The Foundation was promoted in 2014 at the initiative of six organisations in the Mediterranean area:

1. Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR)

The Center of Arab Women for Training and Research was created in 1993 as a response to the demand by several governments of the Arab League countries, civil society organisations and institutions. It has the status of an NGO and is based in Tunis (Tunisia).

CAWTAR seeks to foster a dynamic in the Arab region in terms of gender studies, knowledge and advocacy for the improvement of the status of women through the collection of data, indicators and statistics. Its action targets all Arab League countries and is based on the extension and diversity of its network, made up by around 450 natural and legal persons: research institutions, universities, media, government departments, and so on. CAWTAR activity is carried out in three areas: the collection and analysis of information on the status of Arab women; the transformation of this information into training and capacity-building material; and advocacy through information and communication tools, in favour of legislations for women, at a regional and international level.

2. Interministerial Delegation to the Mediterranean (French State)

Created in 2013 and being dependent on the French Prime Minister’s office, DiMed is the tool for the implementation of Mediterranean projects from the French capital. The mission of the Delegatation and its team is to “encourage and coordinate the actions developed within the framework of the France’s policy towards the southern Mediterranean, both within the government agencies and between them and other public or private persons” (Decree 7 January 2013).

DiMed helps the formation of structuring projects by particularly supporting partnerships with the civil society in order to encourage the Euro-Mediterranean social and regional integration. It favours the harmonisation of the different actors of the administration with local enterprises and, thanks to its website (dimed.gouv.fr), it makes information circulate between France and the Mediterranean region. Endowed with multisectoral expertise, DiMed submits proposals and contributes to conceiving and adapting French cooperation actions in the Mediterranean to the current challenges.

Since 1 January 2015, its powers of the interministerial coordination are guaranteed by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, under the authority of the Interministerial Delegate to the Mediterranean.

3. European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed)

The European Institute of the Mediterranean, founded in 1989, hosts actions as well as projects contributing to mutual awareness, exchange and cooperation between different Mediterranean countries, their societies and cultures, in keeping with the Barcelona Process (Euro-Mediterranean Partnership) and now with the objectives of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). IEMed also endeavours to foster the gradual construction of an area of peace and stability, shared prosperity and dialogue between the civilisations and cultures in the Mediterranean basin.

The Institute, in its role as a think tank based on a multidisciplinary and network approach and specialised in Mediterranean relations, encourages analysis, understanding and cooperation. To this end, it participates in research projects, organises seminars, debates and conferences and produces publications, along with a broad cultural programme.

4. Fédération des Ligues des Droits des Femmes (FLDF)

The Fédération des  Ligues des Droits des Femmes (Women’s Rights Leagues Federation) based in Casablanca (Morocco), was created in 1993 as an NGO in the field of women’s rights. This Federation works for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women by protecting and fostering the rights of women as they are universally recognised.

FLDF works with all the levels of society and strives to integrate men within the implementation process of the values it advocates. Its objectives are multiple: strengthen the capacities of women and work to endow them with a power of action so that they participate effectively in the social transformation, particularly in the conception and implementation of public policies; the fight against the discriminatory thinking against women; working to change the legislation unfavourable to women, and so on.

The Federation organises both advocacy and lobbying activities but also at a local level: provision of services to women in difficulty, training, awareness-raising campaigns, fight against illiteracy, promotion of activities that can generate economic benefits and projects, promotion of research, solidarity caravans, and so on.

5. Forum Femmes Méditerranée (FFM)

The Forum Femmes Méditerranée is a French association created in 1993 and based in Marseille that brings together individual members and associations. The FFM is active in the Mediterranean at a local and regional level and, as such, it has earned an international reputation.

Its main objective is to bring together human competences and qualities of its members to act against all forms of discrimination and violence for an effective implementation of the legislation and the promotion of the financial empowerment of women in order to eventually achieve a fair equality of opportunities between women and men. Moreover, FFM endeavours to advocate secularism as a basis for the construction of equality.

6. Réseau Universitaire et Scientifique Euro-Méditerranéen sur le Genre et les Femmes (RUSEMEG)

The Réseau Universitaire et Scientifique Euro-Méditerranéen sur le Genre et les Femmes, which has the status of association under French law, was launched in 2012 and is hosted by the Forum Femmes Méditerranée in Marseille (France). This network creates a new area of work and dissemination for academic knowledge on gender and women.

RUSEMEG contributes in the Euro-Mediterranean to the implementation, institutionalisation, enrichment and value enhancement of learning and research on gender understanding as a full scientific discipline. Hence, it participates in the promotion of gender equality.

The RUSEMEG networks training and research centres on gender as well as women researchers, university students, PhD candidates and students training and working in this field. It thus encourages new links and partnerships to approach inequalities in a multidisciplinary and comparative way.