Sudan

Successful transitions are vital; providing the means to secure the gains achieved through UN missions. A carefully managed transition process is one of the best ways to guard against backslide and to ensure the continuity of essential peacebuilding and conflict prevention efforts. As part of this, it will be important to build and reinforce the essential foundations for economic stability, and to maintain financing for peace programming post-withdrawal. Therefore, the overall objective of this research was to address the systemic challenges of financing UN Mission transitions, by outlining opportunities to ensure that:

• the potentially negative economic impacts and disruptions of UN Mission transitions are mitigated;
• financing for peacebuilding programmes is sustained post mission withdrawal; and
• domestic economic growth is sustained and supported where possible.

This paper combines global trends and research on peace operation transitions with findings from case studies in DRC (initial stages of MONUSCO transition), Haiti (handover from MINUJUSH to BINUH), Liberia (following UNMIL’s withdrawal) and Sudan (transition of UNAMID). The paper focuses on opportunities that the international community could integrate into programming, co-ordination and financing. Accordingly, the paper is structured around the three phases of transition – ongoing UN missions, the transition, and sustaining capacity and economic stability post-withdrawal.

The institutional framework of a country plays a determining role in the well-being of the women who live in it. This paper examines the cases of four case countries: India, Kenya, Sudan and Tunisia. In each of these case studies, the status of women has been analysed along with the reforms that have been implemented to improve it. Comparisons between the four countries have brought to light several obstacles to change in the institutional framework such as age-old traditions, religion, economic interests and parliamentary opposition. Where there are important initial obstacles, the government’s room for manoeuvre is limited, particularly in the short-term since magistrates, administrations, media and families often endeavour to postpone the application of new, more inclusive, laws. There are, however, examples of successful reform efforts. These successes are generally attributable to the presence of numerous women in parliament and government and in the legal service, the ...