Political Development Forum

Women’s Leadership Skills in Political Parties Training Program Project

This program was implemented in partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and aims to expand and increase the effectiveness of women’s political participation. It is a gateway to their political, economic and social empowerment. The program provides training to 200 women from various political parties, for five days per course, on leadership skills in political parties. Nine comprehensive courses have been held in several governorates

In 2009, four successful courses were held in Sana’a, Aden, and Taiz for female leaders& activists from the following parties:

• General People’s Congress (GPC)
• Al-Islah Party
• Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP)
• Nasserist Unionist People’s Organization (NUPO)
• Union of Popular Forces
• Party of the League of the Sons of Yemen (Rai)
• Ba’ath Party

These Trainings were as follows

• -The first training course: it was held in Sana’a, at the HQ of Soul Org., from 20-24 June, 2009, with the participation of 25 female leaders& activists from various political parties and organizations.
• -The second training course: it was held in Sana’a, at the HQ of Soul Org., from 8-12 August, 2009, with the participation of 20 female leaders from various political parties and civil society organizations.
• -The third training course: it was held in Taiz from 15-19 June, 2009, at the HQ of Al-Saeed Foundation for Culture, with the participation of 24 female leaders& activists from various political parties and civil society organizations.
• -The fourth training course: it was held in Aden from October 31-November 4, 2009, at the HQ of the Yemeni Foundation for Human Rights Studies, with the participation of 28 female leaders& activists from various political parties and civil society organizations.

Enhancing Leadership and Administrative Skills of Women in Public Sector

This program aims at training 75 leading women working at local authority and government institutions on administrative and leadership skills in order to further empower them to advocate and defend their rights. This project aims also to gain the trust of the governmental institutions, the media and civic activists to advocate women’s issues at the public institutions. Our local partners include Ministry of Local Administration and Local Civil Society Organizations

INCONET-GCC

Aims to develop and support the bi-regional dialogue by bringing together policymakers and stakeholders of the GCC and EU Member States. It aims to create a dialogue and action platform to identify common interests in research areas, set up S&T priorities, support capacity building activities, and enhance the interaction between different cooperation instruments of the European Commission and EU Member States. It promoted actions in order to monitor, develop, promote and contribute to the creation of synergies among the various S&T cooperation programs between the GCC and the EU Member States, and enhance the participation of the GCC in the FP7.

Strengthening Community Safety in Yemen

The Community Safety Project is implemented by Berghof Foundation in partnership with PDF and funded by the European Union and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This project aims to contribute to enhancing the sense of security and safety among citizens, as it seeks to improve citizens’ access to security services, raise their awareness of the systems and laws, whether constitutional or customary, and enhance the role of the police in providing security services with absolute neutrality and taking the needs of citizens into account. This will all contribute to strengthening trust, transparency, and accountability, which will have a positive impact on citizens’ trust in the police and law enforcement agencies. The project is implemented in cooperation with law enforcement agencies and local authorities in five cities (Sana’a, Dhamar, Aden, Mukalla, and Taiz), and it primarily targets the police and citizens. Five districts will be selected in the target cities to implement training courses and capacity-building activities, and local initiatives will be developed and implemented in consultation with these entities in order to improve community safety at the local level.

Objectives of the Project

• To introduce the principles of community safety and initiate local discussions on how to achieve them in Yemen.
• To enhance the capacities of the agencies responsible for the security and safety of citizens, as well as the capacities of representatives of the target communities.
• To develop a cooperation and coordination mechanism for further progress towards strengthening community safety in Yemen.

Community safety is a common principle that takes on various forms in which state authorities and communities work together at the local and national levels to ensure the security and safety of all citizens. Community safety aims to enhance public safety by involving all stakeholders in providing security and safety, whether at home, at work, or on the streets. This includes not only communities, but also local authorities, educational institutions, businesses, religious leaders, tribal figures, and justice and security agencies. The philosophy of community safety is based on several key principles, including

