RAWSA (Regional Advocacy for Women’s Sustainable Advancement) Alliance for African & Arab States brings together human rights organizations, feminist activists, health professionals, women led NGOs and CSOs, and media professionals for a regional advocacy to create a transformation in the policies and laws related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), HIV/AIDS, safe abortion, and women’s rights. RAWSA also works on building the capacities of climate justice activists in the region and being present at the most important climate change conferences such as COP27 and COP15 among others.
We are committed to promote gender equality and empowerment of women.
We believe in the urgency of climate change actions and are committed to make climate change
We are committed to promote full and equal access to SRH&Rs and safe abortion services, education and legal
partnership is one of our key organizing principles; we are committed to developing, maintaining
We are committed to support United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 5, 8 and 13.
RAWSA was established in May 2019 and, over the past 2 years, has largely expanded. With more than 180 members, the Alliance includes members and focal points from almost all countries in the region, from Morocco to UAE. RAWSA has developed a large resource of knowledge products such as SRHR and safe abortion context analyses and the impact of COVID-19 on access to SRHR services and facilities in the MENA; in addition to research on the intersection between climate change and SRHR and the possible future of reproductive health telemedicine hotlines in the region. Using an evidence-based approach in our advocacy, research is a pillar of the Alliance’s work.
RAWSA Regional Advocacy for Women’s Sustainable Advancement) Alliance for African & Arab States implements its activities and projects through its national and local project managers, civil-society (CSOs) partners, and national allies that are present across the MENA region, including the Gulf countries (GCC) Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Our goal is to support the feminist movements in the region as well as to promote bodily autonomy, integrity, and the freedom of choice when it comes to sexual orientation and reproductive health decisions. The Alliance has been active in several global forums including the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the Commission of Status of Women (CSW), and the Global Climate Summit Conference of the Parties (COP) to strengthen the linkage between safe abortion, SRHR, and climate justice/climate change. At the same time, RAWSA (Regional Advocacy for Women’s Sustainable Advancement) Alliance for African & Arab States is a member of several major global networks including the White Ribbon Alliance, FEMNET, SRHR and Climate Justice Coalition of the United Nations, and Share-Net International. RAWSA (Regional Advocacy for Women’s Sustainable Advancement) Alliance for African & Arab States is also the regional Organizing Partner of the UN Women Major Group (WMG), strengthened by the location of the Alliance headquarters in Egypt and its more than 50 CSO partnerships in the Arab and African states.
Climate justice
Climate Justice recognizes the disproportionate impacts of climate change on low-income communities and communities of color around the world, the people and places least responsible for the problem.
It seeks solutions that address the root causes of climate change and in doing so, simultaneously address a broad range of social, racial, and environmental injustices.
Migration
Migration is, first and foremost, a normal human activity. Human beings have always moved from ‘one country, locality, [and] place of residence to settle in another’. We tend to migrate from the homes of our families or guardians into our own homes. We migrate between regions, cities and towns. And we also migrate between countries. people have migrated and continue to migrate for a range of reasons, but the most common motivator for relocation has long been the desire for a better life. This desire might be driven by unliveable circumstances in a home country or in a home – as is the case for refugees and other exiles; it might stem from a sense of adventure and a desire to see what life is like beyond a place of birth; it might be the product of love – for children, or a partner, or a family; it can be a feeling that lasts forever or one that fades away. As these stories reveal, country-to-country migrants often have the same motivations as those migrants who move from region to region, city to city, or town to town within their country of birth.
While there are many terms for different types of migration, history almost always shows us that people move in the hope that they will be able to better themselves, sometimes with that hope forced by extreme circumstances.
LGBTQ rights
Discrimination against LGBTI people undermines the human rights principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet discrimination and violence against people in the LGBTI community are all too common. Homophobic, biphobic and transphobic attitudes remain deeply embedded in many cultures around the world especially in the MENA region. In a human rights context, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face both common and distinct challenges. Intersex people (those born with atypical sex characteristics) suffer some of the same kinds of human rights violations as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, people. They also face institutional violence within healthcare systems, with lifelong consequences to their physical and psychological health.
Our Team
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
John Doe
Team
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
John Doe
Team
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
John Doe
Team
Text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text