Guinea Bissau

In 2021, to promote a participatory constitutional reform process in Guinea-Bissau, the National People’s Assembly, with support from UNDP, UNFPA and WFP, launched a public information campaign to heighten awareness of the issues and increase space for broad citizen participation. At the same time, the Women’s Jurists Association held consultations across the country to provide citizens with a voice regarding the importance of mainstreaming gender into the revised version of the Constitution. To bolster the role of civil society in the reform process, more than 25 organizations have established a consultation space for civil society organizations to monito r governmental initiatives on health, education, governance and legislation. Addressing long-standing issues of corruption, the National People’s Assembly was presented with the country’s first national strategy to fight corruption, developed with support from a $2 million project of UNODC, UNDP and IOM. The project also helped to create local cross-border protection structures to monitor human trafficking while increasing the investigative and operational capacity of the gendarmerie, the judiciary police and the national guard to prosecute offences. To help to develop the skills of future leaders, the country’s first Leadership Academy launched leadership courses in 2021 with support from UNDP, UNFPA and WFP. Moreover, 73 per cent of participants in an initiative led by the organization Interpeace have become involved in formal and traditional decision-making institutions, which has helped to improve their relationship with local authorities.