Women-led initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa

Discrimination against women and girls in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region permeates our lives, at home, at work, in our communities and within society at large. Despite some legislative and institutional advancements, entrenched discrimination persists, often reinforced by social norms, economic constraints, and emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Gender inequality is deeply ingrained in Arab societies, manifested in various forms of abuse across familial, communal, educational and workplace settings. Notions of honour often dictate women’s behaviour, with perceived transgressions leading to violence, stigma and isolation. Religious misconceptions may further perpetuate harmful practices, and access to rights and services is often contingent upon male guardianship, limiting women’s autonomy. In the MENA region, women and girls are too often seen by humanitarian actors only as victims and survivors of crisis and passive beneficiaries of assistance.

However, women are in fact the first responders in crisis situations, providing immediate assistance, protection and support to their families and communities. Women are powerful agents of change, and their effective engagement can make humanitarian responses transformative. Women’s groups and women-led organisations (WLOs) have skills and experience to support populations affected by crisis, as they have a pre-existing presence in and relationships with local communities. WLOs are an integral part of community protection mechanisms providing services, as well as protection and empowerment programming, that uplift women and meet survivors’ needs. Despite the extensive experience, leadership and contributions to humanitarian response of WLOs such as the Arab Women Organization of Jordan (AWO), WLOs are often sidelined by the humanitarian system, and United Nations agencies, international non-governmental organisations and donor stakeholders fail to build equal partnerships with them. The pivotal role of WLOs in humanitarian response continues to be overlooked and undervalued even as WLOs’ unique perspectives, approaches and resilience are shaping a more inclusive and effective response to humanitarian challenges in the MENA region.

The Arab Women Organization

The Arab Women Organization of Jordan (AWO) is a women-led non-profit and non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1970, with the goal of supporting women to achieve equal rights and eliminating violence against women. AWO’s vision is ‘Ending discrimination and violence against women in Jordan where gender equality, social justice and inclusive democracy are valued as well as the participation of all, women and men, in development’. Throughout its more than 50 years of history, AWO has been working with and for Jordanian women, focused on the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment by implementing activities to end discrimination and violence against women and by increasing women’s participation in promoting development, democracy and human rights, as well as promoting Agenda 2030, by connecting gender equality (Goal 5) with other Sustainable Development Goals. AWO engages women activists and other WLOs to serve vulnerable communities, including economically disadvantaged women, women survivors of violence and refugee women and girls. AWO has three main workstreams: Economic and Environmental Empowerment; Political Empowerment, Leadership, Advocacy, Monitoring and Evaluation; and the Gender Responsive Humanitarian and Development Program. Through its programmes, AWO demonstrates the capacity to share knowledge and expertise, and to develop new models for sustainable gender-sensitive development.

AWO and its partnerships

AWO has expanded the reach and impact of its work by developing partnerships, both within Jordan and throughout the MENA region. Through cooperation with diverse types of networks and committees on the national, regional and global levels, AWO has sought to strengthen the interrelated and complementary work of women across the Arab world to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, and to voice their needs and demands in a more powerful and aligned way. WLOs in the MENA region are connected by a tradition of solidarity among women’s rights movements in the region, shared language and cultural context. AWO is a member of the EuroMed Feminist Initiative, founded in 2004, which includes more than 200 organisations working across the Euro-Mediterranean region to promote women’s rights and gender equality, advocating for policy change and empowering women at the grassroots level. It is also a member of the El Karama Arab Feminist network of human rights organisations and activists, founded in 2005 to advocate for the rights of women and girls. In 2010, AWO founded the Mosawa Network, a local network of rural women-led NGOs in Jordan, to apply the benefits of cooperation and capacity-sharing among Jordanian women’s organisations and activists working together to advance women’s rights and gender equality in the country. Through Mosawa, AWO supports strong community mobilisation efforts and leads nationwide advocacy efforts to achieve changes in the lives of women and girls in Jordan.

Cultivating coordination

AWO believes that it is critical to reinforce coordination among WLOs in the MENA region, giving WLOs more opportunities to strengthen cross-organisation advocacy initiatives and to scale WLO-led interventions within the region. However, while the existing platforms have helped increase the recognition and influence of WLOs and activists in the region, these networks, such as EuroMed and El Karama, are largely unknown within the humanitarian system, with limited opportunities for WLOs to engage in humanitarian decision-making at a regional level.

