- Country: Yemen (Southern governorates: Aden, Taiz, Hadramout)
- Contact person: Hanin Dabbagh, dabbagh@elbarlament.org
- Project duration: January 2026-August 2026
- Project objective: To strengthen the organisational capacity, agency, and social participation of women’s networks in southern Yemen through a structured mentorship and peer-learning programme.
Development of a mentorship programme for women’s networks in Yemen
Women’s networks in southern Yemen operate in a context marked by prolonged conflict, political fragmentation, shrinking civic space, and significant security and mobility constraints. Despite these challenges, women and women-led networks continue to play vital roles as community organisers, service providers, and mediators. However, their ability to influence decision-making and engage sustainably at district and governorate levels remains limited.
Mapping conducted under the ParticiLogue project highlights persistent capacity gaps across women’s networks — including weaknesses in organisational governance, strategic planning, advocacy, financial management, and inter-network collaboration. These challenges affect both formal and informal networks, albeit in different ways. While informal groups often benefit from community trust and flexibility, formal networks offer structure and visibility but face bureaucratic and political constraints.
Against this backdrop, targeted, context-sensitive capacity development is essential. The Mentorship and Peer Learning Programme is designed as a holistic response that goes beyond stand-alone trainings, combining mentorship, peer exchange, and practical capacity-building to strengthen women’s agency, resilience, and collective action in a fragile environment.
The project will begin with a preparatory phase focused on participant selection, needs validation, and the development of bilingual mentoring tools and training modules tailored to the realities of women’s networks in southern Yemen. Forty women from formal and informal networks in Aden, Taiz, and Hadramout will be selected through a transparent and inclusive process, with attention to marginalised and underrepresented groups.
The core of the programme is a three-month mentorship and peer-learning cycle, launched through a five-day in-person kick-off workshop in Aden. During this workshop, participants will be matched into 20 mentorship tandems and introduced to practical capacity-building modules covering organisational development, advocacy, technical skills, and network strengthening.
Following the kick-off, mentorship tandems will work together through structured learning plans, supported by monthly peer-learning circles for mentors and mentees. These collective spaces will enable shared problem-solving, reflection, and exchange across networks facing similar constraints. A two-day virtual mid-point convening will provide an opportunity to assess progress, introduce targeted expert inputs, and adjust mentorship priorities.
The programme will conclude with a five-day closing workshop in Aden, where participants will consolidate learning, refine organisational tools, and document practical examples demonstrating strengthened agency and social participation. Throughout implementation, the project will ensure do-no-harm principles, participant safety, and gender-sensitive facilitation, alongside regular coordination, photo documentation, and reporting to GIZ.
The project is funded by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) 