International Development Grant
Empowering Women for Leadership Roles in the Middle East and North Africa Region
Project Number: CA-3-D002278001
Status: Operational
Country/Region:
Maximum Contribution: $16,237,987.00
Start Date: August 24, 2016
End Date: March 31, 2024
Duration: 7.6 years
Project Description
The project aims to advance inclusiveness in governance in target countries Jordan Morocco and Tunisia. The political cultural and historical conditions of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have caused women to remain in marginalized and underrepresented groups within political civil society and academic spheres. Project activities include: (1) developing and delivering training sessions for women to enhance their leadership skills; (2) organizing and delivering outreach events on women’s leadership for university and high school students; (3) developing and producing publicly available material on inclusive governance practices and contemporary women leadership in the MENA region; and (4) establishing women’s leadership programs with select universities. The project expects to benefit up to 12 000 direct beneficiaries and approximately 48 000 indirect beneficiaries.
Expected Results
The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased participation of women in social cultural and political power structures and decision-making; and (2) enhanced ability of women and men to positively shape government and non-governmental policies programs and activities that affect women’s inclusion in social cultural and political spheres.
Progress & Results Achieved
Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) trained 613 leaders including 602 women in Morocco Tunisia and Jordan. Of these 95% acquired skills in leadership communication advocacy and management. This has strengthened their ability to participate actively in governance; (2) integrated the climate change theme into certain programs including female leadership mentoring to strengthen the skills of young leaders. As a result 90.8% of the 41 beneficiaries improved their confidence to take on leadership roles. This is demonstrated through a range of initiatives that promote female leadership and the fight against climate change; (3) set up workshops and academic clubs in 24 governorates to raise students' awareness of gender and climate change issues encouraging young people to become agents of change in their communities. Achieved a level of awareness of men and women on leadership and women's empowerment of 4.5 out of 5; (4) launched 36 local awareness-raising initiatives that promoted women's leadership and women's empowerment by highlighting the success stories of women leaders trained under the project. These initiatives reached 295 women and 113 men involving students representatives of public organizations teenagers educators and members of civil society organizations; and (5) 55 additional institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs) integrated gender equality leadership and inclusive governance components into their programs. To achieve this 177 women and 61 men including heads of women's empowerment units in municipalities civil servants and members of civil society took part in 9 capacity-building activities.
Key Information
Executing Agency:
Forum of Federations
Reporting Organization:
Global Affairs Canada
Program:
WGM Africa
Last Modified:
September 19, 2025
Development Classifications
DAC Sector:
Aid Type: Project-type interventions
Collaboration: Bilateral
Finance Type: Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Selection Mechanism:
Unsolicited Proposal