Seminar report on gender and defence transformation - PfP Consortium, DCAF and Swedish National Defence College

The report summarizes presentations and discussions from the seminar on: “Gender and Defence Transformation: Transforming National Structures, Sustaining International Operations”, jointly organized by the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Consortium’s Security Sector Reform Working Group, chaired by DCAF, and the Swedish National Defence College from 18 to 20 April 2011 in Stockholm.

Forty-two practitioners, researchers and policy advisers from fourteen NATO and PfP countries discussed ongoing efforts to integrate gender perspectives into defence transformation. Throughout the seminar practitioners with field experience shared best practices and concrete examples from the ground, including lessons learned from the Swedish Armed Forces’ work in provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan and the challenges some armed forces currently face in recruiting women or providing high quality gender training to their staff. Other discussions centred on research methodologies on gender and defence transformation and on ways to increase communication and exchange between communities of researchers and practitioners.

The seminar is a follow up to the workshop on gender and security sector reform, organized by the SSR Working Group in February 2010 .