MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

A youth delegation, together with a MIFTAH team, recently returned from a study trip to Tunisia, where they held a series of meetings and discussions with several civil society organizations, youth movements and members of parliament and parties. The trip lasted from December 1 to 5, 2015.

The visit was part of the AMAL project for “supporting women’s transformative leadership in changing times in the MENA region”, 2012-2015. It was aimed at creating opportunities for youth and women to participate in discussions on defending women’s rights and promoting their social and political participation both in Palestine and Tunisia.

Meetings with political and youth leaders

During the visit, meetings were held with women leaders and others active in partner civil society institutions with the aim of learning from their experiences in the field of women’s political participation. The visit included meetings with youth groups politically active in the capital, Tunis and in other areas. This contributed to opportunities to network with youth groups involved in political action in the region, especially in North Africa. It also created a sense of motivation and preparedness among youth groups towards political participation and willingness to run and participate in elections.

The group visited the following AMAL project partner institutions in Tunisia: The Tunisian Women’s Society for development in Tunis; the Tunisian Association for Democratic Women in Tunis and in Safaqis, the elected Tunisian women’s League in Quleibiya, and other institutions such as the Women’s Voices Society, the “I Watch” organization, and the Tunisian Afaq party. The group also met with female Tunisian parliamentarians who are members of various Tunisian parties such as the “Nida’ Younis” Party.

Promoting women’s voices

The discussions revolved around the work of the institutions in promoting women’s voices and cementing their rights in Tunisian society within a clear and comprehensive civic and legal framework based on a human rights approach. The discussions also addressed the role of the women’s movement in political action in the past four years and their struggle in order to achieve equality and justice in rights and freedoms. This was reflected in the over 40% representation of women in the parliament today.

Participants’ comments

One participant, Majd Samhan, said the visit helped to boost her own self-confidence “as an agent of change”. She said she hoped to convey a clear vision for the future, with goals and with development that would not stand in the way of her aspirations to reach political or social positions. “Rather, they should help me to achieve my goals of change and development for the better.”

Participant Abdallah Qadah said the trip allowed him to become better acquainted with the nature of the work in Tunisian civil society organizations both before and after the revolution. “Now I have the confidence and courage to engage in youth experiments, namely in accountability, monitoring and impacting public policies and in participating in effective decision-making positions towards changing the current reality, especially for youths.”

Tamara Samara said the trip taught her how to respect others, and that youth are the cornerstones of society and the only sector capable of change without expecting anything in return.

Targeting youth sectors

AMAL project coordinator Abeer Zaghari said this intervention was considered one tool for targeting the women and youth sectors, by including it within the framework of interaction at the regional level. It is a step, she maintained, aimed at preparing these sectors to be messengers and agents of change.

MIFTAH programs director Lamis Shuaibi-Hantouli said through AMAL, MIFTAH was looking to expand the scope of its intervention regarding support for the political participation of women and youth. She said study visits were one of the most effective and quickest tools for receiving information directly from the field and from successful, local experiences. It also helps to diagnose the reality from different angles in terms of achievements, in addition to challenges and obstacles facing leaders and women and youth movements in defending rights and confronting parties that aim to hinder their successes and silence their voices calling for change.

 
 
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