Exploring care in peacebuilding interventions: the transformative potential of an ethics of care in the Fourth Dutch National Action Plan on the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325

This research employs qualitative interviews presented as ‘snapshots’ of peacebuilding professionals implementing programs under the Dutch National Action Plan-IV (NAP-IV) for the Women Peace and Security agenda, in Palestine, Sudan and Yemen. These snapshots explore what an ethics of care lens might contribute to peacebuilding interventions. This analysis reveals a lack of explicit consideration to include people with care roles in NAP-IV peacebuilding programs, which is in direct opposition with the NAP-IV outcome of increasing women’s equal and meaningful participation in decision-making processes in relation to peace and security. This focus is important as peacebuilding programs which inadvertently exclude people with care roles excludes these voices from contributing to peace and security discourse, meaning their needs, rights, expertise and experiences are not included, and continues the devaluation and marginalisation of people who care, and the role of care itself, in society. This study explores how an ethics of care approach can support responding to needs of people with caregiving roles with inclusive program design and further, argues an ethics of care analysis of interdependency challenges the dichotomy of global north/global south implicit in humanitarian discourse and practice, and aligns with localisation agenda objectives. Thus, revealing the transformative potential of an ethics of care in humanitarian peacebuilding interventions.