Political Participation and Promoting Women, Peace, and Security Agenda (WPSA) Program
Building a generation of Palestinian women leaders, candidates and decision-makers.
Political Participation and Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Program
Represents one of the key pillars of PWWSD’s work. Through this programme, the organization seeks to enhance women’s participation in public life and civic spaces, support women’s engagement in decision-making processes at the local and national levels, and strengthen their capacity to influence public affairs in ways that respond to the needs of the community as a whole.
Through the programme, PWWSD seeks to promote gender equality principles, human rights, democratic participation, and social justice within the Palestinian context.
The programme was initially launched under the name “Empowerment Programme”, addressing a range of issues, including women’s political participation, economic empowerment, and legal support for women. In response to developments within the Palestinian context, the organization restructured the programme to focus on sustainable outcomes and long-term strategic impact.
During the preparation of the Strategic Plan (2021–2025), the programme was renamed “Political Participation and Promoting Women, Peace and Security Agenda Programme”, with increased focus on developing women’s leadership capacities, promoting civic participation, and advancing the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and its related frameworks, collectively termed as Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS Agenda), in Palestine.
Through this programme, PWWSD seeks to build women’s capacities to claim their right to equal participation in governance institutions, elections, public institutions, and various community initiatives.
Through training, mentoring, awareness-raising, and experience exchange, women and girls participating in the programme have developed their leadership skills, strengthened their advocacy capacities, enhanced their public communication skills, and increased their knowledge of their civil and political rights.
The organization gives particular attention to working with young women, elected women representatives in decision-making bodies, and women activists involved in local councils and grassroots organizations.
Within the context of a prolonged conflict and colonial reality, PWWSD emphasizes, through this programme, the importance of women’s participation in peacebuilding, protection efforts, community resilience, and recovery processes following crises.
Accordingly, the organization works to strengthen women’s participation in social peacebuilding, community dialogue, conflict prevention, and efforts aimed at promoting accountability through a gender-responsive approach.
The programme also contributes to localizing Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Palestine while taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian experience.
Legal empowerment constitutes one of the main components of the programme. Through this component, women’s awareness of their rights under Palestinian laws, as well as relevant international conventions and human rights frameworks, is strengthened.
In this context, PWWSD provides legal awareness sessions targeting women and young women, in addition to referral services, legal consultations, and legal representation before Palestinian courts at different levels through a team of qualified and specialized female lawyers.
Through these services, the organization seeks to ensure women’s access to justice mechanisms and empower them to claim their legal rights, thereby overcoming barriers that limit women’s participation in public life and advancing substantive equality.
PWWSD also contributes to advocacy initiatives aimed at strengthening legal protection for women and promoting the principle of equal opportunities.
In coordination with partner and peer civil society organizations, the organization organizes public advocacy campaigns and dialogue sessions addressing women’s political participation, protection from violence, legal reform, creating an enabling environment for women, and improving women’s access to available services.
Through these efforts, PWWSD contributes to ensuring women’s access to justice mechanisms, strengthening accountability, ensuring responses that address women’s needs, and supporting the development of policies and legislation that guarantee women’s meaningful participation in public life.
Public Awareness, Research, and Knowledge Production: Public awareness activities represent a major component of the programme. Alongside studies, research papers, position papers, policy papers, media activities, documented reports, dialogue sessions, and roundtable discussions, these tools contribute to challenging structures that discriminate against women and seek to exclude them from public spaces.
Through knowledge production and dissemination, PWWSD seeks to promote public dialogue around women’s political participation and contribute to the development of appropriate interventions in this area.
Organizing Women and Young Women in Formal and Informal Structures: Organizing women through grassroots structures represents another essential component of the programme. PWWSD encourages women to establish formal and informal structures that enable collective action, identification of priorities and needs, and engagement in existing bodies through a comprehensive approach aimed at protecting women’s rights.
One of the most significant achievements in this area has been the establishment of 109 Shadow Councils (105 in the West Bank and 4 in the Gaza Strip).
These councils provide a collective platform for women leaders to support women elected to local councils and monitor the performance of local governance institutions, ensuring that gender equality principles and women’s needs are taken into consideration in local governance processes.
Through the programme, PWWSD has contributed to tangible progress in the political participation of Palestinian women.
Women reached through the organization’s activities have participated in local council elections, assumed various leadership positions, led community initiatives, and increasingly influenced decision-making processes and public life.
Partnerships, Coalitions, and Alliances: Partnership building and the establishment of coalitions and alliances are key components of PWWSD’s work within the programme. In this context, the organization works with numerous peer civil society organizations and engages through various local, national, regional, and international networks and coalitions dedicated to advancing gender equality, strengthening democracy, and promoting women’s civic and political participation.
Through these structures and partnerships, PWWSD seeks to strengthen collective action, voicing women, and ensure that the needs, priorities, and concerns of Palestinian women are represented at all available levels.
