The Rising Voices grantee ‘Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques‘ has taken big strides in training new media tools to female politicians, activists, and human right workers of Yemen. The project leader Ghaida'a Al Absi reports that the first phase of the project has been completed. In spite of technical challenges like frequent electricity outages and slow internet, the project so far trained 112 female bloggers surpassing the target of 100 participants in ten workshops.

The last workshop on the 25th of January drew 20 participants. These girls are not only eager to learn, they are asking a lot of questions. Fathi al-Dhafri, the trainer of a previous workshop (24 December, 2009) noted:

“training girls is tiring because they are asking a lot, and want to learn everything at the same time.“

Ghaida'a explains:

This is true because of the social pressure on women; they are trying to prove themselves through getting a higher education and gaining new skills. For example, the rate of success among girls in the secondary education is higher than among boys.

The project was also featured in the 14th October newspaper. Bashir, the journalist who visited a workshop quoted Ghaida'a:

She pointed out that the second phase of the project will commence in February next explained that the project is for women only on the grounds that the number of women professionals in this aspect is very small compared with the number of young people who operate extensively in this aspect.

A certificate distribution ceremony for active bloggers will take place in February. The first edition of Tadween Magazine will also be published.

Ghaida'a lists the plans for the second phase:

1- Train 88 ladies in blogging and social networking

2- Train 20 ladies in the art of writing

3- publish the second edition of Tadween magazine.

4- Make two workshops in two other localities.

Below is a glimpse of what some of the bloggers are writing about:

Bee at Small Bee blog writes on freedom:

Freedom is not a decree issued by Parliament, it is made in us. It is the way we think and the way we feel and the means by opening our hearts to a new sense of our minds and wake up a creative idea. The most serious threats to our freedom is not .. Prison …. But the gallows in the depths of our concern.. fear of failure. (machine translation)

Yemen Al Saeed at Happy Yemen discusses about the role of women in Yemeni society in historical and present times.

“Do we make life for ourselves or others?” asks Hanan Attia.

Make a difference by posting your comment writes about the torments of life and about hope at the end of the tunnel.

Kholoud at Ambitious project wishes the success of the London conference.

Out of the 112 bloggers trained, 24 of them are now active. Here is a list of those bloggers which you can follow.