Knowledge Platform – منصة المعرفة

Jordan – Feeding the Community

With the COVID-19 lockdown extending week after week, the food production chains were rapidly diminishing, and this spelled real trouble for many Jordanian families. Ms. Zghoul, Female Member of Ajloun Governorate Council in the lush northern region of Jordan, developed an initiative to meet the food needs of the local people in her community by distributing vegetable and crop seedlings to families in Ajloun.

These questions, "What is the role of civil society institutions towards society during the COVID-19 crisis? What is my role as an elected council member?" from her governance training with the Forum inspired Ms. Zghoul to act.

"Community engagement was one of the training sessions that I participated in with the Forum of Federations. I was able to acquire many skills like "promotion and marketing" that I used directly during my initiative campaign and to gain the support of the community. The training also covered topics such as transformational leadership, gender-responsive budgeting and enhancing the role of elected women leaders, which inspired me to tackle this project.”

Ms.Zghoul polled her community using social media to find out which seedlings she should distribute. Next, Ms. Zghoul contacted the governor of Ajloun, and he immediately granted her a permit and donated the first funds to purchase seeds. Ms. Zghoul then designed advertising, bought the first batch of seedlings, and contacted an organic farming specialist to assist the families in the farming process.

In phase one, seven thousand aubergine, okra, bell pepper and tomato seedlings were distributed to 140 families. This entire process also lowered food costs for these families while demonstrating the economic value of home-grown agriculture and community cooperation during a crisis.

Ms.Reema Zghoul wants to develop this initiative for cooperative work by manufacturing crops and giving them added value in the drying, pickling and food industries. The positive community response led the Mayor of Ajloun to donate 10000 seedlings. Ms.Reema Zghoul is currently distributing the second batch of 10000 seedlings to the families that demonstrate a serious interest in farming. At the same time, leading institutions have reached out to Ms.Reema Zghoul to develop this initiative nationally.

To develop and execute this project, Ms.Reema Zghoul used many of the tools and skills that she learned directly from the training by the Forum and Al-Hayat Center for Civil Society Development.

Jordan – Participants of Forum Training in Parliament

Jordan held their 19th parliamentary elections in 2020, 86.6 % of the elected female parliamentarians in the 19th parliamentarian elections are/were participants of training programs by Forum of Federations MENA-Jordan and partner RASED Jordan.

Looking at the numbers, fifteen women were elected to Parliament in the 2020 election, while thirteen are direct program participants with the Forum of Federations-Jordan and RASED Jordan.

To prepare for these elections, RASED Jordan had teamed up with the Forum MENA since 2018 to work with potential future candidates. Current parliamentarian, Ms. Asma Rawahneh led the way by participating in many activities with the Forum since 2018 which included helping guide these future parliamentarians.

To celebrate this success, a reception was held by Al-Hayat Rased under the patronage of H.E Musa Al-Maaytah, Minister of Political and Parliamentarian Affairs. As part of the next steps, the partners inaugurated a workshop for women parliamentarians in the 19th parliament under the title “Roles of Parliamentarians in the Nineteenth Council.”

Morocco – From Outcast to Empowered

Meet Ait Lahsein Anaya, a member of l’Instance de l’Equité, de l’Egalité des Chances et de l’Approche Genre (IEECAG) in Zagora, Morocco. In 2020, she participated in the MENA program “Empowering Women for Leadership Roles.

This is her story:

“I used to be an outcast woman in a society that excluded artists. My only fault was that I challenged the traditions that dictated the role of women.

My participation in the MENA project “Empowering Women in Leadership Roles” has helped me move forward. It has had a significant impact on my life. It helped me understand that social change does not occur by itself. It requires a personal and collective commitment. The MENA project has also helped me manage my emotions and channel them to pursue my goals. It gave me the confidence to be an active agent in advancing a new society in Morocco through women’s empowerment so that they in turn can support gender equality within institutions.

My participation in the program gave me confidence and has helped me become an agent of social change in many ways. I have resumed my university studies. I have been using the knowledge I have acquired from the workshops to develop initiatives to educate men and women in my region about women’s rights and equality. I have also been leading a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of child marriage.

Through the Cyclo-Clown initiative, we have been going around the douars and presenting shows to challenge perceptions of gender norms, particularly regarding the role of women in society. Through this initiative, we also distribute bicycles for children living far from school.

I am grateful to have benefited from this program, and I am proud of the work we have achieved in empowering women in my country.” 

Tunisia – Gender Equality and Leadership

Meet Balkis Azouz, she is a Public Law graduate, political scientist, and researcher on women's rights and equality in Tunisia. While pursuing her master's degree in Gender Studies and Political Science at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences of Sousse in Tunisia, she participated in three of the Forum of Federations' workshops and has been using the knowledge she learned to raise her colleagues' awareness at the faculty on gender and leadership.

Balkis has also been researching the impact of public policy on rural women's economic security in Tunisia. She chose this topic to demonstrate the critical role these women play in furthering the country's economic development. According to Balkis, her participation at the Forum programs has helped her gain knowledge and build capacities applicable in her research and daily life as an active young woman in her community.

