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The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice.

Partners > Community-based P... > Africa > Hiran Women Action

Hiran Women Action

P.O. Box 195 SomalPost TNT Mogadishu, Somalia Tel: +252 1 555 11 86 Email HIWA

• Mission
• Advocacy
• Social Change
• Networking
• ICT
• Institution Building
• Handicrafts

Mission

Hiran Women’s Action’s mission is to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable women and war affected societies in Somalia. They do this by carrying out human rights lobbying and advocacy, education, HIV/AIDS awareness, psycho-social support as well as offering technical assistance and training support on development maintenance especially in the Hiran region. HIWA was created in 1997 by a group of women in Hiran region to advocate for peace, human rights and development programs after the much of the international community stopped working in Somalia in 1995.

Advocacy

• HIWA records and documents human rights violations in Somalia, with emphasis on the Hiran through its Investigation Documentation, Monitoring and Advocacy (IDMA) project in conjunction with Oxfam-Novib.  
• Promotes public awareness of human rights through workshops and training. HIWA has conducted several workshops on Gender Based Violence (GBV), HIV/AIDS and political participation.
• HIWA also spreads awareness of harmful traditional practices including working to eradicate female genital mutilation.
• The organization has set up a handicraft school for vulnerable women to provide young women with sewing machines who then create Somali handicrafts for sale. 

Social Change

• Women's Empowerment: Women cooperatives have created employment opportunities for women.

• Education: HIWA has increased primary school enrollment of young girls by 55% (220 girls are now enrolled). This will ensure a better quality of life for the girls and close the gender gap in education. The organization carries out many activities including an education program providing free education to about 800 pupils many of them orphans whose parents were killed in the civil war. They also provide free education to children whose parents cannot afford to pay school fees.

Networking

Outreach Partners

• EAHRDN
• Civil Society in Action
• G16 Human Rights Network

ICT

• Website

Hiran Women Action has a website of its own that provides more information on its background and work.

Institution Building

HIWA's future plans include:

• Providing women with access to credit, savings mechanisms and institutions.
• Undertaking gender sensitive initiatives that deal with reproductive health issues.

Handicrafts

HIWA runs an ongoing handicraft school targeted at vulnerable groups of women.

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