IDC WPS Enquiry – World Vision UK Submission

Introduction

World Vision UK welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the International Development Committee for this inquiry into the UK Government’s implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

World Vision is a global humanitarian and development organisation, operating in nearly 100 countries. Our work focuses on supporting the world’s most vulnerable children and their communities, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. We are driven by the belief that every child deserves to live life to their full potential.

World Vision UK has a long-standing partnership with the UK Government and currently delivers several FCDO-funded programmes that integrate WPS principles into their design and delivery. This submission draws on our operational experience, programme data, and the voices of girls and women we work with. We hope it will help inform the Committee’s recommendations to ensure that the UK’s WPS commitments are effectively and sustainably implemented.

1. Integration of WPS Principles in ODA-Funded Programming

Key Points:

• WPS principles are integrated into UK policy frameworks, but practical implementation across ODA programming is uneven and vulnerable to cuts.
• Aid budget cuts have constrained delivery, despite a 15% WPS spending target under the CSSF.

The integration of WPS principles in UK ODA programming has been prioritised in key policy documents, notably the 2023–2027 UK WPS National Action Plan (NAP) and the FCDO’s International Women and Girls Strategy. These policies commit to embedding WPS across development, diplomacy, and defence. However, implementation remains uneven across sectors and vulnerable to disruption.

Severe cuts to the UK’s aid budget are significantly undermining WPS implementation and the wider international development agenda. The initial reduction from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI dealt a serious blow to the UK’s capacity to fund long-term, impactful programming. The recently announced further reduction to just 0.3% of GNI represents a historic and deeply concerning retreat from the UK’s development commitments.

Programmes are being cancelled or downsized mid-cycle, partnerships with local actors are being damaged, and the ability to deliver strategic interventions—such as those required for WPS—is being severely constrained. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has documented how previous cuts led to short-term, unpredictable programming and diminished the UK’s global influence.

Girls and young women are often the first and worst affected by conflict and poverty, serving as a barometer for wider humanitarian crises. Girls, particularly adolescents, are often doubly disadvantaged excluded due to both their age and gender. In conflict settings, adolescent girls face a significantly higher risk of child marriage, exploitation, and early pregnancy. For instance, girls living in conflict zones are 20% more likely to be married as children compared to those in non-conflict areas[1]. Girls make up on average 40% of UN verified cases of conflict related sexual violence against women and girls, with research suggesting the percentage is higher, given the additional barriers to reporting for girls.[2] In countries affected by conflict, girls are also 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys[3]. Without targeted support, these girls are more likely to drop out of education, lose access to critical health services, and face lifelong barriers to living life in all its fullness. In advancing the WPS agenda, it is essential to recognise the central role of girls, especially adolescents; they must be viewed not only as vulnerable but also as active stakeholders in the peacebuilding process.

If the UK is serious about its commitment to integrating WPS principles into ODA, it must reverse the ODA cuts and ensure that remaining funds are spent effectively to support girls and women. This should include ring-fenced allocations for adolescent girls, with mechanisms to directly support girl-focused and young women-led organisations and enable their participation in programme design, implementation, and evaluation. Robust impact assessments must be used to track the effectiveness of ODA programmes in supporting girls and women.

World Vision’s Driving Action for Wellbeing to Avert Mortality (DAWAM) programme in Afghanistan demonstrates how WPS principles can be operationalised in UK-funded development work. DAWAM is a £21 million, multi-sector health, nutrition, and WASH programme funded by the FCDO and implemented across eight provinces. The programme places a strong emphasis on reaching girls and women in fragile settings. In one quarter alone (April–June 2024), World Vision and partners reached over 27,000 women and 6,000 girls with direct services including nutrition support, counselling, and mental health interventions. These services are delivered through gender-sensitive approaches, such as female-only sessions, Mahram-accompanied community engagement, and media outreach in local languages. This model not only addresses immediate needs but also represents a sustainable and inclusive approach aligned with the UK’s WPS commitments.

4. Inclusion of Women’s and Girls’ Voices, Including Conflict-Affected and Marginalised Groups

Key Points:

• The UK consults civil society (via GAPS) and funds women’s rights organisations.
• Tokenistic participation persists in high-level processes.
• Young women and intersectional inclusion (e.g. ethnicity, disability) require stronger focus.

The UK Government has recognised the importance of amplifying the voices of women from conflict-affected areas and has taken important steps through consultations, partnerships, and funding for grassroots initiatives. The 2023–2027 WPS National Action Plan was developed with significant civil society input. UK-supported programmes such as the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth (WMC) and the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) offer important platforms for women's leadership. However, engagement with and support for girls and young women is patchy at best. They are too often invisible in peacebuilding processes. Effective WPS programming must centre their voices and address their specific needs. This means involving girls directly in the design of aid programmes, funding girl-led initiatives, and developing tailored services like education continuity and menstrual health support. Such investment can turn vulnerability into leadership potential, and should be treated as central to any sustainable peace and security framework.

