Dear Friends,
It is our great pleasure to invite you to apply to the Female Leadership Programme 2019. We as the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) are organising this series in cooperation with the International Democratic Initiative (IDI) of the D66 Party of the Netherlands and the seminars will take place in Amman 26-29 September, Tunis 24-27 October and Cape Town 22-25 November 2019.
Politics – corporate or party – can be rather cruel and generally unforgiving. Nowhere is this more evident than for women in the MENA region and in Africa. Since a woman’s role is generally thought of as to be supportive to her husband and family, the hard knocks and politics of insults which generally characterise public leadership are not palatable to a politician’s family and such women are thought of as bringing ‘shame and disgrace’ to their families.
Factors we have taken into consideration are political, economic, cultural and social norms that hinder full participation for women in governance and politics. Young females from the MENA region and Africa have shown time and time again their resilience and hunger for political engagement; however, these norms either prevent them from reaching their dreams or make them an under-represented group. This programme therefore sets out to strategically and systematically challenge these through the development of the women that will partake in this.
Despite the remarkable progress, despite the many breakthroughs, and despite the increasing awareness and acceptance of women’s leadership in MENA & Africa, there remains far too many obstacles impeding a woman’s leadership and her upward mobility. We believe that developing female leaders will encourage further women’s participation in politics and civil society.
This initiative led by the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) will seek to empower young African and MENA women through a tailored programme with experts from around the world. This programme is driven through a participatory approach utilizing the power of peer-to-peer learning whilst building solidarity as participants look to become new leaders.
The core values of the Female Leadership Programme are that of Inclusiveness (youth and women) as well as Diversity (ensuring for varying demographics in politics).
The aims of the Female Leadership Development Programme can be best described as:
- To engage particularly underrepresented groups (women and youth) more actively in political processes
- To enhance African and MENA women’s ability to have greater influence in political processes
- To create and strengthen networks for best-practice and support exchange
- To enhance inclusiveness, women’s engagement and their representation
The Female Leadership Programme is open for youth from the MENA region and Africa between of 18—35, with natural leadership skills, who consider themselves liberal and are true to the ideals of freedom. Please apply if you are available and willing to attend in two of the three events mentioned. since these individual events are rather contingent on each other and aimed to be a developing leadership programme.
Please apply through this link here, deadline for application (for applicants interested to attend Amman seminar is the 5th of Sepetember)