Gaza - Community Media and Development Center (CDMC)

“The training was the golden period in my scientific journey, and it contributed to refining my personality and providing me with a huge amount of knowledge and experience related to women’s rights and enhancing societal awareness about them,” says lawyer Muhammad Abu Al-Ata, one of the participants in a training camp “to prepare defenders of women’s rights in society and in Academic Institutions” within the Youth Academy launched by the Community Media and Development Center (CDMC).

Iman Zorob, a project coordinator at CDMC, said, “We launched the Youth Academy to prepare male and female trainers in the field of women’s rights, violence and gender equality, and to enhance legal awareness about it, in mid-May of this year, with the aim of preparing a strong group of young men and women to be qualified advocates. I come with the knowledge, experience and skills necessary to advocate for women’s rights and combat the violence they are exposed to in society and in academic institutions.”

Zorob explained that the Youth Academy included the implementation of an advanced training camp in the skills of preparing women’s rights defenders, which lasted for 7 consecutive days, with the participation of 25 young men and women media professionals, lawyers and activists of both sexes. The training aims to build a solid knowledge base in 3 main topics, where the first topic included concepts related to gender and gender justice, and women’s rights in international and national legislation and conventions, in addition to their rights in academic institutions, and the second topic included planning and implementing pressure and advocacy campaigns, while the last topic focused on trainers preparation skills.

In the practical aspect of the training, the participants were divided into working groups, during which they were able to develop ideas and plans for effective lobbying and advocacy campaigns and made qualitative presentations for them. In addition, during the camp, the participants practiced all the skills of preparing the trainers, and through several activities they showed distinguished performance in practicing and using communication skills, presentation, planning and organizing the training process and managing it, as well as methods of adult education and dealing with different groups.

Women’s rights defenders will work during the coming period to lead a series of awareness workshops, in all governorates of the Gaza Strip, in addition to contributing to the planning and implementation of the advocacy campaign, which will be implemented by the Community Media and Development Center (CDMC) later within the project’s activities.

Zourob stated that the launch of the academy came as part of the activities of the project “Encouraging interventions aimed at promoting women’s rights in the Gaza Strip,” in partnership with the German Heinrich Böll Foundation. She added that the Community Media and Development Center (CDMC) seeks, through the project, to strengthen the institutionalization of the Palestinian Women Academics Association (PAC), which it launched three years ago as an independent feminist body that defends the rights of female academics, and is able to represent their issues, in addition to developing strategic interventions for them, in addition to that. Enhancing the role of academics and young men of both sexes in defending women’s rights and combating violence and discrimination against them within academic institutions.

In a related context, Andalib Adwan, Director of the Center for Development and Community Media (CDMC), noted that the center has worked since its establishment to support and advocate for women’s rights in all fields, and has also directed to work with students and academics, believing in the role of universities in shaping the future and making its leaders, and during the five-year period In recent years, attention has been drawn to the reality of women in academic institutions, and the discrimination and abuse they suffer in society and in universities, in addition to the negative impact of this reality on the present and future of our society. during the previous years.

It is noteworthy that the Community Media and Development Center (CDMC) is a development and media institution that invests and employs the media as a platform for democratic discourse, advocacy for human rights and citizenship, and the promotion of social justice, freedom and prosperity.