Beyond Aid: Building Dignity and Opportunity for Women in Conflict Zones

Light seeps through cracks of a wooden roof in the mountainous Bamiyan Province in Central Afghanistan, as a group of mothers sit side by side, facing their canvas – the wooden loom. The overlapping strands of wool rub together as they are carefully woven into a single thread of color. Millions of threads result in a complete carpet, an artisanal reflection of the mountains that these veiled female weavers call home. Their hands etched with cuts and hardened skin testify to the hours of toil, hardship and conflict – that loom outside the walls of their homes.  But as art blooms inside their confines, turmoil lingers over the horizons.  

Their story reflects the struggle women around the world face in armed conflict, who not only endure displacement but food insecurity, violence, and systemic barriers to health and education. The scale of the challenge is staggering. As UN Women reports that in 2023, more than 170 armed conflicts were recorded across the globe, placing 612 million women and girls within 50 kilometers of active fighting. This represents a 50% increase in exposure compared to a decade ago, a dramatic rise that underscores the urgent need for action from the international community. Each number represents real lives disrupted, making initiatives that protect and empower women in conflict zones not just important, but imperative.

The scale of women’s suffering in conflict zones is staggering. The proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled in 2023 compared to the year before. Similarly in the same year, more than 117 million people were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, and violence, half of them women and girls.

Food insecurity worsens these challenges, with one in every two women in conflict zones facing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023, urgent global action is needed. At the same time, 1,521 attacks on health care facilities deprived millions of women of reproductive services, while 6,000 reported attacks on schools targeted girls’ education across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cameroon, and Sudan.

Nearly thirty years ago, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) called for the protection of women in war zones, the elimination of gender-based violence, and women’s participation in peacebuilding. 

Progress has been uneven. 

While awareness has grown, women in conflict and displacement settings remain under-protected and under-supported, especially in fragile and least developed contexts where governments often lack capacity to act.

Qatar Fund for Development’s (QFFD) Women in Conflict Zones Initiative (WICZ), supporting women through partnering with international organizations, such as the Turquoise Mountain female weavers project in Afghanistan, bridges this gap, advancing the BPFA’s vision by focusing directly on the most marginalized.

The WICZ initiative, first launched in New York on September 23, 2022, during the 77th UN General Assembly, aims to advance global efforts in working towards the Sustainable Development Goal 5, achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls, in addition to supporting the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security on 31 October 2000. Through the WICZ initiative, QFFD is actively working towards realizing the resolution, in enhancing efforts to reaffirm the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. 

A New Approach to Financing Bold Solutions

Meeting the ambitions of the BPFA and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires more than declarations. Traditional financing models cannot meet the scale of today’s humanitarian crises. However, through WICZ, QFFD is shaping global norms on gender-responsive humanitarian financing.

QFFD is advancing innovative financing mechanisms that leverage catalytic capital, mobilize blended finance, and forge partnerships across governments, multilateral agencies, civil society, and the private sector. This approach channels resources into fragile contexts where women are most at risk, ensuring interventions move beyond short-term relief to sustainable empowerment.

As the State of Qatar’s international development provider, QFFD is dedicated to promoting human development, alleviating poverty, strengthening health and education systems, supporting economic growth, mobilizing humanitarian aid, and enhancing resilience to climate change. Guided by Qatar’s National Vision 2030 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, QFFD partners with multilateral organizations, bilateral providers, CSOs, NGOs, and the private sector. Its flexible model includes grants, concessional loans, guarantees, and development investments, ensuring that 

Within this framework, the Women in Conflict Zones Initiative embodies QFFD’s dual role as a humanitarian responder and an innovator in financing. By prioritizing displaced and persecuted women, the initiative provides access to reproductive health care, food security programs, safe education, and platforms that elevate women’s voices in peacebuilding. By bridging the gaps left by limited governmental support, QFFD ensures no woman is left behind.

While coverage on conflicts has increased more than six-fold between 2013 and 2023, only 5 per cent of articles focus on women experiences in war. This statistic amplifies the global lack of awareness of these women’s immense suffering, yet it calls for urgent action. Women in conflict zones deserve recognition, dignity, and empowerment, to be able to thrive regardless of their context. QFFD calls on governments, multilateral agencies, and private sector actors to join forces in scaling gender-responsive financing for women in conflict zones.

To learn more about QFFD’s Women in Conflict Zones Initiative and its financing approach to advancing equality in fragile settings, QFFD’s official website and Woman in Conflict Zones official website.