Religion and the WPS Agenda: Harnessing the Potential of Religion to Improve Opportunities for Women in the Most Fragile Contexts

What potential does religion have to advance the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda? How can we bridge the gap religious actors and WPS stakeholders to create unexpected alliances? How can we focus on the opportunities that engaging religion offers to localise the WPS agenda while acknowledging its limitations?

This policy paper will demonstrate that religion can positively contribute to the WPS agenda, given the right conditions for engagement. Firstly, the paper will provide context on the nexus between religion and the WPS agenda, followed by three case studies that illustrate different realities of the interaction between the WPS agenda and religion as a (positive) factor. Secondly, this paper will identify good practices and recommendations, collected by means of interviewing different stakeholders in the WPS and religion space, ranging from academics to practitioners.