Establishing a civil empowerment coalition consisting of civil society organizations Preparatory background for work: The war that broke out at the beginning of 2015 and its disastrous effects continued until now, created the worst humanitarian crisis, which in turn affected the various rights and freedoms that people enjoy, especially children and women, with the increasing number of displaced people, and violations occurred in civil rights, which is the basic building block for various political, cultural, religious and other rights. Its partners must begin to promote civil rights, which, when it achieves its impact, will achieve the rest of the rights as a natural result. For this reason, the Democracy School sought to build partnerships with relevant government institutions and civil society organizations to enhance the capabilities of workers in the field and reach vulnerable groups in various regions, especially those experiencing conflict. armed, in order to assess the situation, monitor violations, and provide remedies that guarantee citizenship and civil rights. It was found that many families were subjected to various violations due to war and displacement from multiple parties, and it became important to provide legal aid that provides them with protection. Intervention methodology: 1- Protecting and empowering individuals of civil rights through the establishment of a coalition among the main stakeholders to work on a set of activities within the framework of this goal, including:
- Establishing and supporting youth initiatives from graduates of law faculties in volunteering and working to protect individuals at risk, especially children and women, so that each initiative covers a geographical scope at the governorate level, providing advance care and preventing the causes that lead to children’s delinquency, such as setting controls for places that expose children to risks in coordination with government institutions and civic organizations, and provide aftercare by supporting the Social and Legal Defense Center run by the Democracy School.
- Establishing a hotline (legal defense and awareness line) that receives all communications related to legal empowerment free of charge and targets different groups of society, especially women and children who are survivors of gender-based violence in areas of displacement. Preparing a guide for the due control procedures in collecting complaints and the coordination mechanism between civil society organizations and government institutions that organize roles and increase the capabilities of civil society organizations to positively intervene in the protection of children and women at risk, and to hold training courses in the governorates with the most severe violations. These activities will ensure urgent protection for individuals exposed to violations and abuses of civil rights by collecting data from the field through the participation of stakeholders in the process. 2- Enhancing civil society oversight and strengthening its role, including monitoring, preventing and responding to violations and abuses of human rights through the following activities:
- Holding centralized training courses at the level of ministries and non-centralized ones for local organizations at the governorate level, especially for governorates in which cases of violations increase. The training courses aim to provide local organizations with monitoring and control tools for violations.
- Holding central workshops in government institutions aimed at highlighting the role of civil society organizations in facilitating their tasks, especially in the oversight role that supports access to vulnerable groups and groups at risk, as well as implementing joint programs and decentralized workshops at the governorate level for relevant local organizations. In light of these conditions, it is preferable to partially involve stakeholders in the oversight process by raising awareness of the importance of the participation of civil society organizations, especially local organizations, in oversight and monitoring. 3- Enhancing the capabilities of the security community, including advocacy and raising public awareness that achieve change in laws and policies. This goal is achieved through:
- An audio guide to the civil rights of women and children (in colloquial language), producing a podcast explaining the civil rights of women and children, in which children and women participate, and in the dialects of the governorates to which they belong.
- Training national and local civil society organizations and government institutions concerned with women and children to use open source digital platforms to enable them to organize their work. And using training platforms such as Kaya to provide empowerment courses for civil society organizations.
- Radio programs and innovative media productions on issues of human rights, women and children, presented by women and children.
- Implementation of moot courts in which children play representative roles that help them understand the issues that children are exposed to in conflict with the law, with drawing activities and events, open days that support children’s legal rights. Developing advocacy plans to support the civil rights of women and children through meetings and workshops with local organizations and youth initiatives in the Yemeni governorates to prepare and implement advocacy plans through those organizations and initiatives, especially the initiatives led by girls. Through the tangible reality, laws and policies are good, but awareness and definition of them is limited to paper printing. Therefore, the media, especially audio, have a great impact in increasing public awareness and advocacy programs, which help the target groups to know the rights and government institutions concerned to claim them within the framework of the law. The use of multiple vernaculars at the governorate level will facilitate a common understanding of the language vocabulary that helps the target groups and stakeholders alike. 4- Enhancing the capabilities of human rights defenders and civil society organizations, including strategic litigation and public awareness, to improve efficiency, quality, accountability, transparency and credibility in justice systems.