Women's Leadership in Emergencies (WLiE) - "Success Stories and Best Practices" Booklet

Partners: TIMRAN, partnering with CARE Ethiopia, with funding from the FCDO of the UK
Project location: Abala and Erebti woredas, Afar region, Ethiopia
Final product: 25 page full color A5 publication, English & Afar translation

Project Background

TIMRAN is an indigenous women-led civil society organization that seeks to increase women’s engagement in decision-making processes in Ethiopia. In the implementation of Women's Leadership in Emergencies (WLiE), a program carried out by TIMRAN in collaboration with CARE Ethiopia, and the financial support of the UK FCDO, TIMRAN has been engaged in increasing women's participation in leadership, advocacy and peace building in the post conflict area where there are many returnees in the Abala and Erebti woredas of Afar region.

The Problem

There was a need to convert the project field material into a professional publication, which would be credible representation of the project, and at the same time respectful of the donor, partner, and policy maker requirement, as well as the requirement of the women sharing their experiences in the most significant change process, and accessible for Afar speaking community members.

Our Approach

Le'hager captured and developed the whole publication process from start to finish:

• Documentation of the editorial content – capturing individual success stories (such as the WLiE group chairperson who moved from feeling "voice-less" to mediating community disputes and advocating against early marriage; the returnee secretary who became a recognized peace-committee mediator; the traditional elder who included women's voices into Adat customary decision making; the chairperson from a remote area who mobilized women into walking groups to attend meetings; the member who mediated water point disputes); thematic best practices write-ups (visual and oral training methods that helped overcome illiteracy; joint radio dialogue that established social legitimacy for women's participation in public sphere; peer network between Abala and Erebti groups); the case stories at group level (evolution of the Selam group into a recognized mediator and advocate in Abala; evolution of the Lakora group into a justice and accountability actor in Erebti);

• Infographic visualization of the structured methodology (Inclusive Leadership framework, Social Legitimacy joint dialogue model, peer-network methodology of scaling up);

• Translation into Afar – to localize the publication to reach communities themselves, not only donors and policymakers, in accordance with the very findings of the project that local language approach is building trust and legitimacy;

• Safeguarding-compliant documentation – all stories collected and presented according to the principles of informed consent, where participants have rights to withdraw.

Impact

The end result provides TIMRAN and CARE Ethiopia with a donor-ready, field-credible record of the WLiE project's impact – demonstrating tangible changes (specific named women becoming mediators, advocates and taking part in Adat decisions) rather than vague abstract achievements. The Afar translation extends that record to local communities, letting the women and groups to be profiled see their achievements in their own language.