Graduation of the third group of the Jordanian Institute for Women Leaders

Under the auspices of President of Jordan Women’s General Union Mrs. Nuha Maaytah the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies celebrated Monday evening, in Amman, in the presence of families and friends of the graduates and representatives from a number of Jordanian civil society organizations interested in the subject of women’s leadership, the graduation of the third group of the Jordanian Institute for Women leaders, from which graduated 32 women in the age group of 25 – 40 years old.

The ceremony included speeches congratulating and appreciating this important step on the road to elevating the political Jordanian women, delivered by Dr. Nabila Hamza, President of Future Foundation, Ms. Outi Bayhoum representative of Finnish Church Aid, Ms. Nuha Maaytah sponsor of the celebration and head of Jordanian Women’s Union, and Dr. Lubna Bayouk for the graduates.

The ceremony’s opening speech was delivered by the Center’s director Dr. Nidham Assaf, as he welcomed the attendees and families of the participants, and wished them success in practical life. He also gave a brief summary of the Center’s activities during the past years in terms of qualifying Jordanian Women politically and in human rights.

He explained the importance of the training program, which came under the political, youth, and Arab Spring movement, which he wished to be crowned with achieving democracy that respects human rights and dignity.

Dr. Assaf pointed out that the center has ten cherished achievements, organizing more than (404) educational courses in the field of human rights with women participating by (60%); the second is including young people participating in (66%); the third is that 50% of these courses were organized on a voluntary basis without any funding; the fourth is holding (132) scientific symposiums discussing many issues in human rights with the participation of hundreds of researchers and specialists from various Arab, international, and Jordanian universities and institutions; the fifth is that the Center issued 27 books specializing in human rights issues; the sixth is the cooperation with 240 institutions of civil society and the private sector and with some government institutions from various Arab countries; the seventh is the Center’s initiative to establish a number of Jordanian and Arab alliances and networks, such as the Network of Elections in the Arab world, the Arab Association for Academic Freedom, the Arab Coalition Against the Death penalty, Jordanian Network for Civil Society Organizations, the Arab Network for Human Rights Instructors; the eighth is in the graduation of 226 male and female instructors trained in human rights and women’s rights in 12 Arab countries; ninth is involving 60 women in participations outside Jordan, out of 89 people, and tenth is the graduation of 33 Jordanian Women’s leadership.

Dr. Assaf concluded that the center will continue to develop the work of the Jordanian Institute for Women Leaders for the benefit not only of Jordanian women, but women from different Arab countries.

On her part, President of Future Foundation, Dr. Nabila Hamza, indicated the importance of the achievements of the Arab women, especially at the level of excellence of women in education, and criticized the aversion phenomenon of Arab girls to engage in political life in the volume that fits the level they reached in education, despite that the Arab Spring proved that Arab girls deserve appreciation and respect. She also alerted to the reality of the low participation rate of women in leadership positions, compared with her presence in various sectors such as education, which is up to 70 – 80 % in a number of Arab countries.

Centre delivered its Shield to Ms. Outi Bayhoum, representative of Finnish Church Aid, in recognition of the Center for their efforts.

Mrs. Nuha Maaytah, the head of Jordanian Women’s General Union and sponsor of the celebration, stressed in her speech, the importance for the graduates to continue to develop their skills and find their chances to get into the ranks of leadership in all the sectors where they are heavily involved as the education sector and trade unions, as their participation does not fit their numbers in these sectors.

The representative of the Finnish Church Aid Miss Outi Bayhoum said in her speech that the program comes within the concept of free learning, which is the best way for the development of developing societies, expressing hope that the graduates arm themselves with the program’s skills in their daily and practical lives.

It is to be pointed out that the Jordanian Women Leaders Institute’s program was carried out in cooperation with the Finnish Church Aid in Jordan since the beginning of 2010 and will continue until the end of this year, as it cares about education in public affairs and build leadership skills for participants, knowing that it is applied to under certain conditions like age and B.A. degree.

Dr. Lubna Bayouk delivered the speech for the graduates, where she indicated that the program has had the greatest impact in developing the skills of participants and added to them a lot of information and experience to get to an advanced level with Jordanian women leaders, with respect to the concept of women’s legal and political rights, the real exercise of citizenship, and qualifying to take their real and expressive role and their status, indicating that there is still a lot of challenges ahead to complete the journey and achieve their goals in justice, freedom, and equality, as well as the participation of Jordanian women, effectively and efficiently, in the various decision-making positions, as this may be the starting point and for each one of us to contribute in achieving these goals.

At the end of the ceremony Mrs. Nuha Maaytah handed the certificates to the graduates: media woman Arwa Zubi, Miss assil Youssef Shaaban, lawyer Amani Habib Musa Aweys, teacher Halima Abdul Muti Alderbashi, Dr. Lubna Bayouk, Mrs. Darren Qudha, lawyer Ruba Al-Khatib, engineer Fawzia Muhanna Mustafa Jeradin , Mrs. Marcel Issa Jawinat, and teacher Hiba Fathi Mahmoud Habib.