Tunisia – Gender Equality and Service Delivery

Meet Khaoula Laabidi, she is Director of the National School of Administration (École Nationale d’Administration, ENA). She benefited from skill-building sessions with the Forum.

Before her appointment at ENA, Ms. Laabidi was General Director of Training at the Ministry of Public Affairs, Governance and Fight Against Corruption (Ministère de la Fonction publique de la Gouvernance et de la Lutte contre la Corruption, MFPGLCC). Mr. Laabidi contributed to releasing an official statement within the ministry that supported having an equal number of female and male candidates in each training program. She notably worked through the MFPGLCC to introduce the theme of equality between women and men in the annual training plans for ministries under the MFPGLCC's purview. Thanks to Ms. Laabidi's efforts, women in Tunisia can benefit from an equitable delivery of services.

Ethiopia – Launching Destiny Ethiopia

On December 3, 2019 a team of leaders from across Ethiopian society launched four scenarios that depict possible futures of Ethiopia in 2040. The 50 prominent leaders from all across Ethiopian society stood on stage holding hands while reading a joint declaration in which they committed to working together to transform the future of Ethiopia. The leaders were from various political parties, scholars, women rights groups, activists, artists, media professionals, business persons and other individuals. They have diverse perspectives and professional backgrounds.

In the previous six months, they met in three private closed-door workshops (8 nights and 11 days) and discussed the most crucial and urgent issues of Ethiopia.

They became a team that worked together to bring their different perspectives, knowledge, and experience to co-create four scenarios of Destiny Ethiopia that the country could face in 2040. The launch event was a special program organized to reveal to the general public the work undertaken by the scenario team members. It was broadcast live on Fana Television and watched by thousands of people. In the subsequent days, almost all media outlets including public, private and international reported the event. The program was historically significant as current and past political actors, who have diverging views on national issues, came together to agree on possible futures for their country.

The program participants had been fierce opponents for most of their public lives. But the process they engaged in helped them learn how to relate to each other differently and find a way to create something positive. They created relationships, building mutual understanding and trust among each other. The leaders publicly declared their commitment for the realization of the “Dawn” scenario, while affirming their intention to take lead in avoiding the occurrence of the other three scenarios.

Mexico - Improving Intergovernmental Relations

In 2002, the Forum developed a three-year plan for Mexico, focusing on intergovernmental relations, fiscal federalism, and decentralization. Intergovernmental relations have remained the focus of Forum’s work in Mexico and we had committed substantial fiscal resources to these activities. In 2008, we developed another three-year plan for Mexico, which maintained a focus on intergovernmental relations and public security, and also included an active program of support to Congressional Committees working in the area of federalism and local government. More recently, the Forum’s projects addressed also the areas of climate change, women leadership, and anti-corruption in public service.

Brazil - Reforming Tax Systems to Work for the Public

The Forum’s training on best practices for intergovernmental relations and their hosting of roundtables on curbing regional inequality helped improve intergovernmental cooperation in the development of Brazil’s tax and environmental policy. The reform of the tax system in Brazil increased value to the public.

Tunisia - Drafting a Decentralized System

The Forum supported the Tunisian government in drafting a new constitution. Thanks to the Forum’s assistance, the new government was prepared to administer a decentralized system.

Tunisia - Inspiring Young People

“I took on the leadership role with a group where we are working on a project to integrate young people into local governance in my region because of the skills I learned through Forum training” - Farah Mimouni, Forum’s beneficiary

Tunisia - From Trainee to Leader

“I have benefited from several trainings on electoral law, human rights, leadership, advocacy and election observation with a focus on the short and long term gender approach. The participation in the trainers’ training organized by the League in partnership with the Forum of Federations within the framework of the program “the empowerment of women in leadership roles”, allowed me to become a trainer myself. I had the opportunity, as a trainer, to pass on my know-how to trade unionists.”

- Samia Letaief, Secretary General of the General Health Federation and member of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES).

Morocco – Multiplying Opportunities for Women

“Mrs. Rajaâ Amraoui participated in MENA trainings and workshops delivered by Jossour. This led to Mrs. Amraoui improving her governance knowledge and interpersonal skills. Following her participation in the Forum training, she joined IEECAG (Consultative group on equity, equality of opportunities, and gender approach - Instance de l’Equité, de l’Egalité des Chances et de l’approche genre) in Tiznit province of Agadir. Through this position, Mrs. Amraoui contributed to the promotion of the empowerment of women. With her new skills, she helped develop an international assistance project for adolescent girls with the Karam Foundation network among other activities. Forum MENA participants such as Mrs. Rajaâ Amraoui develop opportunities while leading the work for change.”

India - Implementing Fiscal Equalization

India implemented fiscal equalization between states using the Forum's assistance and body of research knowledge.

Pakistan - Improving Public Service Delivery

The Forum implemented a project focused on improving service delivery in Pakistan by providing technical advice on the coordination, planning and budgeting processes for officials across two spheres of government (provincial and local) and various departments (finance/planning) within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project developed an integrated development planning mechanism for officials from Haripur and Nowshera. Once pilot trails were established and implemented they were replicated across KP and other provinces in Pakistan.

Nepal - Developing a Federal Constitution

To help improve the writing of the new Nepal constitution, Forum experts trained Nepalese officials on the design and function of a federal system of government.