Joint Statement of Civil Society and Local Actors

As part of SDG Week 2025, the Joint Programme Women Lead the Way towards Peace and Security in BiH (WPS Programme), convened an online consultation “Local Communities for Gender-Responsive and Sustainable Peace and Development”, with representatives of civil society and local actors from 21 communities across the Bosnia and Herzegovina to jointly define priorities for gender-responsive and sustainable peace and development.

Building on these findings of the study “15 Years of Implementing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in BiH: Lessons Learned and Recommendations", which provided a comprehensive overview of achievements, challenges, and recommendations for advancing the implementation of the WPS Agenda, 17 community dialogues were held across the country between May and July 2025, engaging more than 350 participants from institutions, civil society organizations, the police, academia, and the private sector. These dialogues enabled local actors to identify key challenges and translate country-level recommendations into practical, local context-specific solutions.

Using interactive and inclusive approaches, participants of the online consultation identified concrete advocacy priorities across five interlinked areas of human security: economic, health, environmental, personal, and community security.

The result is a Joint Statement that reflects the collective voice of civil society organizations and local actors from across the country. The Statement outlines practical recommendations and serves as a tool for continued advocacy, enabling communities and organizations to engage institutions at all levels, while contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly SDGs 5, 16, and 17.

This process is also aligned with the Sarajevo Pledge, launched by the WPS Programme at the International WPS Conference held in Sarajevo in June 2025, which calls for renewed commitments across seven priority areas and provides a unifying advocacy framework linking local community priorities with WPS efforts at the country, regional, and global levels.

The WPS Programme is jointly implemented by UN Women, UNFPA, and IOM, in partnership with the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the support of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).