WOMEN, CULTURE AND PEACE
The WCP Framework
Ideas need structure to grow. This page shows where WCP fits in the global system — and how it plans to fund itself, differently than programmes before it.
WCP
WCP did not appear from nowhere. It sits inside a much larger system — one the United Nations and UNESCO have built over twenty-five years.
Understanding that system helps explain what WCP is trying to do. It also shows why RYB Global Development exists, and why we built Women’s Days for Culture of Peace as our first working example.
This page maps the full tree. It starts with the SDGs. It ends with the practical question every framework eventually faces: how does this get paid for?
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Where WCP Sits in the Global System
Read the tree below from top to bottom. Each level builds on the one above it. Links lead to pages where you can learn more about each subject.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
UN · since 2015
17 goals. A global framework for governments to measure progress on poverty, health, education, climate, and equality.
└─
Proposed SDG 18 — Culture
Proposed for 2030
Ministers of Culture and UNESCO propose adding Culture as a standalone goal for the 2030–2045 agenda. Read about SDG 18 →
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UNESCO’s Culture of Peace Programme
UNESCO · since 2000
The delivery mechanism UNESCO proposes for implementing SDG 18. Began with the UN’s International Year of a Culture of Peace, the year 2000.
└─
Civil society implementation
Global Movement for a Culture of Peace
UNESCO invites organisations, artists, and citizens to help shape how Culture of Peace gets implemented locally. This is where RYB joins.
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RYB Global Development
Social enterprise · Amsterdam
A platform connecting 193 countries through arts, culture, and data. Three primary colours represent universal character — echoing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Women, Culture and Peace (WCP)
RYB concept
RYB’s research and implementation concept — a women-centred approach to building peace through culture.
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Women’s and Feminist Studies — the research and history behind WCP.
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Women’s Days for Culture of Peace — the first working example. 193 countries, one calendar, one growing dataset.
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Framework (this page)
How WCP gets designed, valued, and financed. The third tree, still being built.
Most of this tree belongs to others. UNESCO and the UN own the SDGs and the Culture of Peace programme. RYB owns only the branch starting with WCP — our specific, creative contribution to a much larger movement.
WHY THIS PAGE EXISTS
Theory Needs a Working Model
WCP already has two trees. Academic Foundation explains the thinking. Global Initiatives shows the first project in action.
But ideas and projects are not enough on their own. WCP also needs a framework — a clear answer to how this approach creates value, and how it scales beyond one project.
Academic Foundation
The research, theory, and history behind women’s roles in culture and peace.
Global Initiatives
Women’s Days for Culture of Peace — the project, the calendar, the call to action.
THE FUNDING PROBLEM
Why Women, Peace and Security Struggles to Scale
WCP builds on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, established by UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000. WPS made real progress on policy. It has struggled on money.
UN peacekeeping funding fell to $5.38 billion for 2025–2026. Humanitarian funding requests reach $35 billion but go largely unmet. Insufficient funding remains one of the most persistent barriers to implementing WPS commitments worldwide.
$5.38B
UN peacekeeping budget 2025–26 — reduced from prior year
$35B
humanitarian funding requested — still far short of need
−7.1%
global development aid fell in 2024
47%
of women’s organisations risk closing within 6 months
This pattern repeats across gender and peace programmes globally. Government funding rises and falls with politics. Civil society organisations cannot plan multi-year projects on funding that disappears after one budget cycle.
“There is a consistent, striking disparity between policy commitments to gender equality and the financial allocations to achieve them.”
— Women, Peace and Security financing research, UN and partner agencies
A DIFFERENT PATH
Financing WCP: The Creative Industries Opportunity
WPS depends on governments and multilateral budgets. WCP does not have to. Arts, culture, fashion, and design already run on private investment — at enormous scale.
This is the most important difference between WPS and WCP. Not a better idea. A different, more resilient way to pay for ideas.
$2.78T
Global creative industries, 2023
Projected to reach $4.06 trillion by 2032 — a 4.29% annual growth rate.
Source: UNCTAD Creative Economy Outlook
+29%
Creative services exports, 2022
Surged to $1.4 trillion in a single year. Creative goods exports rose 19% to $713 billion.
Source: UNCTAD
0.5–7.3%
Creative economy share of GDP
Varies by country, but consistently significant. Employs 0.5% to 12.5% of national workforces.
Source: UNCTAD, WIPO
↑
Fashion houses already invest
Major fashion brands fund women’s empowerment programmes today. WCP extends this into peace and cultural preservation.
