Financing Women’s Economic Empowerment as a Peace Dividend: From National Budgets to Community Recovery

Peace dividends are not only reflected in signed agreements or macroeconomic indicators. In crisis settings, peace becomes tangible when women regain income, assets, mobility, access to markets and services, care support, social protection, and a meaningful voice in local decision-making. Women’s economic empowerment is therefore not simply an outcome of peacebuilding; it is a pathway through which recovery can rebuild trust, reduce exclusion, strengthen social cohesion, and support more resilient communities. Led by the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other partners, this session will examine how financing women’s socio-economic recovery can generate visible peace dividends, from national budgets to community markets. 

The discussion draws on WPHF’s experience providing direct and flexible financing to women-led organizations and peacebuilders, alongside UNDP’s EQUANOMICS work on sovereign debt, fiscal policy, care, and gender equality. The panels will connect global, national, and community perspectives. WPHF will highlight financing women-led organizations as a peacebuilding investment, while UNDP will examine how public finance and economic policy shape inclusive recovery. Perspectives from Sudan and Somalia will explore survivor-centred recovery, gender-responsive budgeting, livelihoods, social protection, markets, and institutional trust, while philanthropy will consider how flexible and catalytic resources can help locally led initiatives scale and sustain their impact. 

The session will generate practical recommendations for financing women’s economic empowerment as a strategy for inclusive recovery, violence prevention, local economic resilience, participation, and sustainable peace across crisis-affected communities and strengthen links between public finance, pooled funds, philanthropy and action