• Partnership between two parties: Safety and security cannot be achieved without close cooperation between the police and citizens, with the support of local authorities, the judiciary, and the prosecution. Partnership does not mean that citizens only help the police by providing information, but the police respond to the concerns and worries of citizens, listen to them carefully, and take the appropriate action. For example, this partnership can be realized on the ground by establishing community safety committees (CSCs).
• Problem-solving: The traditional mechanism for the work of law enforcement agencies is of a reactive nature, that means when a crime occurs, the police move to the scene of the crime as quickly as possible. This method has been proven to be inefficient, as in most cases the perpetrators flee before the police arrive. In the problem-solving method, the strategy is different, where the root causes of crime are investigated. Knowing the causes and patterns of certain recurring crimes will contribute significantly to trying to eradicate them in a way that ensures security and safety over the long term. This also requires significant cooperation with many parties, such as schools, businessmen, heads of neighborhoods (Aqils), religious leaders, etc. In many cases, the solutions are very simple, such as providing some dark alleys with public lighting or deploying patrols here and there. However, in other cases, things are more complex and require deep and long-term partnerships, such as those that can be dealt with school principals and shopkeepers. In addition, citizens can be involved in the problem-solving methodology on a large and wide scale, including trying to understand the causes of crimes from the information provided by citizens, as well as their cooperation in developing and implementing plans to prevent crime. Thus, citizens are key partners in evaluating the results.
• Empowerment at the local level: The police must meet the local needs of citizens, and therefore they need to be authorized to act quickly. This is completely different from the traditional way of working, which is characterized by a high degree of centralization, in which low-ranking officers rely entirely on the approval of their superiors and cannot act without referring to them. Police members and neighborhood police officers are the most knowledgeable about what is happening in the areas and neighborhoods in which they work, and they are also familiar with the residents of the area, including troublemakers and rioters. This means that they are able to respond to local concerns, and in this way, they are an important tool for building trust between citizens and police officers.
• Crime prevention: The identification and analysis of crime risks in order to make them difficult to happen requires effective involvement of all civil society partners with local authorities and law enforcement agencies, and it is usually based on national and regional strategies to prevent crime from happening.
• A safe environment: Identifying, designing and implementing local initiatives based on the needs of citizens, which would contribute to improving the sense of safety and security of citizens requires a partnership with local authorities, the police and the judiciary. It is very important to follow up on the implementation and evaluate the impact, as the main objective is to create a safe environment.

Activities

The Community Safety Project aims to implement pilot initiatives and projects of community safety through the formation of community safety committees and training them on the concept of community safety and how to achieve it. These committees will then design and implement pilot projects or small initiatives on community safety in the neighborhoods and districts targeted by the project. To achieve this goal, the project has taken the following steps

• Needs assessment and evaluation: In direct coordination with the authorities and relevant parties in the target cities, specialized committees were formed, composed of members representing law enforcement agencies (police, judiciary, and prosecutions) in order to supervise the process of conducting surveys on the needs and challenges that prevent the provision of basic services to citizens in a timely manner. The surveys also paid special attention to capacity building in the field of community safety, so that these requirements can be incorporated into the trainings that the project will provide within its subsequent activities.
• Local preparatory workshops: A preparatory workshop was held in Sana’a from 29-30 January, 2019, to develop the training manual on community safety in Yemen. The workshop included representatives from law enforcement agencies as well as representatives from civil society from Sana’a & Dhamar. The concept of community safety in the Yemeni context was discussed and the results of the field survey report prepared by the specialized committees were addressed. The participants agreed on main modules and mechanisms for developing the community safety training manual. Similarly, a workshop was held in Aden from 6-7 March, 2019 for representatives of law enforcement and civil society from Aden and Mukalla. Similar discussions took place and an initial version of the training manual was also produced.
• External workshop: A consultative workshop was held in Addis Ababa from 23-28 June, 2019, to complete the discussion that began in the local workshops held previously in Sana’a and Aden. It was attended by high-level representatives from law enforcement institutions and representatives from local authorities and civil society of Sana’a, Dhamar, Mukalla, and Aden. The workshop focused on the general agreement on the concept of community safety in the Yemeni context. The preparatory and practical steps to support community safety in Yemen were also discussed. The content and general form of the training manual to be developed on community safety in Yemen were also agreed upon.
• Training manuals: In coordination and agreement with the authorities and concerned parties, training manuals have been developed on community safety and its implementation mechanisms in Yemen. These manuals target police officers, judges, public prosecutors, and civil society, with the aim of improving their capabilities and skills in this regard.
• Trainings: Trainings on community safety are currently organized and implemented using the training manuals developed for this purpose. These trainings target representatives and members of law enforcement agencies as well as representatives of local communities in the five cities targeted by this project. In a later stage, CSCs will be trained-which will be formed soon.
• Community safety committees (CSCs): In coordination with the authorities and concerned parties, community safety committees will be formed from members and representatives of these entities, as well as representatives of civil society. These CSCs will design, implement, and evaluate initiatives (small pilot projects) on community safety with the support of the project.

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