in general. There are no explicit mentions of which actors participated in the development of the Action Plan.
Implementation
Ukraine’s government recognizes the Ministry of Social Policy as the primary implementer of the Second Ukrainian NAP, but there are other actors responsible, including the Ministries of Defense, Internal Affairs, Strategic Industries, Reintegration, Veterans Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Health, Education and Science, Justice, Culture and Information Policy, Youth and Sports, Economic Development and Trade, Regional Development, Digital Transformation, and Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the National Police, the State Migration Service, the National Guard, the Security Service, the Armed Forces, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision, State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, educational institutions of security and defense sector, Higher educational establishments, the National School of Judges and the Training Center for Prosecutors, Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine, public associations, and international organizations, among others.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Ministry of Social Policy is responsible for the evaluation of the implementation of the Action Plan.
Civil Society
Strategic Goal 1 and Operational Goal 1.3 states that there will be involvement of civil society institutions in decision-making in the area of supporting and promoting a culture of peace, peacebuilding, post-conflict recovery and assistance to victims of conflict. In addition, the NAP seeks to create conditions to boost the participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) including activists, in the implementation of the WPS agenda.
The timeframe for the implementation of the NAP is 2020-2025.
The objective of Ukraine’s NAP is to create conditions for equal participation of women and men in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, recovery, security challenges, systemic response to gender-based violence, and response to other forms of conflict-related violence.
The Action Plan also has strategic goals:
- SG1:Ensuring equal participation of women and men in decision-making on conflict prevention, conflict resolution, post-conflict recovery at all levels, and all areas, including the security and defense sectors
- SG2: Creation of a gender-sensitive system to detect, prevent and respond to security challenges.
- SG3: Ensuring the process of post-conflict recovery, development and implementation of the transitional justice system based on the principles of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men.
- SG4: Providing protection against gender-based violence, sexual violence (in situations of armed conflict and peacetime).
- SG5: Ensuring the developed institutional capacity of the National Plan actors for the effective implementation of the Women, Peace, Security agenda, in accordance with the international standards.
Ukraine’s NAP includes strategic and operative goals that structure the actions that will be implemented. Examples of such include:
Strategic Goal 1
- OG 1.1: Creating regulatory conditions and opportunities for equal participation of women and men in peace negotiations and decision-making on conflict prevention, conflict resolution, provision of assistance to victims, and post-conflict recovery.
- selection and training of women for participation in international peacekeeping and security operations;
- conducting educational activities, information campaigns for the security and defense sector specialists to facilitate the involvement of women in peacekeeping processes;
- providing women in the security and defense sector with infrastructure facilities and logistical support that meet their needs;
Strategic Goal 3
- OG 3.2: Identifying the specific needs of conflict-affected persons, in particular women, taking into account gender perspective in the provision of administrative, health and social services.
- conducting consultations and providing the necessary medical, social and psychological assistance to victims of conflict;
- scaling up capacities to support self-employment and entrepreneurship for women, including internally displaced persons, women veterans and other persons affected by conflict.
The indicators in the NAP correspond to both the strategic and operational goals. Examples include:
- Ukraine's position in the ranking for the UN “Women, Peace, and Security” Index
- The percentage of women in the security and defence sector from the total number of the sector’s staff
- The number of CSOs cooperating with public authorities on the implementation of the WPS agenda
- The number of state-funded programs on mediation, peace dialogue and conflict resolution, which were implemented by civil society organizations.
- The number of persons prosecuted (including police officers and military personnel) for gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence
- The number of people trained in accordance with the UN and NATO standards on preventing and combating conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, including police officers, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, military personnel, social workers, medical professionals, forensic experts, psychologists, practical psychologists, education workers, and employees of the centers that provide free secondary legal aid.
- The number of existing shelters and other specialized services for persons affected by conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence
Monitoring the implementation of the National Plan will be carried out through the analysis of the achievement of key indicators of targets, their deviation from the target values, determining the reasons for their deviation, and conducting analysis of the state of implementation of tasks and activities of the National Plan. The purpose of monitoring is the timely identification and resolution of problems that hinder the achievement of the ultimate goal of the Action Plan, as well as the preparation and publication of result-oriented reports on its implementation.
The Monitoring process will be carried out through the collection of information on the achievement of the indicators of the general objectives and the subsequent submission of this information to the Ministry of Social Policy. The pertinent information is provided by central executive bodies, all state bodies involved in the implementation of the NAP, the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional state administrations, Kyiv and Sevastopol City State Administrations.
An evaluation process will be performed during the last year of the NAP’s implementation, through the analysis of the impact of the Action Plan implementation on target groups, the achieved key indicators towards the overall goal of the document, their deviation from the planned values and consequent investigation of reasons for such deviation, the analysis of reasonableness and validity of the selected tools for implementation of the NAP, the need for their revision or extension; and evaluation of results of the NAP implementation by target groups.
According to the results of the evaluation process, the Ministry of Social Policy shall prepare and submit to the Cabinet of Ministers a report on the National Plan evaluation. Such a report will be published for public discussion on the Ministry of Social Policy's official website on an annual basis no later than five working days after its submission to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Actors of the NAP will be requested to submit information on the achievement of indicators of operational and strategic goals to the Ministry of Social Policy on an annual basis for its finalization and submission to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, indicating the state of the NAP implementation, the share of indicators and targets achieved, a list of major achievements and issues concern for a certain period, the proposals for solving issues of concern, and the tasks specified in the plan for monitoring the state of implementation of the NAP.
