Squadron Leader Sharon Mwinsote Syme of Ghana named UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year

Squadron Leader Sharon Mwinsote Syme of Ghana has been honoured with the 2024 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, becoming the latest Ghanaian peacekeeper to receive global recognition for exemplary service in advancing gender equality within peacekeeping operations.

The announcement was made during a solemn ceremony at the UN Headquarters in New York, where Secretary-General António Guterres praised Ms. Syme's contributions to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). The event also marked the annual Dag Hammarskjöld Medal and Woman Police Officer of the Year awards, commemorating the sacrifices and accomplishments of peacekeepers around the world.

“Squadron Leader Sharon Mwinsote Syme demonstrates these qualities in abundance,” Mr. Guterres declared. “As the Military Gender Adviser in the Interim Security Force for Abyei, her outreach has built strong community links, and brought gender perspective in the field. Her work helped us to better understand the concerns of women and girls, and to craft possible solutions, together.”

Since her deployment to UNISFA in March 2024, Squadron Leader Syme has led a series of gender-focused interventions, including community health campaigns and intensive gender sensitisation training for military personnel. Her efforts have directly reached more than 1,500 troops across Abyei’s northern, central, and southern sectors. She personally conducted in-person sessions and engaged commanding officers to deepen understanding of the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

“I realised that if gender mainstreaming was going to be effective, everyone needed to understand what it meant. So, I developed and delivered in-person training across all military contingents,” she explained in an interview.

The results were tangible: peacekeepers began organising gender-balanced patrol teams and sought direct input from local women on community safety. Her insistence on inclusivity and collaboration turned policy into practice.

But Ms. Syme’s impact extended far beyond the barracks. Working with civilian and police gender officers, she led a health awareness campaign targeting harmful practices such as early child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). When community meetings proved restrictive for women, she arranged private dialogues to give them a voice.

“What they shared was heartbreaking,” she recounted. “Stories of girls married at age eight or nine, mothers losing daughters to unsafe FGM procedures. One woman said she couldn’t have children because of complications from FGM.”

In response, she enlisted medical professionals from UNISFA’s hospital to conduct a sensitisation campaign. “The men were shocked. Many apologised. They said they didn’t know the extent of the harm,” she recalled. That encounter shifted local attitudes and led opinion leaders to reassess their traditional practices.

Squadron Leader Syme has also been a strong advocate for joint commemorations and gender awareness events within the mission, further reinforcing gender as a collective responsibility, not just an isolated concern. “Success comes from diversifying military representation at checkpoints, in operating bases, and on patrols,” she said. “But it also comes from having gender-responsive leaders who listen and act.”

Ghana’s military representative to the UN, as well as officials from the Ghana Armed Forces, lauded the recognition as a milestone for the country’s peacekeeping legacy. Ms. Syme is a graduate of the Ghana Military Academy and holds a master’s degree in international health from Tokyo University in Japan. She currently serves as Deputy Chief Dietician at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra and is a member of the Ghana Armed Forces Medical Corps.

The Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, first instituted in 2016, is presented annually to a military peacekeeper—male or female—who has shown exceptional dedication to implementing the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. The resolution urges the inclusion of women in peace and security efforts and calls for measures to prevent gender-based violence in conflict situations.

As she received her award in New York, Ms. Syme was reflective but forward-looking. “I hope this recognition inspires other peacekeepers—especially women—to lead boldly,” she said. “Without a gender lens, we risk missing the real picture.”