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WILPF Launches New MENA Hub Learning Platform in English and Arabic

WILPF is thrilled to announce the launch of the MENA Hub – a new online platform that is continuously updated to gather accessible and contextualised feminist resources rooted in the unique dynamics and challenges of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
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WILPF International Secretariat
25 July 2022

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WILPF is thrilled to announce the launch of the MENA Hub – a new online platform that is continuously updated to gather accessible and contextualised feminist resources rooted in the unique dynamics and challenges of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 

All content on the MENA Hub – which includes feminist guides, tools, videos, infographics, webinars, and much more – is available in both English and Arabic, ensuring it’s widely accessible to anyone from across the MENA region and beyond. The resources have been developed by WILPF’s MENA Team and different programmes, our partners in the MENA region, or through collaborative efforts with feminist activists and experts in the region and diaspora.

Through this dynamic platform, we hope to provide feminist activists, partners, and the wider public with some of the resources they can make use of to learn more about the feminist movements in the region, enrich or kick off their feminist knowledge, connect with one another, and advance feminist peace in MENA.

Strengthening feminist activism in the MENA region  

The MENA Hub was developed in direct response to feedback from WILPF partners throughout MENA, who expressed a need for a platform of feminist knowledge in Arabic that is rooted in the unique contexts and cross-cutting challenges of the region.

In addition to addressing the lack of feminist information available in Arabic, the MENA Hub also has a goal to break down barriers to learning and movement-building opportunities for activists who are unable to travel outside their countries for the purposes of training and networking. 

“This knowledge production is very important, as it documents the daily and tangible experiences of women as well as the narratives in the region from their perspectives, which is usually dropped from archives and history. The importance of this production also comes from being contextual, local, and in the Arabic language, as women’s voices are absent, absent, or very few in various fields. Most of the available sources do not take into account the sensitivity of different contexts or speak on behalf of women.”

A Syrian partner organisation

In contrast to Western-centric knowledge production, the information shared on the Hub centres and promotes the expertise and lived experiences of women in the MENA region who are working to build the feminist movement through grassroots approaches – reclaiming their role as sources of knowledge. 

Ultimately, the MENA Hub strives to strengthen feminist organisations and activism in the region, help address the need for more collective and coordinated feminist action, and empower more people to become familiar with feminist practices and ideas emerging from the Middle East and North Africa. 

Check out the MENA Hub today! 

Wherever you are in the world, you’re invited to visit the MENA Hub and learn more about feminist knowledge and activism in the MENA region. 

  • The homepage includes links to a wide variety of resources and tools, which you can filter through by theme, format, country, and year. 
  • On the “Take Action” page, you can easily find information about current campaigns and calls to action. 
  • Through the events page, you can keep track of all our upcoming events, and find an archive of past ones. 

Some key themes currently highlighted in the Hub include feminist political economy, the Women, Peace and Security agenda, militarisation, transitional justice, gender-based violence, and more. 

If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend listening to the Political Is Personal podcast, where feminist activists in the MENA region discuss personal, social, and political issues within the framework of achieving sustainable feminist peace. 
You might also want to check the Workplace Safeguarding in the MENA Context Toolkit – a multimedia page that offers feminist tools to help address abusive practices in the workplace, within the MENA context. Check it out in English and Arabic! 

For more information about the MENA Hub and WILPF’s work in the MENA region, visit the following resources:

You can also contact us at mena@wilpf.org. 

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WILPF International Secretariat

WILPF International Secretariat, with offices in Geneva and New York, liaises with the International Board and the National Sections and Groups for the implementation of WILPF International Programme, resolutions and policies as adopted by the International Congress. Under the direction of the Secretary-General, the Secretariat also provides support in areas of advocacy, communications, and financial operations.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.