Libya

Situation Report
Feature
Rugaya Gleasa, head of Hope Charity (Hope Charity)
Rugaya Gleasa, head of Hope Charity (Hope Charity)

Empowering Libyan Women: Hope Charity’s Courage in the Face of Adversity

As 2022 nears a close, the overall humanitarian situation for most Libyans is improving. Humanitarian agencies estimated that in 2022, some 803,000 people remain in need, of which 400,000 people require some form of lifesaving humanitarian assistance. This includes around 86,000 women and 80,000 girls. While the last decade has brought continued challenges towards peace and stability in the country, women-led organizations have shown incredible resilience, working tirelessly despite the several material, political, and psychological challenges posed by the conflict. Several organizations, including UN agencies, NGOs and civil society groups, have programmes that specifically provide support for women from basic humanitarian aid supplies, to psychosocial support, to capacity building training to ensure self-resilience.

One of the independent organizations working diligently to empower Libyan women is Hope Charity, based in Tripoli. Founded by Rugaya Gleasa’s late husband, Omar Mettawa, Hope Charity supports Libyan women with capacity building programmes, including tech training, English lessons, nursing training, and sewing and cooking lessons. Mrs. Gleasa and Mrs. Yasar Lamin from Hope Charity emphasized how empowering women is possible while navigating within the framework of Libyan society. A safe space for women, Hope Charity provides women with the essential skills to earn money for themselves and their families, giving them financial independence and self-sufficiency.

Started after 2011, the organization has helped women who need assistance to rebuild their homes, their lives, and their families. Since then, Hope Charity has helped over 25,000 women, many of whom now have their own businesses. Over time, the women at Hope have demonstrated what their charity can do, and are currently supporting the Libyan Ministry of Education, helping train teachers free of charge. The charity has three branches in Tripoli, all of which are women-only and women-led.

In addition to providing material and professional assistance, Hope gives legal and psychosocial support. Mrs. Yasar, formerly an internally displaced person, draws from her own experiences to help women going through the same struggles. Although extremely rewarding, she says that offering social and psychosocial services are amongst the most difficult tasks for the charity, because of the stigma surrounding mental health, as it is still considered a taboo issue. Psychosocial and mental health support is not explicitly provided but is instead an integral part of training for women in their chosen fields. Today, Hope Charity has been recognized as a well-established institution supporting women’s needs- psychological and material- and as such, more women are now seeking them out solely for psychosocial support, demonstrating a significant shift in perceptions surrounding mental health, and highlighting the positive impacts of their work.

As they continue to fight for women’s rights, Mrs. Rugaya hopes to see an empowered Libyan woman standing on her own two feet. Both she and Mrs. Yasar emphasize that seeing women, who are unaware of their own potential, come to their centers and leave with a changed mentality, knowing that they can make their own choices is constantly reminding them to rethink their own limits. Although a lot of the Libyan woman’s choices may still be subjected to a man, Hope Charity is here to remind her that the fight for her basic rights is a human right and non-negotiable.

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