Women’s Leadership (Civic Engagement and Political Participation)

Eleonora Banfi, Director of Al-Nahda Thought Center for Women’s Studies at ARDD, reviewed the preliminary results of the study conducted by the Institute to look into the role of organizations led by youth and women in the south of Jordan to promote community cohesion, in line with the principles of the Women, Security, and Peace Agenda and the Jordanian National Plan to activate Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Security, and Peace (JONAP).

The workshop participants emphasized the importance of male engagement in women leadership training programs at a later stage. They stressed the need of ensuring a safe environment for women, enhancing their skills and tools, and integrating efforts of all the relevant institutes that support women leadership. Additionally, they highlighted the need to find solutions to issues such as early retirement for women, the inclusion of women with disabilities in the workplace, and the promotion of women’s leadership in non-traditional sectors. Furthermore, the participants discussed the challenge of replicating training approaches in leadership programs, and the need to identifying the customized requirements and skills to advance and assist women in expressing their communities needs to decision-makers, throughout the kingdom, including marginalized areas.

The trainees launched the “Together to Promote Justice towards Real Civic Participation: United for Change” initiative, with the aim of connecting with the local community and raising awareness among women about the importance of community participation, which was achieved through interactive discussions and illustrative examples to improve women’s understanding of social reality and civic engagement.

In accordance with this goal, the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) and the Terre des Hommes organization held a regional digital seminar on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, entitled: “Challenges and Solutions Towards Strengthening Women’s Leadership”, to support participants in understanding their leadership roles by discussing the tools, skills, current challenges, and basic knowledge that women need for leadership, and to inspire them to take leadership paths through the examples and stories shared by the speakers who hold leadership positions in various fields, to serve as role models for them, within the framework of the She Leads program.