Women’s Learning Partnership, Female Empowerment in Muslim Societies

Women’s Learning Partnership consists of 20 autonomous partner organizations in the Global South, particularly in Muslim-majority societies, dedicated to women’s leadership and empowerment.

WLP produces culture-specific curriculum and implements participatory leadership training to empower grassroots women. WLP’s primary objectives are 1) to increase the number of women in leadership and decision-making roles in politics; 2) to expand and intensify advocacy campaigns for legal reform to eliminate violence against women; and 3) to strengthen the organizational and financial capacity of partner organizations to bolster feminist movements.

During the MDG3 grant period WLP has among other activities:

• Convened leadership and ICT trainings for over 2,000 grassroots women, professionals, youth, and civil society leaders based on our curricula in 20 languages. WLP’s leadership trainings served as a catalyst for community-based advocacy initiatives to stop violence against women, provided participants opportunities to explore and discuss their legal rights, and inspired women to enter local elections.

• Convened two public events in Amman, Jordan to raise awareness of strategies to combat gender-based violence and to build the capacity of youth to be advocates for change. The first event entitled, “Women’s Participation in Politics and Conflict Resolution,” featured partners from Brazil, Malaysia, and Jordan who spoke about efforts in their countries to combat violence against women and girls. The second was a Youth Tech Festival that brought together over 90 young women and men from across Jordan to learn and share strategies for using technology to advance human rights campaigns.

• Mobilized thousands of supporters nationally and internationally in support of our campaigns for just citizenship laws, family laws, and full implementation of CEDAW. Our partners organized sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations; they creatively engaged the media, resulting in extensive coverage of their stories and demands in national and international newspapers, online journals, and on radio and television.

In the coming year WLP will:

• Continue to provide training in participatory leadership and the use of ICTs to grassroots and activist women to empower them as peace builders and decision-makers in their communities. WLP will convene a Regional Institute for Women’s Political Participation in Sierra Leone for NGO leaders, activists, and public officials from six to ten countries in the sub-region.

• Convene two public events in Washington DC in support of our campaigns. The events will launch the most recent book in WLP’s translation series, Iranian Women’s One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality: The Inside Story, which documents advocacy strategies used in closed societies.