Image: Janet Hodgson (left) speaking to Angelina Jolie at the London Summit this week

This week, Soroptimists are taking part in the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London, the largest ever gathering brought together to address this key issue. It is a high-profile event and world leaders have been joined by global celebrities, such as Angelina Jolie, helping to generate worldwide news coverage. But Soroptimist action and advocacy to help women and girls during and after conflict is nothing new and will continue after the media spotlight moves on. 

In this SoroptiVoice blog, Janet Hodgson of SI Rugby (UK) writes about her involvement in setting up the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative and reviewing the UK’s National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security. The UK launched its third Plan yesterday. She urges Soroptimists in the world to find out if their country has a Plan and, if not, to press for one.  Janet is Assistant Programme Director of Learning
Opportunities for the SIGBI Federation. The Federation is part of a national network of NGOs: Gender Action for Peace and Security (G.A.P.S).

The UK is updating its National Action Plan
for women peace and security. The UK is one of a few countries that has an
action plan to help women and girls to achieve peace and security after
conflict. Has your country got a plan? It is easy to find out, look on the
internet, ask your MP or government representative, or contact the UN.

As
the representative of SIGBI, I was part of a working party that produced and
set up the PSVI –Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. This was driven through
by William Hague the Foreign Secretary for the UK and within one year it has
been passed at the UN and ratified by 140 different countries. Today there are
teams of experts working in various countries around the world both after and
during conflict helping women and girls to bring the perpetrators to justice
and helping the women and girls to regain their lives.

Since then I have been involved with
looking at the current National Action Plan (NAP) and discussing with the Department
for International Development (DFID) Ministry of Defence (MOD), and Foreign
& Commonwealth Office (FCO) how to go forward and make improvements on the
last NAP.

One of the things that I am able to bring
to the meetings is the amount of work that we as Soroptimists are doing for
women and girls after conflict with our work in Rwanda, Afghanistan, Bosnia and
lately Sierra Leone.

Soroptimist supported project to support and empower young women after conflict in Sierra Leone

This is the work that we are highlighting
at the Global Summit being held in London at the moment. We are
sharing experience of projects that we have been
involved in throughout SI: supporting women and girls in Afghanistan through micro
finance, teaching them their civil and human rights; the Peace Marathon in Kigali; building schools in
Afghanistan; sewing projects in Bosnia and helping girls who had been raped
or suffered sexual abuse to gain skills and support themselves in Sierra Leone.

The government has been impressed and I
have been very proud to be a Soroptimist as we are one of the 2 voluntary
organisations invited to be part of the process.This has been interesting and the UK
government has listened to what we , the civil society and NGOs have had to say
and have taken this on board and I believe that the next NAP will be an
improvement.

We have tried to impress on the 3
departments, that if it does not reach the women and girls on the ground then
it is not doing what it ought to do.

Because of this initiative and other
committees that I serve on, I was asked to a meeting with the new woman
executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Zainab Bangura UN special
representative against sexual violence in conflict. This meeting was at the
House of Commons and chaired by the Lords Hannay and Hodgson (no relation!). This
was to discuss Women Peace and security.

Only about 40 countries have a NAP for
women peace and security. The UK
government would like all countries to have a NAP. They are working with
countries to help them form a plan, please will you look to see if your country
has a NAP, and if not why not? It is the way forward.