Project profile — Empowering Women for Leadership Roles in the Middle East and North Africa Region

• Morocco (33.00%)
• Tunisia (33.00%)
• Jordan (34.00%)

• Democratic participation and civil society:
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (70.00%)
Human rights (15160) (2.03%)
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (27.97%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)

The project aims to advance inclusiveness in governance in target countries, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The political, cultural and historical conditions of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have caused women to remain in marginalized and underrepresented groups within political, civil society and academic spheres. Project activities include: (1) developing and delivering training sessions for women to enhance their leadership skills; (2) organizing and delivering outreach events on women’s leadership for university and high school students; (3) developing and producing publicly available material on inclusive governance practices and contemporary women leadership in the MENA region; and (4) establishing women’s leadership programs with select universities. The project expects to benefit up to 12,000 direct beneficiaries and approximately 48,000 indirect beneficiaries.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased participation of women in social, cultural and political power structures and decision-making; and (2) enhanced ability of women and men to positively shape government and non-governmental policies, programs, and activities that affect women’s inclusion in social, cultural and political spheres.

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) trained 613 leaders, including 602 women, in Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. Of these, 95% acquired skills in leadership, communication, advocacy and management. This has strengthened their ability to participate actively in governance; (2) integrated the climate change theme into certain programs, including female leadership mentoring to strengthen the skills of young leaders. As a result, 90.8% of the 41 beneficiaries improved their confidence to take on leadership roles. This is demonstrated through a range of initiatives that promote female leadership and the fight against climate change; (3) set up workshops and academic clubs in 24 governorates to raise students' awareness of gender and climate change issues, encouraging young people to become agents of change in their communities. Achieved a level of awareness of men and women on leadership and women's empowerment of 4.5 out of 5; (4) launched 36 local awareness-raising initiatives that promoted women's leadership and women's empowerment by highlighting the success stories of women leaders trained under the project. These initiatives reached 295 women and 113 men, involving students, representatives of public organizations, teenagers, educators and members of civil society organizations; and (5) 55 additional institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs) integrated gender equality, leadership and inclusive governance components into their programs. To achieve this, 177 women and 61 men, including heads of women's empowerment units in municipalities, civil servants and members of civil society, took part in 9 capacity-building activities.

• Proactive disclosure