Alwaleed Philanthropies Supports “Women and Youth Empowerment” Project, First Of Its Kind

Alwaleed Philanthropies, that is chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud announced its support to “Women and Youth Empowerment” and it’s “Partner’s”. “Women and Youth Empowerment” is a project aimed at strengthening community participation of Saudi women in municipal council activities. This was initiated following the announcement of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud of granting Saudi women the right to nomination and election in the Shura Council and municipal councils.

The project aims to promote full and effective political participation of Saudi women in the decision making process. It works towards facilitating candidates to play an active role in the nomination process and in leadership campaigns. In addition, the project provides women the necessary facilities and provision for the post­election period through training in order to acquire various skills and capacity­building in areas such as leadership and negotiation.

The initiative commenced with the implementation stage in September 2013, in line with a time plan set by the provinces of Saudi Arabia in partnership with various non­profit women’s organizations and the Chambers of Commerce. Those entities hosted the implementing teams and the trainees. Each course was executed in five days; five hours per day, covering all the information and procedures related to the municipal councils in Saudi Arabia, as well as reviewing some international experiences in the field.

“Women and Youth Empowerment” project goals are promoting the notion of women’s active citizenship and political participation, preparing the Saudi citizen and society to embrace participation in new fields and building and developing women’s capacity in the nomination and leadership of electoral campaigns.

The Arab Urban Development Institute (AUDI), an Alwaleed Philanthropies partner, is a scientific advisory non­profit institution that is concerned with Arab cities in all fields, functions and purposes. It seeks to improve the municipal services by providing specialist technical support for the municipalities and their employees. AUDI is an affiliate to the Arab Towns Organization (ATO), specialized in areas of training, research, consultancy, documentation and all that would foster and achieve the goals of ATO.

Baladi Initiative, an Alwaleed Philanthropies partner, was established by a group of independent Saudi women represented nationwide. It seeks to achieve full and effective female participation in decision­making through the involvement in the municipal and Shura council activities. Baladi initiative was the only organized campaign to have called for the participation of Saudi women in voting and elections in the municipal councils, from 2004 to 2009.

“Women and Youth Empowerment”, part of Alwaleed Philanthropies’ activities, is an initiative for supporting and advocating Saudi women leaders. It’s​a​ims to empower women within the society through a number of programs focusing on different groups. In addition to the employment guaranteed training programs; and activities focuses on the field of art and handcrafts.