Existing CSR practice
Two funding logics, side by side
WPS — government dependent
- Relies on UN budgets and bilateral aid
- Subject to political cycles and cuts
- Competes with humanitarian emergencies
- Funding falls when crises multiply
- Multi-year planning is difficult
WCP — creative industries enabled
- Draws on a $2.78 trillion private sector
- Brands already budget for cultural sponsorship
- Aligns with existing CSR and ESG goals
- Can start small, locally, without grants
- Diversified across many small partners
How a WCP Project Can Be Funded
No single funding source carries WCP alone. Instead, several models work together, depending on the size and stage of each project.
RYB operates as a social enterprise for exactly this reason. Mission and revenue work together, not against each other. A diversified model is a resilient one.
“Companies can integrate WCP support into existing CSR strategies while accessing new markets and consumer segments. This creates compelling narratives for brand marketing while generating measurable social impact.”
— RYB Global Development, WCP financing research
STILL BEING SHAPED
What Comes Next Under Framework
This page is a starting point, not a finished structure. The following pages are proposed — their names and scope may still change. We welcome feedback before we finalise them.
1
Financing WCP
/women-culture-and-peace/financing-wcp/
The deepest dive into funding. Expands every model introduced above: brand patronage, sourcing partnerships, impact investment, and earned revenue. Includes real examples once available, and a clear answer to “how would my organisation get involved financially?”
This is the most important page in the Framework tree. WCP’s long-term survival depends on solving this question better than WPS has.
Priority — build next
2
Theory
/women-culture-and-peace/theory/
The women-centred organising model behind WCP, following Stall and Stoecker. Explains the contrast with the Alinsky model of confrontation and power — and why WCP chooses relationship and collaboration instead.
In development
3
WPS and WCP
/women-culture-and-peace/wps-vs-wcp/
How WCP relates to Women, Peace and Security and UNSCR 1325. Not a replacement — a cultural complement. WPS focuses on security and the peace table. WCP focuses on everyday culture and community.
In development
4
Arts and Peace
/women-culture-and-peace/arts-and-peace/
Why arts and culture work as peacebuilding tools. Evidence from Colombia, Rwanda, and other cultural reconciliation processes. The case for treating creativity as infrastructure for peace.
In development
5
Research
/women-culture-and-peace/research/
The academic side of WCP. Context for the PhD funding proposal, potential university partnerships, and how RYB’s practical work feeds back into formal research.
In development
LOOKING FORWARD
A Tree Still Growing
This page is the trunk of a new branch. The five pages above are its first leaves — not yet fully formed, but already taking shape.
We build slowly and openly. Each page will grow as our understanding deepens, and as our community shares ideas. Anyone studying WCP can contribute — a financing model, a research lead, a cultural partnership worth exploring.
The bigger goal stays simple. Show that WCP creates real value. Show that it can fund itself, without waiting for government budgets that may never arrive. Show that culture, women, and peace belong together — not as a slogan, but as a working model.
Women’s Days for Culture of Peace is proof this can start small. The Framework tree is proof it can be designed to last.
Sources and Links
UN and UNESCO frameworks
United Nations. Sustainable Development Goals.
https://sdgs.un.org/goals
https://sdgs.un.org/goals
UNESCO. Culture of Peace Programme.
https://www.unesco.org/en/culture-peace
https://www.unesco.org/en/culture-peace
UNESCO. MONDIACULT 2025, Barcelona.
https://www.unesco.org/en/mondiacult2025
https://www.unesco.org/en/mondiacult2025
United Nations. Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, A/RES/53/243 (1999).
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/285677
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/285677
UN Security Council. Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (2000).
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/
Funding data
United Nations. UN Peacekeeping Budget 2025–2026.
https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/financing-peacekeeping
https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/financing-peacekeeping
OECD. Development Aid Falls in 2024 — DAC statistics.
https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/official-development-assistance-oda.html
https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/official-development-assistance-oda.html
UN Women. Funding Cuts Threaten Women’s Organizations in Humanitarian Crises, May 2025.
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2025/5/press-release-funding-cuts
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2025/5/press-release-funding-cuts
Creative industries data
UNCTAD. Creative Economy Outlook 2024.
https://unctad.org/publication/creative-economy-outlook-2024
UNESCO / WIPO. Global Report on Creative Economy and Employment.
https://www.unesco.org/en/creativity/creative-economy
RYB pages
RYB. Women, Culture and Peace (WCP) Framework — overview.
https://redyellowblue.org/women-culture-and-peace/
https://redyellowblue.org/women-culture-and-peace/
RYB. Women’s Days for Culture of Peace.
https://redyellowblue.org/womens-days-for-culture-of-peace/
https://redyellowblue.org/womens-days-for-culture-of-peace/
RYB. SDG 18 — Culture as a Sustainable Development Goal.
https://redyellowblue.org/sdg-18/
https://redyellowblue.org/sdg-18/