Strengthening Democracy in Yemen with Student Councils

Democratic practices, leadership skills, and volunteerism are three things now present in schools in Yemen, thanks to AED’s Student Council Project, as a recent story in the Yemen Observer points out.

With the strong backing of Yemen’s President, and funding from U.S. Department of State, the project has created democratically elected student and parent councils, along with bylaws for the student councils approved by the Ministry of Education. To achieve this, the AED Center for Gender Equity developed partnerships among students, school principals, teachers, social workers, fathers, and mothers.

Now, at the beginning of every school year, student council elections are held in participating schools. AED has already involved 77 schools in the program and will expand that to 25 as the program continues.

Read the full news article online at: http://www.yoserver.com/reports/10019275.html., and a June article in the Yemen Times.