The organization continues to contribute to efforts aimed at ensuring inclusive development, promoting participatory governance, empowering women, and advancing the values of equality, justice, and human rights within society.
What We Aim to Achieve
Palestinian community demonstrates greater acceptance of and support for women’s participation in political life.
Palestinian women are better able to influence laws, policies, and procedures related to women’s participation in political life.
PWWSD is more effective in promoting and advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Barriers We Work to Overcome
In addition to the general challenges facing PWWSD, which affect programme implementation, the programme faces a number of specific challenges, including:
Lack of Political Will to Promote Women’s Participation in Political Life and Decision-Making Spaces
The laws currently applied in Palestine remain insufficiently effective in guaranteeing women’s meaningful and influential participation in decision-making processes. In many cases, existing laws and regulations are used in ways that restrict women’s participation and contribute to their exclusion from political spaces.
The Spread of Incitement and Hate Speech Against Women
Various patriarchal and conservative forces continue to promote social narratives that confine women’s roles to the private sphere and undermine their participation in public life. Despite the seriousness of such discourse, law enforcement institutions have not always provided adequate protection for women. Several women leaders have faced defamation campaigns and incitement without effective legal intervention. This has strengthened the influence of conservative and patriarchal forces and increased women’s reluctance to engage in public life due to concerns about facing similar attacks.
Decline of Democratic Life and Delays in Holding Public Elections
The continued dominance of the executive authority over decision-making, along with the weakening of legislative and judicial institutions and the ongoing delay in holding public elections, negatively affects women’s political engagement and discourages their participation. This situation also reduces women’s motivation to participate in similar programmes implemented by civil society organizations, as many perceive limited opportunities for meaningful change through such engagement. Furthermore, the absence of an active legislative body limits the potential impact of advocacy and policy influencing efforts.
Our Political Engagement Framework
As the programme represents a central pillar of PWWSD’s work, and based on the understanding that interventions related to gender equality and the protection of women’s rights are closely linked to political engagement and the existence of political will to achieve genuine equality, the organization adopts a set of mechanisms that contribute to achieving the programme’s objectives. These mechanisms also contribute to advancing the organization’s overall vision and mission and reflect its role as a human rights organization committed to defending women’s rights as a base of its work.
Awareness Raising and Knowledge Sharing
PWWSD forms groups of women and young women at the community level and implements awareness-raising and knowledge-sharing programmes on Palestinian women’s political rights. The organization bases these activities on relevant Palestinian legislation while also addressing women’s rights to political participation as established in international conventions, treaties, and human rights frameworks. Through awareness raising and knowledge sharing, PWWSD seeks to strengthen women’s understanding of their rights to participation and encourage them to advocate for and claim these rights.
Developing Women’s Leadership Capacities
Through a series of training activities, PWWSD works to strengthen the leadership capacities of women and young women, contributing to their increased engagement in decision-making spaces at different levels. The organization also targets women already involved in decision-making positions through specialized training aimed at strengthening their leadership skills and increasing their influence over decisions and policies. In this regard, particular attention is given to women members of local councils to enhance their effectiveness and impact within these institutions.
Organizing Women and Young Women in Formal and Informal Structures
PWWSD works to organize women within formal and informal structures with the aim of increasing their presence in decision-making spaces and providing platforms for collective feminist action. One of the most important forms of this organization is the establishment of Shadow Councils, which aim to support women members of local councils and monitor the performance of these councils to ensure that women’s needs are considered in their work, particularly in policy development and strategic planning.
Public Meetings, Roundtables, and Conferences
As part of its efforts to challenge structures that exclude women and hinder their participation in political life, PWWSD organizes public meetings and dialogue sessions with relevant stakeholders to increase community awareness of the importance of women’s participation in public life and create a supportive environment for such participation. The organization also conducts dialogue sessions and community accountability sessions with relevant actors, including government institutions and political parties, to discuss their role in promoting women’s participation in political life.
Knowledge Production
PWWSD produces a range of studies, research papers, position papers, analytical papers, and policy briefs aimed at strengthening dialogue around women’s right to political participation. These publications contribute to increasing public discussion on women’s political participation and support the development of appropriate interventions and policies in this field.
Building and Activating Local, National, and International Networks
Based on the understanding that collective action represents one of the most effective approaches to strengthening women’s participation in public and political life, PWWSD actively engages in a number of local, national, and international coalitions and networks aimed at advancing women’s political participation and facilitating the exchange of experiences among organizations working in this field. Through engagement in international coalitions, the organization seeks to learn from best practices, contribute to adapting international frameworks to the Palestinian context, and share the Palestinian experience internationally as a unique experience, particularly given the exceptional context created by the ongoing Israeli occupation.
Projects
Political Participation Linked to Global Commitments
Our political empowerment work directly implements CEDAW Article 7, SDG 5 and UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.