Empowering Young Women Leaders in Yemen

Yemen is all over the news right now as the British, French, German and Dutch embassies in Sana’a all announced their closures and evacuation of their staff in response to an unspecified terror threat, part of a global heightening
of security measures.

Partners for Democratic Change’s affiliate Center (Partners Yemen) has been working in Yemen since 2009, two years before a popular uprising forced Ali Abdallah Saleh to step down at the end of 2011. With a new Unity government in place, a new Constitution being developed and parliamentary and presidential elections slated for 2014, Partners Yemen is working to support a peaceful transition by strengthening civil society, resolving conflicts, and developing local leadership. Violent extremism remains a constant threat. Our approach in Yemen is to address the underlying conditions that provide an environment conducive to the recruitment to extremist causes. These conditions include lack of political participation, youth marginalization, local grievances and violent conflict.

Partners Yemen works in some of the most remote parts of the country where those who are most vulnerable to violent extremism live. Through empowering local civil society, youth, women and other groups, Partners helps resolve local conflicts, support participatory development, empower marginalized and susceptible youth, and promote good governance and citizens’ participation. All of these activities are vital to fighting violent extremism in Yemen. By utilizing dialogue, training and mentoring, Partners helps give voice to local grievances and empower citizens to influence decision making and hold government to account.

Our project supporting the empowerment of young women in Yemen is an example of this approach. A young
woman in Yemen must navigate restrictive social norms and customs and fight against prejudice that limits her potential. Wardah is one of the participants in our women’s empowerment project. Half of women her age (15-17) are illiterate and only 1 in 4 will continue on to secondary/high school. Yemen has one of the worst records of child
marriage in the world. UNICEF has recorded that almost 50% of Yemeni women currently aged 20–24 had been married before they were 18. Fourteen percent had been married before the age of 15.

Support Partners for Democratic Change and our affiliate Centers to advance and empower Muslim women and their communities. See this short video of the work we are doing in Yemen where we trained 75 women, like Wardah, who recruited a further 800 female social volunteers who went on to host over 8,000 community meetings
reaching over 127,000 women in the governorates of Mareb, Al-Jawf and Shebwa. 

Please DONATE NOW http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/women-leaders-in-yemen/

This work changed the perceptions of women about themselves and also changed men’s attitudes. The project opened up new opportunities for thousands of young women. We collected stories about girls and older women going back to school, about women’s increased self-respect and willingness to help other women, about women who now have a say in their families and in their communities, about members of the community getting together to solve community problems. There are stories about women starting to make their own money from small enterprises, about women who get together for charity, about women now understanding the causes of the illnesses of their children. Women are even better loved by their husbands because of what they have become as human
beings.

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The Bilqees Initiaitive was a program in Yemen delivered by Partners for Democratic Change and Partners Yemen designed to disseminate key development messages; mobilize a cadre of influential women leaders; activate a wide network of social volunteers to create a network of female communicators and leaders to raise awareness about development issues and contribute to enhancing stability.

An evaluation of this work to date has shown that the project has been effective in the achievement of its stated
program objectives. In particular there is strong evidence that a communication network has been established that has positively influenced stability in the targeted governorates of Marib and Shabwa . Ninety-eight percent of the women participants who were interviewed for the evaluation, agreed that the program was effective in its training and capacity building activities and later follow up administrative support for the women training and micro outreach events. Specific outcomes included:

• Women leaders who are ready and willing to lead change in their communities and to bring a constructive approach to dealing with conflicts and community development. 
• Communities that are more “aware” and more “open” and willing to cooperate with outside organizations and undertake change.
• A large number of women (127,000) with an increased awareness of health and development topics that have brought about improvements to their lives. 
• Informal groups that can lobby and advocate for development causes (women, youth and social leaders).
• A new awareness of outstanding needs and gaps that were previously ignored.

There were many case study examples of women who started small enterprises following their involvement in the program; examples of where women had taken the lead in addressing environmental issues in their communities like protecting sources of water and properly collecting and disposing of household waste to avoid contamination and pollution of the community’s environment; where women had returned to education (one group of women started a neighborhood adult literacy school and they currently have 55 women enrolled); improved health through higher rates of vaccination;  examples of women resolving long standing conflicts between families or neighbors as a
result of the training women received on conflict resolution; decreased rates of early marriage and improved self-confidence; and agreement on lowering the dowry price for marriage.

Our challenge now is to secure further funding to continue projects like this in Yemen and the wider Middle East and North Africa region. The plight of women in this region has been well documented in a recent World Bank report (2013 March), Missing Voices: Gender Equality in the Arab World(http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/03/14/missing-voices-gender-equality-in-the-arab-world
This type of program is still needed. Further work needs to be done. We have currently raised $5,962 out of a total $50,000 target. The women themselves requested a continuation and expansion of the program to areas not presently covered, and to include additional topics for awareness raising, targeting larger audiences and involving more men and youth. We are committed to finding a way to do this and with your continued support we believe we will achieve this. 

Thank you for your generous donations.

Nick Oatley, Chief Operating Officer, Partners for Democratic Change.