8 March 2023, Geneva. Today we celebrate International Women’s Day by thanking the women participating in the Women’s Participation Project in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen for their endless motivation to achieving meaningful participation for women and girls in displacement settings.

For the past 8 years, the WPP participants have given us their trust and courage to work together towards women’s empowerment, building the self-identified skills to grant them the confidence to raise their voices, access information, take part in daily life and become leaders.
From building latrines in Malakal, South Sudan, to Women’s Committee members in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, taking part in fire safety trainings, women have never ceased to amaze us. At times going beyond conventional roles in their communities, identifying possibilities for themselves to become part of daily life during displacement in a way that feels safe for them, and continuously inspiring our teams to push boundaries and support activities that were designed by the women themselves.

The Women's Participation Project (WPP) is a global initiative implemented by IOM in different displacement contexts and settings to support equitable and meaningful participation and representation of displaced women and girls. Initiated in 2016, the Project is part of the 'Safe from the Start' Initiative funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM), with WASH-WPP activities in South Sudan generously funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO).

The Project has helped amplify the voices of more than 10,000 displaced women and girls in 12 countries worldwide and has contributed to mitigating the risk of gender-based violence in these locations.