With women becoming increasingly prominent in North African politics, NDI brought together more than 60 women from across the region who are both established and emerging as political and civic leaders to discuss the importance of women's political engagement. The group, from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, met in Casablanca, Morocco, March 13–14, a site that was chosen in part because of the record 3,406 new women councilors who were voted into office during last year’s municipal elections.
The conference, "Making a Difference Where it Matters: Community Leadership and Civic Engagement," provided opportunities for the women to collaborate on strategies for shaping and strengthening women's roles in civic and political life. Participants represented a variety of government, civic and political backgrounds, including 25 young women (ages 22-34) who had taken part in the Institute's Youth of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow program — an intensive year-long initiative involving leadership skills-training, peer mentoring and ongoing support to women carrying out projects in their communities. These range from raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in Algeria to supporting small enterprise development for rural Moroccan women.
NDI also invited to the conference Tunisian women civic activists who are part of the Plaidoyer Pour L'Action (Advocacy for Action) initiative — an NDI program helping mid-level women activists build advocacy capabilities — and senior women activists from North Africa, Southeastern Europe and the United States.
The conference opened with remarks from Moroccan Minister for Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli who shared her personal story of perseverance as a civic activist, elected official and senior government official. Skalli recounted her experience running for office, including being defeated seven times in municipal races and 10 times in parliamentary elections before finally winning.
Another speaker, U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Samuel Kaplan, encouraged participants to strive for women's empowerment and noted the importance of a strong partnership between women and men in order to level the playing field for social and political opportunities. NDI Vice President Shari Bryan described success stories of women's political participation around the globe and stressed that democracy cannot be sustained without the full participation of women at every level of the process.
Panel discussions looked at key trends in women's political and civic organizing, noting successes and challenges facing women in the region. Those were followed by small group sessions for women to work together to form plans for fundraising, networking and overcoming leadership challenges. Other speakers and trainers included fundraising expert Sylvia Kaplan; Cathy Allen, president of the political consulting firm Connections Group; Kelli Arena, former justice reporter for CNN; Sonja Lokar from the Southeast Europe Stability Pact Gender Task Force, as well as several noted academics and activists from Libya, Morocco and Algeria.
The young women pledged to "work together across borders, generations and ideologies" to challenge traditional conceptions of the role of women in public life in the region, in the words of participants from one small working group.
The development of such regional networks is part of NDI's initiative to support women activists throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Commenting on the importance of such intergenerational networking, Sonja Lokar noted "the unique opportunity to meet a generation of young, educated, enthusiastic women coming from five countries who will make a difference...I feel I am passing the torch."
The Institute has worked to reinforce women's representation and participation in civil society, political parties and representative institutions such as parliaments. The penetration of the Internet throughout the region has led NDI to develop online platforms to link women electronically and provide access to numerous practical tools for civic and political organizing as they develop their campaigns.
Building on participant engagement at the conference and over the past year, NDI will develop a toolkit to help build the skills of young women to create platforms and partnerships that will increase their political participation and allow them to take a more active role in decision making within their organizations and communities.
The conference was funded with support from the U.S. State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the Melvin and Bren Simon Foundation.
Pictured above: Conference participants give the thumbs up.
Published March 22, 2010
