This Helpdesk Report responds to the following query: Women’s networks in MENA: Map and analyse the international/cross-country women’s networks across the Middle East and North Africa.
This rapid mapping report gives details of networks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region which work on gender equality and women’s issues, such as women’s political and economic participation, women’s rights, and women’s role in peacebuilding. Primarily these are run by women or are women-only, but the report also includes networks which involve men.
In this report, a ‘network’ is understood to mean a grouping of one or more organisations or individuals, with a degree of formality, united with a mission statement, vision, or issue-based. This is an informal definition. The report excludes individual personal and social networks and political parties. The report looks at international or cross-country networks which include more than one nation state. However, it excludes global networks. Organisations which are global with a regional MENA arm are excluded, such as Amnesty International, Transparency International or the Red Cross/Red Crescent Society. This is a selective and illustrative report, as there are many additional networks which are active but do not have an online presence.
Key Findings:
- There is a large number of women’s networks in the region, ranging in size and influence.
- Grassroots networks exist alongside high-level political and policy networks.
- Most are focused on women-only activities.
- The key areas of activity are: improving women’s entrepreneurship and developing women as business owners and business leaders; peacebuilding; reducing violence against women. There is a reasonable amount of work on women’s political participation, but not to the extent of the other areas.
- Mentoring and face-to-face networking are the most commonly used strategies. Most networks state the value of communicating with other women in similar positions. Therefore, conferences and events are the most common activities.