Adolescent girls are often excluded from peace processes, yet in many communities they are already acting as peacebuilders—mediating disputes, educating peers, and leading informal support networks. Recognising and resourcing their leadership is essential to a more inclusive WPS agenda

Moreover inclusion must go beyond representation. It is not enough for women of all ages to be present—they must be empowered to influence and lead. Tokenistic involvement remains a concern. In high-level forums such as the Doha peace talks on Afghanistan, women have reported being included in name only, with limited scope to shape decisions.

To counter this, intersectionality must be central to WPS policy. Women experience conflict differently depending on factors such as age, disability, ethnicity, and displacement. For example:

• Young women are often excluded from formal peace processes, despite playing key roles in their communities. They are usually the first to suffer in times of crisis, yet their voices are rarely heard.
• Disabled girls and women face a heightened risk of violence and serious barriers to accessing services. Their needs are often neglected in the design of humanitarian and development programmes.
• Displaced women, including refugees and internally displaced persons, are frequently left out of decisions that directly affect their safety and futures.

World Vision’s DAWAM programme in Afghanistan demonstrates how inclusion can be achieved even in restrictive environments. The project uses strategies such as engaging community elders, Mahram-accompanied mobilisation, and female-only focus groups to ensure safe and meaningful participation by girls and women. Women are consulted throughout the programme cycle—from design through implementation to evaluation.

In one quarter, DAWAM facilitated community Nutrition Dialogues across four provinces, with 240 participants including 60 girls. Adolescent girls shared how hunger affects their mental health and schooling and proposed creative solutions such as peer learning and nutrition education in schools. This approach not only amplifies their voices but underscores their potential as peacebuilders and leaders in their communities.

8. Sustainability of the UK’s WPS Efforts

Key Points:

• Embed WPS into legislation and policy frameworks (e.g. Integrated Review).
• Protect and increase long-term, core funding for WPS initiatives.
• Link WPS to emerging global challenges: climate, AI, migration.
• Engage young people and diaspora communities to ensure generational relevance.

Despite their vulnerability, girls are rarely recognised as stakeholders in peace and security programming. To ensure that WPS efforts are sustainable, girls must be fully integrated into the WPS agenda. This includes addressing structural barriers—including cultural norms, lack of safe spaces, and the digital divide. Investment in girls must go beyond protection; it must build leadership pipelines, enable education continuity, and amplify their voices in both community and policy arenas.

Finally, long-term funding is essential—not just for programme delivery, but also to build the institutional capacity needed to support women’s and girls’ rights organisations and local peacebuilders. Programmes such as What Works have delivered proven results precisely because of sustained investment. This lesson must be applied consistently across the UK’s WPS agenda.

The recent announcement of a further cut to UK ODA—down to 0.3% of GNI—makes it even more urgent that WPS programmes are prioritised and protected. Without this, the UK risks undoing years of progress and diminishing its international leadership on gender equality and peacebuilding.

Girls, particularly adolescents, are among the most vulnerable in conflict-affected settings. They face unique risks with lifelong impacts—but are too often invisible in conflict prevention, humanitarian response and peacebuilding. Their wellbeing is a powerful indicator of peace and stability.

Finally, WPS policy must fully engage young people. In many conflict-affected countries, more than half the population is under 25. The UK has nominally expressed support for the Youth, Peace and Security agenda, but more must be done to link WPS to this. Having a joint Woman and Children in Conflict Department within FCDO is a good start but more is needed. Affective WPS programming must centre the voices of girls and address their specific needs. This means involving them directly in the design of aid programmes, funding girl-led initiatives, supporting youth-led peacebuilding organisations, establishing youth advisory councils, and creating leadership fellowships for young women and developing tailored services like education continuity and menstrual health support.

World Vision works with youth-led community-based organisations, like One Girl, One Leader (OGOL) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which advocate for justice and social norm change in their communities on issues facing children and women. These organisations often self-identify as youth-led organisations rather than women-led organisations even if they are comprised of women. And they have tremendous impact on their communities.

Through World Vision’s UK-funded project Combating Stigma against Rape Survivors and Children Born of Rape, OGOL developed and led awareness raising and access to justice campaigns in Beni District. They followed the project with research in 2019 to identify areas of progress and gaps against the Government of DRC’s commitments around the 2014 Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Conference. And the organisation has been lauded by the Government for its work to combat Ebola and Covid-19 in the community. Supporting local female-headed youth organisations helps to build sustainability and the foundations for long-term peace and wellbeing.