Leaving no one behind: Delivering the Global Goals for
marginalised women survivors of conflict
On 22 February 2017, Women for Women International hosted a panel discussion on the UK
Government’s commitment to ‘leave no one behind’ in the delivery of the Global Goals, focusing on
marginalised women survivors of conflict. The event also launched Women for Women International’s
position paper on the Global Goals. This paper draws on more than twenty years’ experience of
working with marginalised women survivors of conflict to make recommendations for practitioners,
donors and governments. The event brought together a wide range of stakeholders including
representatives from UK Government departments, parliamentarians, fund managers,
philanthropists, academics and select INGOs in order to develop partnerships and create opportunities
for accelerating progress on the Global Goals.
Event Summary:
The event was opened by Alex Duncan, Trustee for Women for Women International UK and chaired
by Samira Shackle, freelance journalist. Mr Duncan welcomed everyone, highlighting the importance
of collaboration towards the same goal of leaving no one behind and making sure that the Global
Goals are “met in full” for women and girls. He challenged the room to consider how we could all “do
things differently together” to support the delivery of the Goals and leave no one behind.
The Rt Hon the Lord Bates, Minister of State for International Development, reiterated the vital
importance of the Global Goals as a guiding framework for the world. He stated that the Department
for International Development (DFID) greatly valued their partnership with Women for Women
International. He emphasised how the UK Government had fought hard for a stand-alone goal on
gender equality to be included in the framework for the Global Goals, in addition to gender equality
being mainstreamed throughout the other goals. The Minister highlighted the issue of women’s
exclusion from peacebuilding and peace negotiations, and the importance of moving beyond
protection of women towards empowerment and meaningful participation in post-conflict situations.
He mentioned the importance of funding and supporting grassroots organisations, as they are at the
frontline of this work. Finally, he concluded that the Global Goals, if properly implemented, are a
historic opportunity to push for change, tackle harmful social norms, and “create a just world that will
leave no one behind”.
Stephen Twigg MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, highlighted the UK
Government’s commitment to apply the Global Goals in the UK as well as globally. He noted that while
the UK played a positive role in developing and negotiating the goals, more needs to be done to adopt
them both domestically and abroad. Mr Twigg spoke about how often he meets women survivors of
conflict as part of the Committee’s current work, and how much this influences him. He noted that
times are challenging both in terms of the scale of current conflicts and the current political climate,
which makes it important now for DFID to remain focused. He concluded that the government needs
to restate their commitment to the global goals and the importance of amplifying and listening to the
voices of women; “to learn lessons for the future, from conflicts of the past”.
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Jakhya Rahman, Senior Foundation Manager for the Swarovski Foundation, stressed that although we
need to hold the government accountable to its commitments to the leave no one behind agenda, we
(charities, corporate donors and individuals) are also accountable and have a collective responsibility
towards the Global Goals. She highlighted the importance, as a donor, of having open dialogues and
equal partnerships with NGOs to understand what is happening on the ground. Ultimately, donors
must trust NGOs since they are the experts. Ms Rahman suggested that as a funder the Swarovski
Foundation is accountable for their grants, and need to see demonstrated impact, but that impact is
not only about numbers and donors should be open to receiving qualitative information from
partners. Ms Rahman called for collaboration as a central condition to create positive change and
leave no one behind.
Carron Mann, Senior Manager for Policy and Advocacy at Women for Women International, shared
evidence, lessons and thinking from Women for Women International. Firstly, she described what
being ‘marginalised’ means for the women they work with. On average, the women represent a
particularly vulnerable group of people; with most having experienced violence, low levels of
education, low earning opportunities and supporting several dependents. She secondly noted the
importance of prioritising women’s voices in delivering the Global Goals. In a very practical sense: “we
will never know if the Goals are delivering for those furthest behind if we don’t ask them”. She
recommended that governments facilitate regular consultations with women’s rights organisations in
the design, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and that practitioners could develop a more
structured way of listening. She emphasised that this was about empowerment, not just participation,
and that focusing on agency and decision making as well as income generation is key. Finally, she
noted that change requires a significant increase of long-term investment in women’s rights. Just 0.5%
of the $35.5 billion (USD) provided by major donor governments went to women’s groups in
developing countries in 2014. She concluded by saying we need to see much more nuanced and
responsive approaches to reach and work with marginalised groups to deliver for those left furthest
behind and that “women’s voices and empowerment must be front and centre to all efforts.”
Q&A Highlights (chaired by Samira Shackle):
How can we work differently on the Leave No One Behind agenda? The panel discussed the
importance of removing silos in funding and making cross-government commitments to the agenda.
They also mentioned current negative attitudes towards international aid in the UK and globally, and
the importance of speaking up in support of development work. The panel discussed the importance
of collecting sex-disaggregated data, and the potential value of using the detailed data collected by
NGOs working with women in developing countries, to complement national level data when
monitoring the progress of the Global Goals, as this would include those women who are often not
captured by other data collection and government reporting. Women for Women International
collects a vast amount of in-depth data, as do other practitioners, but there is currently not space for
this data in the formal reporting mechanisms for the Global Goals.
There is a complicated relationship between poverty and conflict. How can we adapt our approaches
to development and security? The panel highlighted how the UK has committed to spending half of
DFID’s budget in fragile and conflict affected countries and has launched the cross-departmental
Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) which tackles both security and development issues.
However, it was raised that the primary aim of UK aid is poverty alleviation, and that this should not
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be lost amidst the wide scope of the Goals. The International Development Committee’s concerns
about the CSSF were highlighted and attention was drawn to The Joint Committee on the National
Security Strategy’s report on the CSSF published in February 2017, following an inquiry.
The panel further discussed the importance of protecting human and physical capital during and after
conflict, as Women for Women International does, to help women hold on to or claim assets, such as
land, to provide more long-term and sustainable support for women. They mentioned the importance
of both short and long term protection, of providing pyscho-social support, access to education and
training, as well as supporting women’s networks. We need to think more about integrating more
medium or even long-term support into crisis response, recognising that
How is it possible to move from economic and social empowerment towards women’s political
empowerment, particularly as significant backlash is expected when it comes to changing power
relations? The panel suggested that it is difficult to separate social, economic and political
empowerment as they are all linked. It was indicated that there is often a backlash when women try
to get a seat at the negotiating table; for example, it is difficult for women’s civil society groups to get
to international conferences, and because of this, women’s voices are not heard.
How can we overcome the difficulties associated with getting funding to women’s rights groups and
organisations in developing countries? The panel mentioned the International Development
Committee’s current inquiry into how DFID spends its funds. It was suggested that the UK Government
should provide long-term, flexible, core funding accessible to smaller organisations to support their
work, including supporting women in remote areas. It was also noted that there is always more need
than there are funds. Women’s rights organisations in Syria were given as an example of such
organisations disappearing due to lack of funding, because they don’t have capacity to comply with
donors’ requirements in terms of reporting and monitoring and evaluation, and because donor
funding often only covers project funds – not core costs such as staff salaries.
The event then closed with brief closing comments from the speakers.
Since 1993, Women for Women International has supported more than 447,000 marginalised
women in eight countries affected by war and conflict, offering women support, tools, and access to
life-changing skills to move from crisis and poverty to stability and economic self-sufficiency. We
bring women together in a safe space to learn life, business, and vocational skills through our
combined social and economic 12-month programme. We also work with male leaders and family
members of our women’s empowerment programme, training them in gender equality and women’s
rights. www.womenforwomen.org.uk
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