Rights-based community development training helps women refugees exercise their leadership to advance community needs.
Bella Artan came to Malaysia from war-torn Somalia in 2007 with her mother and brother. As a refugee, she could not attend Malaysian public schools.
She taught herself English and Malay, completing her high-school certificate online. She volunteers at the Somali Women’s Association Malaysia (SWAM) as a translator for her community.
“Here in Malaysia, most of the women [in our community] are single mothers from Somalia. A lot have experienced DV [domestic violence] and other forms of sexual violence,” says Ms Artan.
“We needed a space where they can feel safe. The ladies will come every day, they will talk – SWAM is like a refuge.”
The 24-year-old community leader and refugee advocate was mentored through the Refugee Women and Girls, the Key to Implementing Commitments made in the Global Compact on Refugees project, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT).
Project leads Dr Linda Bartolomei and Associate Professor Eileen Pittaway from UNSW’s Forced Migration Research Network worked with eight women refugee-led organisations (WRLOs) in Malaysia for its final phase.
The project helped deliver refugee-led work, address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and develop and implement solutions to gender inequality by providing training and funding for refugee women-led projects.
Ms Artan and other refugee women from diverse groups built strong skills in developing and implementing strategies to respond to SGBV, and to strengthen their organisations.
“We learnt about [organisational] succession planning, and how to write funding and grant proposals with NGOs and the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees],” says Ms Artan, now operations manager of SWAM.
The WRLOs then led successful programs with local refugee women, including English language programs, childcare certification, digital literacy, sewing and jewellery making, as well as SGBV awareness classes. These programs supported entrepreneurship for sustainable income streams.
The training builds on refugee women’s knowledge and strengths, says Dr Bartolomei. “Refugee contexts are diverse and complex, evidencing gender inequality and intersectional disadvantage.
“Refugee and displaced women and girls can experience trauma, human rights violations, such as sexual and gender-based violence, and other hardships. However, women are not just passive survivors.”
The UNHCR Age, Gender and Diversity Policy, adopted in 2018, promotes the inclusion of refugee people in decision making about programs that affect their lives.
However, top-down humanitarian responses and a lack of legal rights and citizenship continue to inhibit their participation and agency over decision-making, she says.
“Human rights-based training provides a framework, empowering them to harness their lived experience and exercise their leadership and decision-making skills to advance communities’ needs.
“Refugee women are best placed to understand the needs of their communities. They have a keen analysis of the problems experienced in camps as well as their potential solutions.
“Recognising their agency and incredible capacity is vital to enabling more self-reliant, safe and sustainable futures.”
Members of the Somali Women's Association Malaysia (SWAM) chose high-end pastry and cake baking training as a skill to learn, building community and strengthening their peer support network. Photo: Supplied
Dr Bartolomei and A/Prof. Pittaway have partnered with refugee women and girls on action-based research projects in more than 15 different countries for more than 25 years.
This project brought together WRLOs: Sudanese, Somali, Yemeni, Afghan, Rohingya (2) and Pakistani Women’s Groups, and MEWRO – Burmese women; UNHCR Malaysia; NGOs: Tenaganita; Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network; Malaysian Social Research Institute and Asylum Access Malaysia; and Associate Professor Shanthi Thambiah and Dr Rusaslina Idrus from Universiti Malaya.
It supports the gender commitments in the UNHCR’s Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), a blueprint for supporting the meaningful participation of refugees. The researchers and a team of refugee women leaders undertook the Gender Audit of UNHCR’s Thematic meetings (2017-2020) which informed the GCR’s development.
Their research was also instrumental in the development of UNHCR’s Conclusion on the Protection of Women and Girls at Risk (2006) and of the Heightened Risk Identification Tool (2008), promoting early intervention with women and girls impacted by trauma, SGBV and other hardships.
The devastating impacts of COVID-19 highlighted the capacity of WRLOs to respond to their community needs, says A/Prof. Pittaway.
“The withdrawal of aid during the pandemic, as awful as it was, demonstrated the women’s strong capacity to lead and deliver programs tailored to community needs.
“Each group took different approaches, for example to access safe and lucrative employment opportunities, build entrepreneurial and business skills, or improve their confidence speaking English. But they all enhanced gender equality.”
SWAM elected to host high-end pastry and cake baking training. “We chose bakery because the ladies wanted to learn a skill to be able to provide for their families, working at home and selling online or through local communities,” Ms Artan says.
40 women undertook the training, delivered initially by a Moroccan woman, with a Somali woman from the first cohort receiving training to deliver the program a second time.
SWAM fundraised for ovens and other baking equipment to support the women to build their businesses. The program also strengthened peer support.
“All the women will talk to each other… they will share about their struggles, they will share about their success, and how this program was helping them to actually come out from their comfort zones,” Ms Artan says.
The Yemeni Women Refugees Organisation (YWRO), founded by Dr Leena Al Mujahed, ran baking and soap-making training, prioritising single mothers’ involvement.
The project built strong relationships, Dr Al Mujahed says. “We were like a family, even with Linda and Eileen. They opened the space for us to be the decision makers, to choose what we wanted to do, what was good for our community.”
She was employed through the program, with Hafsa Khanom from the Rohingya community, to co-coordinate the WRLO-led expo Breaking Barriers and Building Futures in Kuala Lumpur. The expo hosted guest speakers and showcased the women’s talents and entrepreneurship, including handmade crafts, jewellery, henna art and varied cuisine and bakery products.
It was attended by more than 150 representatives from donors, NGOs, academic institutions, refugee groups and other community members. The short film Empowering Refugee Women in Kuala Lumpur: Unity, Resilience, and Identity, documenting women’s work, impact and solidarity, was shown.
Dr Al Mujahed has worked in the medical science and business worlds. She is launching MyFashionChamber, a fashion with purpose initiative. MyFashionChamber grew from a local sewing initiative to provide an international platform for women refugee designers.
“It connects the refugee and fashion worlds, connecting designers to international brands, workshops and certificate training,” Dr Al Mujahed says.
“My passion lies in empowering women and using culture as a bridge between worlds... Fashion became my unexpected language – a powerful way to tell stories of resilience, identity and transformation.”
A comprehensive resource kit consolidating two decades of Dr Bartolomei and A/Prof. Pittaway’s research and development practice was a key outcome of the project.
Its 14 modules cover gender equality and its structural barriers; gender-based social barriers for WRLOs; intersectional disadvantage; the impacts of SGBV; working with refugee men as partners in gender equality; and more with slides, trainers’ notes, tools and exercises, and background reading.
The modules include graphics by former refugee Damayanthi Muthukumarage, a Sri Lankan-born feminist writer, cartoonist and human rights advocate, to increase accessibility across diverse groups.
DFAT Assistant Director Lauren Minson says the resource kit is “one of the most effective examples of community practice. We are using it and the [project outcomes] report to inform a new program to provide more direct support to Women Refugee-Led Organisations."
The research demonstrated that while there is no one-size-fits-all solution, by identifying, acknowledging and responding to local conditions common goals, such as increasing refugee self-representation and participation and responding to SGBV, can be achieved.
As Ms Arlan says: “We all came from different backgrounds, but still we had similar goals, because all of us, we want the same thing for our community. All of us want our communities to be safe, to have safe spaces and strong skills to support our families.”
UNSW School of Social Sciences | Forced Migration Research Network
Dr Linda Bartolomei | Associate Professor Eileen Pittaway
Pillar 7: Advance economic and social prosperity
