Project to empower women leaders launched

AMMAN — The Arab Network for Civil Education (ANHRE) on Sunday launched the project “Empowering Women for Leadership”, aimed at encouraging women across the Kingdom to adopt gender-sensitive attitudes and get more involved in civil decision making.

The project, organised in partnership with Hivos International and supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, targets the governorates of Maan, Tafilah, Karak, Zarqa, Madaba, Balqa, Irbid, Jerash and Ajloun.

Running through September 2019, the initiative strives to establish a network of movements by women and community-based organisations (CBOs) aware of the local context in terms of gender, customs and cultural traditions related to women’s rights, according to a press release by ANHRE.

In addition, the project aims to integrate gender equality in the local public opinion and the political and social development process, stimulating participants to undertake community action and involve other women in public decisions and gender-based local plans. 

“We feel like this is an opportunity to enhance local grassroots organisations working in Jordan,” ANHRE Executive Director Fattouh Younis told The Jordan Times in a recent interview, pointing out that “we are in a moment where several local plans are being prepared but little attention is being paid to the gender issues — so we are hoping to be able to influence the decision makers in a way so the gender issues are correctly addressed in each plan”.

The project was inaugurated yesterday with a training workshop addressing 18 leading women from the targeted governorates, during which participants acquired the knowledge needed to promote advocacy for gender equality and help develop the skills of other women.
 “We have been analysing the communities since October last year so we could identify the leaders,” Younis said, noting that “specific criteria were used when choosing the governorates to target and the leaders that would attend the primary training.”

The trainees are now expected to transfer their knowledge to 40 women in their communities through two-day training sessions, reaching a total of 360 women across the Kingdom.

In addition, the workshop participants will launch over 50 community-based activities aimed at facilitating the networking and lobbying for positive messages in society, which will be identified through several project activities focused on strengthening women’s rights in the local plans.

“The point is to teach women how to identify the female needs and have them taken into account through a good relationship with the concerned stakeholders,” Younis said, pointing out that “this project is about adapting the local plans to the needs of the women rather than creating new plans”.

“They will learn how to collect the information on the needs of fellow women, how to address them and how to have them satisfied in the local plans,” the director added, stressing that “the idea is to look at the policies with a gender lens”​.