OVERVIEW

The Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) is a coalition of 20 organizations from across the global south, including places such as Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, and Brazil. Their mission is to transform power relations and promote justice, equality, peace, and sustainable development by strengthening the feminist movement. They want to create tolerant and tranquil societies that are equitable to all genders and have women and men equally participate. Each organization is autonomous, instead using WLP as a means to communicate and collaborate on regional and local campaigns for each organization. They also hold an annual meeting to conduct a review on the state of their partnership and on the world. They have a variety of topics that they focus on, ranging from family laws to refugees.

HISTORY

WLP was founded by Mahnaz Afkhami at the very beginning of 2000. WLP first started as a group of organizations in Africa and the Middle East working to identify ways to strengthen their campaigns, programs, and the organizations themselves. Originally just a handful of organizations, WLP has grown to 20 organizations. They maintain at most 20 organizations so that they can ensure they sustain excellent collaboration maintain WLP’s stability and adaptability. Inspired by their founder and leader, WLP works to build leadership which is inclusive, participatory, and consensus-based.

METHODS

On the topic of violence against women, WLP has developed a three pronged effort to reduce violence against women by changing ideas about women’s roles in society, customs that promote violence against women, and laws that don’t protect women. They have a variety of methods that they use to support their work.

First, they conduct workshops for grassroots activists, as well as police and other judicial officers. To ensure the promotion of grassroots efforts, WLP uses local expertise and engagement from local activists in these programs.

Second, WLP provides training to advocate against gender based violence, once again for grassroots activists. While the concepts and strategies in these trainings are developed by the global network of WLP at their meetings, WLP purposefully creates the curriculum with flexibility so that it can be adjusted by each individual organization to fit local needs and contexts for everyone.

Third, WLP leads local and international campaigns for law reform surrounding issues such as honor crimes, marital rape, and child marriages. Part of this work includes efforts to increase the resources available for protecting women. Some of these resources may be targeted specifically to victims of gender-based violence, while others may be more generalized, such as their efforts in public education.

Partner Organizations

WLP acts as a coalition for various organizations. Here is a showcase of some of the different organizations from around the globe currently in 2019. A full list of their current partner organizations can be found here.

Citizenship, Study, Research, Information, and Action in Brazil joined WLP in 2014 and has become a major advisor organization for the partnership. Their work for ending gender based violence includes the passage of the Maria da Penha Law for domestic violence.This law created special courts and stricter sentences, as well as prevention and relief through protective measures for women at risk for violence, creating shelters, and greater coordination between the courts and police.

All Women’s Action Society in Malaysia joined WLP in 2006. They have a heavy focus on gender based violence and provide counseling and legal information to survivors. They also support advocates for women’s rights who have been threatened or arrested by the government. they just recently lobbied the lower house of Parliament to pass an amendment to the Domestic Violence Bill of 2017 which would allow domestic violence victims access emergency protection orders.

Forum in Women in Development in Egypt joined WLP in 2005. They advocate for the reform of policies that discriminate against women and they address issues such as violence against women, illiteracy, poverty, and citizenship. They work to develop the abilities of organizations to lobby for gender equality in laws and policies.

Groupe d’Initiatives pour le Progrès Social/West Africa Region based in Senegal joined WLP in 2014. Their major focus is on sustainable land reform and women’s rights to own land. They perform trainings for ending gender based violence, using the information and resources provided by WLP.

Solidarity is Global Institute/Jordan in Jordan joined WLP 2001. They played a major role in a number of laws and amendments which improved protections against gender based violenced. In 2001 they played a role in the passing of a law which raised the minimum age of marriage from 15 to 18, and in 2017 they played a significant role in abolishing Article 308 of Jordan’s penal code, which gave rapists protection from punishment by marrying their victims.. They have also introduced various amendments to the Protection from Domestic Violence Law No. 6, providing women with legal protections against domestic abusers.