According to the document, the budget for the implementation of the Action Plan is ensured at the expense and within the budget allocations to central executive bodies, other state bodies, the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional state administrations, and Kyiv and Sevastopol city state administrations.
The NAP considers that UAH 1,309,709,000 will be needed for the implementation of the NAP, of which UAH 616,000 will be part of the state budget, UAH 1,188,149,000 will come from local budgets, and UAH 11,540,000 will come from other funding sources.
Although the NAP recognizes the importance that UNSCR 1325 (2000) grants to disarmament (page 2), the document does not include specific actions aimed at disarmament. Nonetheless, it references violence due to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
Actors
NAP Development
The NAP does not note how civil society will be involved in the development of the NAP.
The government office in charge of developing the text was the Cabinet of Ministries of Ukraine.
NAP Implementation
The NAP notes that civil society, specifically scientific institutions, NGOs and international organizations, will be involved in the implementation of the NAP but only “upon consent”. However, it does not note how deeply civil society will be involved.
The Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Information Policy along with the Administration of State Border Guard Service, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service, the Oblast (regional), and Kyiv state administrations are in charge of the implementation of the NAP. The Security Service and State Judicial Administration are also indicated as a part of implementation, but only "upon consent".
NAP Monitoring
The NAP notes that civil society, specifically scientific institutions, NGOs and international organizations, will be involved in the monitoring of the NAP but, only with consent. However, it does not note how deeply civil society will be involved.
The Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Administration of State Border Guard Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Emergency Service, the Oblast (regional) and Kyiv state administrations along with other unspecified national authorities will monitor and evaluate implementation of the NAP in coordination with government actors. The State Judicial Administration, Security Service, and the National Academy of Science are also indicated as a part of monitor and evaluation but only “upon consent”.
WILPF's Contributions to Ukraine's NAP
WILPF International does not have a country section in Ukraine and was therefore not involved in the development process of Ukraine’s NAP.
Timeframe
The Ukrainian NAP covers the period 2016 to 2020, inclusive. It includes yearly targets for each goal.
Objectives
The Ukrainian National Action Plan is organized by 10 objectives:
1) Assessment of impact of conflicts on national system of ensuring human rights, including protection, providing assistance and rehabilitation to victims of gender-based violence, participation of women in peacebuilding and prevention of conflicts;
2) Assessment of the impact of crisis on infrastructure, arrangement and functioning of the services provision system;
3) Coordination of agents of interaction for implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325;
4) Organisation of trainings for specialists;
5) Increase in women’s participation in peacebuilding and peacekeeping processes, promoting a culture of peace;
6) Awareness raising on secure behavior in the ATO areas, settlements along demarcation line or in the temporarily occupied areas;
7) Preventing and combating violence against women;
8) Improvement of the system of protection of women and girls affected by conflicts (identification, referral mechanism for assistance);
9) Establishment of the system of comprehensive assistance to people affected by conflicts; and
10) Assessment of impact and effectiveness of NAP for implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security until 2020.
Actions/Activities
Each goal has different actions assigned. For instance, the first goal, “Assessment of impact of conflicts on national system of ensuring human rights, including protection, providing assistance and rehabilitation to survivors of gender-based violence, participation of women in peacebuilding and prevention of conflicts”, includes four actions:
1) Conducting studies on root causes of conflicts and their impact on women and girls, including risks of GBV and access to justice;
2) Development of a regional monitoring card on the state of protection, provision of assistance and rehabilitation of victims of genderbased violence, participation of women in peacebuilding and prevention of conflicts;
3) Analysis of practices and conditions of women’s participation in international peacebuilding processes, negotiation groups, multilateral activities on dealing with internal and external challenges and threats; and
4) Analysis of use of international experience, existing training programmes on conflict-related issues, forced displacement, disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, access to justice.
Indicators
Each goal has a number of listed indicators. For example, the first goal, “Assessment of impact of conflicts on national system of ensuring human rights, including protection, providing assistance and rehabilitation to victims of gender-based violence, participation of women in peacebuilding and prevention of conflicts”, includes four actions and five indicators for them. The following are the five indicators:
1) Number of developed recommendations taking into account women’s needs in prevention of conflicts;
2) Number of recommendations implemented;
3) Number of developed oblast monitoring cards;
4) Number of prepared proposals to include women into peacebuilding processes; and
5) Number of developed proposals.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Pillar six focuses on monitoring and evaluating the NAP. The Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Administration of State Border Guard Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Emergency Service, the Oblast (regional) and Kyiv state administrations along with other unspecified national authorities will monitor and evaluate implementation of the NAP in coordination with government actors. The State Judicial Administration, Security Service, and the National Academy of Science are also indicated as a part of monitor and evaluation but only “upon consent”. All government and civil society actors will be in charge of preparing and publishing a national report on the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the NAP. The Oblast, Kviv state administration along with NGOs and international organizations will conduct surveys among women affected by conflict. The Ministry of Social Policy, National Academy, NGOs and international organizations will conduct surveys to track changes, trends and public impact of the NAP.
Budget
The Ukrainian NAP provides an estimated budget for each of its 10 goals, broken down into each goal’s objectives by year, as well as a total budget by year. The total state budget is (USD) $18,429, while the total local budget is $171,741 and other resources are $387,061.
Disarmament
The Ukrainian NAP mentions establishing rehabilitation and reintegration programs for ex-combatants and demobilized persons as well as specialized peacekeeping training that include disarmament, demobilization, reintegration. However, it does not address the method or extent of disarmament or connect the proliferation of weapons to women’s insecurity.