International Women’s Rights Leadership Roundtable
On October 28, 2015, the International Action Network for Gender Equity and Law (IANGEL) welcomed two distinguished Eisenhower Fellows, Eliane Fersan from Lebanon and Kudakwashe Chitsike from Zimbabwe and Lebanon for a conversation about the state of women’s rights, political participation, and governance.
This event was graciously hosted by DLA Piper, LLP.
Ms Eliane “Elle” Fersan has a long and successful track record of promoting gender equality, youth empowerment, and participatory democracy. Through her work in community development, Elle has worked on an individual, community and policy level to transform women’s participation in the political process in Lebanon. She is now working on creating a Lebanese civil society coalition to advance women’s rights.
At the IANGEL event, we discussed mentorship structures and other creative ways to engage women in political processes; brainstormed resources for the development of multi-stakeholder campaigns; and talked about the political and social impediments to LGBT rights and gender inequality in Lebanon.
Kudakwashe “Kuda” Chitsike is the Executive Director of the Research Advocacy Unit (RAU) where she leads researchers and advocacy experts in systematically addressing human rights violations, strengthening active citizenship in Zimbabwe and influencing policy that focuses on women and youth. Eisenhower Fellowships aptly characterizes RAU’s work: “Since inception, the Research Advocacy Unit (RAU) has earned a sound reputation for research into issues that many Zimbabwean NGOs have been unwilling to tackle, and in turn influenced international bodies, such as the Global Campaign to Protect Education under Attack (GCPEA) and the Committee of Experts on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee). RAU engages the Zimbabwean government in all its work, and has worked assiduously at developing regional solidarity with likeminded partners.”
At the IANGEL event, we discussed women’s participation in politics in Zimbabwean. We brainstormed US connections and potential partners to strengthen the capacity of women leaders.
RAU is a partner organization of IANGEL.
Read more about IANGEL collaboration with RAU:
- – IANGEL-RAU Child Marriage Briefing, May 2015
- – RAU’s report on Marriage Laws and Mandated Age of Consent in SADC Region, August 2015
- – You Are the Light, a response to a post by our partners at Research Advocacy Unit Zimbabwe about Mugabe’s State of the Nation address (August 2015); by IANGEL President Nancy Newman http://ms-jd.org/blog/article/you-are-the-light