Violence Against Women in Afghanistan and 2003 Local Elections in Morocco Focus of Recent WLP Workshops

WLP workshop participants are working to bring women's issues to the fore in Afghanistan and Morocco. Refugee women from Afghanistan are developing a plan of action for addressing specific forms of violence against women, while community-based women's rights and civil society organizations in Morocco are cooperating to mobilize support for more women candidates in upcoming local elections. The workshops were organized as part of ongoing training programs using the WLP handbook Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women. Empowered by the workshops' horizontal and inclusive leadership techniques, participants cooperatively developed culturally-relevant strategies that enhance women's human rights and political participation within their communities.

While peacekeeping efforts continue in Afghanistan, threats to women's security and freedom remain. To address the continued violence against women, WLP's partner organization, Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) held a leadership skills development workshop with thirty-seven Afghan refugee women in Peshawar, Pakistan. The workshop focused on ways to protect women's rights, enhance democracy-building efforts, and create positive societal transformations during Afghanistan's reconstruction. Workshop exercises fostering group synergy, respect, and trust empowered participants to share stories of violence against women that they had experienced either in their own families or witnessed within their communities. Using the Leading to Choices curriculum, participants then formulated strategies for resolving and preventing physical and emotional abuse. Some women suggested communicating with the perpetrators of violent acts and reminding them of their social and religious responsibilities to respect, protect, and honor women. Others favored negotiating and working with community leaders to bring about systemic changes in behavior and develop a monitoring system. Participants also discussed the formation of a network or association that helps them build on the skills and strategies developed during the workshop, and on ways to share this knowledge with others in their community. As one participant stated, "I plan to use the skills I have learned in this workshop to help empower myself and other women so that we can advance Afghanistan as a whole."

In response to upcoming local elections, l'Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), an independent women's association and WLP's partner in Morocco, facilitated a leadership training workshop with twenty-two women who are lawyers, teachers, social workers, union organizers, and representatives of community-based civil society organizations. The workshop addressed local organizers' appeal for creating a plan of action to elect more women candidates and candidates supportive of women's issues in the June 2003 local elections. Focusing on the sections of Leading to Choices that deal with enhancing communication, advocacy, and mobilization skills, workshop participants devised strategies to raise awareness about the need for increased female representation in Parliament and the importance of creating a gender-equitable society. They developed a plan of action to mobilize local resources to improve voter turnout, increase the visibility of women candidates, and ensure that women's issues will feature prominently in the upcoming elections. In addition to strategy development and skills-building, the workshop gave participants the opportunity to strengthen and expand community and organizational networks. The workshop reinforced participants' commitment to working together to achieve their common goals and highlighted the effectiveness of cooperative advocacy and mobilization. With the resurgence of extremism in Morocco, participants expressed their hope that elected female parliamentarians would collectively advocate for the advancement of women's rights. One participant commented, "There should be more workshops like this in order to influence policy makers, educate the public about women's rights and political participation, and to mobilize the community to help elect women representatives."