In Somalia, politics and peacemaking are male domains. Women continue to be excluded from key discussions and have little or no say in the creation of national policy. Adeso is constructing Women's Centers and conducting training for 300 women and 100 men to promote the inclusion of women in governance issues and decision making, with the aim of developing a more inclusive, transparent, and accountable society by enabling women to realize their full potential.
Somalia has one of the highest rates of gender inequality in the world, with large gaps in education, access to basic services, employment, and political participation. Women are generally excluded from political participation and therefore decisionmaking - even on issues that affect their very lives. This project will provide women with a safe place to gain skills in peacemaking and community decisionmaking, to enable them to participate in peace and reconstruction.
Adeso - founded by a Somali woman and led by a woman executive director - is promoting gender equality and women's empowerment in Somalia to achieve a more inclusive and transparent society. Women's Centers provide women with a safe place to coordinate and openly discuss issues affecting them and find collective solutions. We are building the capacity of women's groups so they can participate in the political arena - and coaching men in leadership to welcome women's voices in decisionmaking.
This project will strengthen and increase women's capacity to participate in politics, and create a more sustainable and enabling environment for gender-sensitive conflict resolution and peace in Puntland. We will directly reach 300 women and 100 men with training and capacity building, but achieve far broader reach throughout Puntland by creating examples of women as leaders in local and regional politics, peacemaking, development, and other community activities.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
