The British Government provides a wide range of funding to support women's rights and participation in peacebuilding to non-government organisations, bilaterally to other states and through multilateral organisations such as UN Women. In 2011-12 the Conflict Pool, managed jointly by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence, disbursed £193 million in support of its priority areas including building free, transparent and inclusive political systems and effective and accountable security and justice.

The FCO also contributes to wider civil society projects which support women's rights and participation in peacebuilding. In Afghanistan we support women's rights and participation in a variety of ways, including through Conflict Pool contributions. This year a contribution of

£500,000 will be made to both the Afghan Parliamentary Assistance Programme and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. In Nepal, FCO funding to a UN Development Programme multi-donor project will strengthen the capacity of the National Human Rights Commission to help develop a responsive and accessible justice system to promote gender equality, social inclusion and rule of law including through formal and informal processes.

We have several small scale projects which impact both Liberia and Sierra Leone, and include some element of increasing women's participation. The British high commission in Freetown is currently providing £65,000 to five separate projects encouraging participation of all citizens, including women, in the Sierra Leone elections scheduled to take place on 17 November.

The FCO also manages a human rights and democracy fund which includes a target of combating discrimination against women. Through the Human Rights and Democracy Programme Fund we are supporting a £60,000 project that seeks to enhance the capacity of Pakistani journalists to produce balanced and gender sensitive reporting on women's issues.