The objective of the project is to ensure that local, national, and international stakeholders working on small arms and light weapons on the one hand, and on the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda on the other, are able to draw on a stronger evidence base to promote more inclusive, gender-responsive, and socially inclusive approaches to arms control policy processes and implementation activities.

The inception phase of this project took place between 2021 and 2022. It involved producing a report identifying entry points to integrate small arms control into WPS national- and local-level initiatives, and to integrate WPS actors and priorities into national and local small arms control initiatives.

Activities in this phase of the project include:

• Updating the Global Violent Deaths database (which is gender-disaggregated) and producing research on the gendered impacts of small arms in order to provide policymakers and practitioners with an evidence base to engage in gender-responsive small arms control;
• Engaging with international arms control processes such as the Arms Trade Treaty, the Open-Ended Working Group on Convention Ammunition and the UN Programme of Action on small arms to promote the inclusion of good practices on gender-responsive small arms control;
• Supporting regional and national level efforts on gender-responsive small arms control and women, peace and security through support to policy processes, capacity building, and collaborative research.

Project duration: 29 months - August 2022 - December 2024

Donors: German Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs