Women for Economic Participation, Progress and Affirmation – WOMAN

Project duration: January 1^st – September 30^th 2026

Donor: United Nations Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)

Budget: 49,299.56 BAM

This project aims to amplify women’s leadership and participation in peacebuilding, decision-making, and inclusive development in six municipalities in Herzegovina-Neretva and West Herzegovina Cantons: Mostar, Stolac, Ljubuški, Grude, Široki Brijeg, and Posušje. It will contribute to the localization of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda and respond to persistent gender inequalities and weak institutional gender mechanisms, particularly in rural and post-conflict communities.

Despite ongoing efforts, women, especially those from rural areas and marginalized groups, remain underrepresented in public life and continue to face limited access to decision-making spaces, economic opportunities and institutional support. Economic vulnerability and unresolved post-conflict narratives hinder social cohesion and inclusive governance, and further limit their full and meaningful participation.

Key project objectives are:

O1: To create safe, inclusive spaces and strengthen women’s leadership capacities for participation in decision-making.

O2: To improve economic opportunities and employability for women from rural and vulnerable groups.

O3: To strengthen local institutional gender mechanisms and promote inclusive public advocacy for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

Planned activities include:

• Establishment of 6 women-led community circles and safe spaces for experience-sharing, joint planning and advocacy.
• Organization of capacity-building workshops on leadership, local governance and WPS agenda, alongside mentoring and interactions with municipal decision-making bodies.
• Delivery of skills-building workshops and mentorship sessions on entrepreneurship, employability, digital skills and financial literacy tailored to local labour market needs.
• Support to local institutions in operationalizing gender action plans and improving the functionality and inclusiveness of municipal gender mechanisms.
• Organization of public awareness campaign to highlight women’s contributions to peace, challenge harmful stereotypes, and promote inclusive narratives.
• Final conference in Mostar, bringing together beneficiaries, local authorities, CSOs and media to present results, share lessons and plan follow-up actions.

The implementation of project “Women for Economic Participation, Progress and Affirmation – WOMAN” was supported by the project “Women lead the way towards peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina” with the support of the United Nations Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) in partnership with the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees. The project is led by the United Nations in BiH and implemented jointly by UN Women, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).