Strong WLP Partnership Presence at the AWID International Forum

The full membership of the WLP Partnership attended the 10th AWID International Forum, “How Does Change Happen?” in Bangkok, Thailand from October 27-30, 2005. The spirit of the WLP Partnership remained strong throughout the event, with partners co-presenting in a number of panels on leadership and women’s empowerment. WLP partners also gave individual presentations on a wide variety of themes, demonstrating the diversity and range of the Partnership's interests.

One of the important contributions made by the presence of the WLP Partnership at AWID was the participation of a number of leading women activists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, historically underrepresented at international women’s conferences. Executive Director of Sisterhood is Global Institute/Jordan Lina Quora said, “I really felt the importance of Middle Eastern women leaders participating in international events and raising their voices.”

Lina Abou Habib (Collective for Research and Training on Development Action, Lebanon) and Asma Khader (Sisterhood is Global Institute, Jordan) led the feminist timeline session for the MENA region, as part of a Forum-wide project to recover a sense of the worldwide history of women’s activism for gender equality and to situate equality work within a broader regional and global historical context. WLP also hosted a daily lunchtime caucus for gender activists from the MENA region, where Afghan, Iranian and Turkish activists had the opportunity to interact with Arab colleagues, in some cases for the first time.

A transnational group of WLP partners worked together to implement a session on the WLP leadership training methodology entitled “Leadership for Change: How to Communicate Effectively, Negotiate Purposefully, and Build Consensus.” Bunmi Dipo-Salami (BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, Nigeria), Rakhee Goyal (Women’s Learning Partnership, USA), Lina Abou Habib (Collective for Research and Training on Development Action, Lebanon) and Amina Lemrini (Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc, Morocco) facilitated the session, drawing on their experiences of running leadership workshops based on the Leading to Choices curriculum in different national contexts. Four groups of participants worked on selected interactive exercises, such as developing a shared vision through consensus-building and practicing persuasive communication through role play, to demonstrate the range of techniques used in WLP leadership workshops. The facilitators received support and assistance from the many WLP partners who attended the session, including Aziza Abemba (Women’s Self Promotion Movement, Zimbabwe), Sindi Médar Gould (BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, Nigeria), Lina Quora (Sisterhood is Global Institute, Jordan), Rose Shomali (Women’s Affairs Technical Committee, Palestine), and Sakeena Yacoobi (Afghan Institute for Learning, Afghanistan).

WLP President Mahnaz Afkhami spoke at numerous panels during the AWID conference, on topics ranging from gender mainstreaming to the future of leadership development. On the reappropriation of religion, tradition and culture for feminist change she was joined by Asma Khader (Sisterhood is Global Institute, Jordan) and on male privilege she was joined by WLP Board Member Zenebeworke Tadesse (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, Ethiopia).

WLP partners and staff also shared their ideas and experiences at panels on empowerment education (Sakeena Yacoobi, Afghan Institute for Learning, Afghanistan); the global impact of women’s human rights (Lina Abou Habib, Center for Research and Training for Development Action, Lebanon); controls on women’s sexuality (Lina Quora, Sisterhood is Global Institute, Jordan); working in alliances or coalitions (Alexandra Pittman, WLP, USA); micro-finance; measuring equality gains; and women’s role in conflict and peace-building in Central America (Malena de Montis, Center for Democratic Participation and Development, Nicaragua).

The rare opportunity to come together at AWID, to take time to reflect on gains and losses, share innovative ideas, and collectively strategize on ways forward, was appreciated by each member of the WLP Partnership.