WLP Program Focus: Young Women's Learning Partnership (YWLP) and International Women's Democracy Network (IWDN)

Young Women's Learning Partnership (YWLP)

WLP's new Young Women's Learning Partnership program aims to empower young people to create a shared vision, to build consensus, strengthen their communication skills, and create action plans to address the issues that impact their lives. Currently Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women, WLP's leadership training manual which has been culturally adapted and translated into 17 languages is being adapted for young women and girls in Jordan and Bahrain.

WLP partner Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J) is developing a manual for young women ages 16-25. SIGI/J has conducted several focus groups with youth who are interested in human rights and combating violence against women. The focus groups brainstormed to identify young leaders from a variety of disciplines, including sports and the arts, and emphasized the importance of girls and boys working together. They made numerous suggestions, including games and fun exercises, simplifying the language, and highlighting the significant role men play in promoting women’s rights and achieving gender equality.

WLP partner Be Free Center developed several sessions for girls ages 13-17 with the participation of young people who were chosen not on the basis of special talents or distinction but because they were representative of various groups in society. The young participants expressed the importance of having young leaders as role models. The group, along with a local song writer, developed a prototype song for the YWLP program.

International Women's Democracy Network (IWDN)

Launched in 2004, the International Women's Democracy Network (IWDN) is comprised of WLP, which serves as the IWDN Secretariat, six regional focal points across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as dozens of women's rights activists worldwide. The vision of the IWDN is to build a network of solidarity among women and women's organizations engaged in democracy activism and to support women's roles and agency in the development of democratic practices and institutions at community, national, and international levels. The role of WLP and the regional focal points is to coordinate national, regional, and international activities and provide resources on democratic governance for women through the Network's Online Resource Center,to be launched internationally in April 2008.

Since the inauguration of the Network, WLP and regional focal points have convened several conferences and ongoing trainings. The Middle East North Africa (MENA) regional co-focal point, Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF) in Yemen, organized a regional conference in November 2006 on the status of the recent democratic transition in the country. WLP and Africa regional focal point, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights and the MENA co-focal point, Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan conducted a series of interactive dialogues in Kenya and the United States (January – March 2007) in order to engage policy makers, NGO leaders, and students in discussions on the impact of increasingly difficult political, security, humanitarian, and legal environments on women’s democracy building work and to share strategies to sustain and strengthen civic action. WLP and regional focal points carried out a training session in Istanbul organized by Vital Voices for 19 women parliamentarians from the upper and lower houses of Afghanistan, two leadership trainings for women leaders of community-based organizations in Akure and Kaduna in Nigeria, and one training for civil society leaders focusing on women’s issues from all counties in Liberia. The MENA regional co-focal point organized a series of trainings and demonstrations in support of a new legislative amendment in Jordan allocating 20% of seats in government to be held for women. WLP met and strategized with Network members at democracy meetings in Liberia (April) and Turkey (June), where we held brainstorming sessions and obtained feedback from Network members to inform the development of a forthcoming manual on women’s political participation, which will be shared with IWDN members.

Upcoming IWDN projects include supporting the development and production of WLP’s political participation manual which will serve as a training resource for IWDN members. For the Online Resource Center, we will focus on creating a section dedicated to interviews with women’s rights activists and women politicians; and another containing complete bibliographies under each thematic area. Additionally, we will engage members of the Network through bi-weekly thematic and regional discussions via the blog.

If you are interested in being a part of this vibrant, active and diverse Network, please send an email to: Christina Halstead, chalstead@learningpartnership.org in order to have your name added to the Network’s listserv and start receiving updates.