Organized by:
A Group of Prominent Women in the Region, Swedish Institute Alexandria (SwedAlex)

Sponsored by:
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

Hosted in:
Cairo

Event Theme:
Democracy, Human Rights and Gender

Arab Women are still faced with a variety of obstacles that hinder their efforts. Among these are socio-cultural factors that stand as negative barriers that restrain their full participation. There is a need to form a think tank dedicated to research and discussion of such obstacles facing Arab women. They can come up with possible solutions and engage in advocacy to get members of the public interested and involved in issues of women’s empowerment and gender equality concerns. Their work in the realm of public awareness can be extremely important as it gets people thinking about public policy problems and ways in which they can potentially be addressed.

Objectives:
The think tank aims at building a body of scholarship that can be a platform for advocacy and sharing of strategies on emerging issues that bolster women’s participation in the different walks of life. The think tank also aims to help define the main important emerging issues related to women’s empowerment and gender equality in the Arab region through brainstorming, reflex ion, networking and discussion.


Composition of the Think Tank Network:
This small network will be composed of scholars, activists and researchers who are concerned with achieving women’s empowerment and gender equality in the Arab region. Some will represent themselves and others will represent the institutions they belong to. The group will be composed of interdisciplinary experts from different Arab countries.

Terms of Reference of the Network:

• To exchange experiences and coordinate work on strategic gender issues with a holistic approach in order to achieve synergy effects
• To make recommendations related to the challenges identified to feed into policy and programs
• To advocate the need for both governments’ and Civil Society  engagement  in discussing these challenges and finding solutions
• To raise awareness of the public on the importance of discussing such challenges
• To network with other think tanks to facilitate the exchange of observations, solutions, expertise and suggestions for women actors to reach up to policy level.
• To support institutions that are willing to implement programmes  that address any of the challenges (establishing virtual databases, collecting good practices…etc)
• To continuously be engaged in discussing emerging related issues that can bring major change in the region and evaluating the impact of such changes.