This lack of engagement between organisations working on human rights and gender inequality issues and humanitarian actors responding to communities affected by crisis, led to critical gaps in the understanding of the root causes of patterns of vulnerability and experiences of violence that international humanitarian actors reported and aimed to respond to in the MENA region. Needs assessments and consultative processes in the MENA region lack adequate tools to assess crises’ consequences for women and girls. Agencies fail to constitute gender-balanced teams to collect data and do not reach the most vulnerable women and girls. The lack of meaningful participation and leadership of women and girls in the humanitarian system and lack of adequate sex- and age-disaggregated data hinders the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of gender-focused interventions that address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of women in all their diversity, and prevents sustainability in the long run. When humanitarian actors enhance their ability to engage directly with WLOs, it results in interest from the broader humanitarian community and a better understanding of national gender-based violence (GBV) contexts and specificities.

AWO set out to demonstrate the value of WLOs in internally coordinated humanitarian platforms in the MENA region, through its own participation in the Whole of Syria response coordination platform in Jordan and by co-chairing the MENA region GBV network with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Notably, in 2020 AWO developed Arab Women Lead, a transformative approach to GBV prevention in the MENA region that embraces the leadership, knowledge and capacities of WLOs in humanitarian response and provides the necessary resources to equip emerging WLOs with the training, technical support and institutional strengthening that they seek. The MENA region is affected by a number of cross-border crises, including in Gaza, Iraq and Syria, and Arab Women Lead was developed to expand participation by WLOs in humanitarian planning and decision-making, and strengthening coordination among WLOs responding to humanitarian needs across the region.

The initiative is centred on a capacity-sharing approach: WLOs access opportunities for strengthening their own organisations and mobilising funding for their humanitarian response activities, exchanging experiences and supporting WLOs in nearby and neighbouring contexts, via engagement with national and international humanitarian systems. Arab Women Lead demonstrates the greater impact of WLO efforts in the MENA region due to the additional support and coordination among WLOs spanning the divide between indigenous regional networks and internationally coordinated humanitarian platforms, especially given that regional coordination is dominated by the Syria response, which leads to a lack of humanitarian coordination between Arab contexts. The initiative set out to demonstrate to international humanitarian agencies and their donors that where humanitarian actors enhance their ability to engage directly with WLOs, it results in better understanding of local contexts and specificities, especially with regards to gender inequality and the root causes of GBV. During the first phase of Arab Women Lead, there was unprecedented engagement of local WLOs in Arabic-language GBV technical training, with 113 representatives of WLOs from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine participating in trainings provided by AWO on the GBV Minimum Standards and GBV Case Management in 2021 and 2022. In addition, the initiative has significantly increased participation by WLOs from the MENA region in global coordination and advocacy initiatives, including the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies and the GBV Community of Practice, to advocate for the needs of GBV actors and women and girls at risk of GBV in the MENA region.

Prior to the Arab Women Lead initiative, only minimal technical GBV tools and resources were available in Arabic, despite pressing needs in the region. The GBV Minimum Standards facilitation guide developed by UNFPA, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and partners was translated into Arabic by AWO, and the first Training of Trainers in Arabic took place in Amman, Jordan, in 2021. It was followed by further trainings delivered by WLO trainers in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine in 2022. Through the initiative, WLOs in the MENA region have improved their profile, direct engagement with donors, and meaningful participation in humanitarian decision-making and response.

Conclusion

The journey of women-led initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa region, exemplified by organisations like the Arab Women Organization of Jordan, reflects both the enduring challenges and the potential for transformative change through multi-stakeholder platforms. Through strategic partnerships and initiatives like Arab Women Lead, AWO has spearheaded efforts to amplify the voices of WLOs, contribute to coordination among WLOs within the region, and connect WLOs with resources in the GBV sector previously unavailable in Arabic.

The success of Arab Women Lead not only underscores the importance of WLO-led regional initiatives, but also highlights the power of collaboration and solidarity among women’s movements. By sharing tools, training and support with WLOs in the MENA region, AWO has provided proof of concept that WLOs are able to play an active role in shaping humanitarian agendas, advocating for the rights of women and girls, and driving sustainable change when they have access to the resources to do so.

It is imperative that the humanitarian community recognises and embraces the expertise, perspectives and leadership of WLOs, and the importance of looking at the root causes of conflict and violence through the lens of culture, history and society within the region. Only through sharing understanding can local and international partners manage to build more resilient and equitable societies in the MENA region and beyond. The work of women-led initiatives in the MENA region demonstrates the expertise, resilience and power of women to drive meaningful change, in society and the humanitarian sector.

Layla Naffa is the Director of Programmes at the Arab Women Organization of Jordan.