On 4 December 2007, the Netherlands adopted its first national action plan fo...

On 4 December 2007, the Netherlands adopted its first national action plan for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). The Dutch national action plan relies on a broad support base, and is unique in its kind as it was signed jointly by Dutch Government and civil society. The plan has led to many joint activities benefiting from the complementarity between Government bodies and civil society. A further element of the Dutch national action plan is that we strongly believe that the ownership of these activities should be with the national stakeholders — the Government and civil society — of the fragile States for which they are developed. A good example of such a joint achievement, in our view, is the security sector development programme in Burundi. Based on research done by the Dutch non-governmental organization Oxfam Novib, a gender perspective in the security sector was developed by the Burundian Ministries of Defence and Public Security, together with the Dutch Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs. This led to specific empowerment programmes for female military personnel and to a high number of female applicants for the Burundi police force.