future now”

TURKEY
Al-Hasaka
Aleppo
Raqqa
Idleb
Latakia
Deir Ezzor
Tartous
Hama
LEBANON
Damascus and
its countryside
Homs
Cross-border
IRAQ
Daraa
Sweida
JORDAN
Women’s groups
Women local leaders
Focus groups
A map of Syria showing where the different parts of the research took place.
management team based outside of Syria, but carried out
their activities inside the country and in the refugee areas
of neighbouring countries. These are referred to as groups
with cross-border activities. Information about the 49
groups were collected through a questionnaire.
In addition to the questionnaire, the research team conducted
individual interviews with 35 prominent women
leaders and held ten focus group discussions with local
women activists across the Syrian territories.
The 35 women activists chosen for the interviews all
have substantially impacted their local communities and/
or fields and were thus considered leaders within these
fields/regions. Several of them were also active in social
and/or political affairs in Syria before 2011. All of these
women activists were living and working inside Syria
when approached by the research team 2 .
The ten focus group discussions each included 8–12 activists
of various backgrounds 3 . The focus group discussions
7
were held at a later stage than the initial information
gathering and after most of the interviews and questionnaires
had been finalized in order to collect additional information.
The research was carried out from the second half of 2014
until June 2015. The map above shows the geographical
areas covered. While some of these areas, most notably
Damascus, are still under the control of the Syrian regime,
none of the groups and individuals included in this
research are affiliated with the regime 4 .
1. Groups founded and led by women. Most of these groups also had an overwhelming
majority of women members.
2. Due to constant security threats and harassments by the regime, two of these
women activists had to flee the country around the same time as the interviews
took place.
3. Two persons that took part in focus groups discussions were also participants
of the individual interviews.
4. One group and a few activists interviewed shared that they collaborated with
the regime when their activities required it, for example, in humanitarian relief
activities and/or negotiations involving the regime’s fighting factions or political
decision-making bodies. For security reasons, no additional information
regarding this can be shared.