Commitments into action: Women, Peace, and Security in defence budgeting

This policy brief addresses a critical gap: how can defence institutions integrate WPS commitments concretely within their budgeting cycles? Rather than treating WPS as a standalone budget line, the brief maps how gender analysis and WPS principles can be integrated into five phases of the defence budgeting cycle. This approach leverages existing accountability mechanisms, such as audits, parliamentary oversight, and civil society monitoring.

It closes with recommendations for a range of stakeholders, doing so without losing sight of a broader critical question: whether defence spending should grow at all in a world of shrinking development assistance and mounting humanitarian need. The choice before WPS advocates is neither disengagement from defence nor capitulation to securitization, but strategic, conditional engagement grounded in the transparent, accountable budgeting systems that already exist in defence institutions.

This policy brief was written as part of a DCAF programme to mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.