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In shaping WEMC's communication strategy, three questions have been asked:
1.
Is the research useful to women themselves?
2.
Is the information accessible to its intended audiences?
3.
Are the people who are intended beneficiaries able to make use of the research findings?
   
 
Women's capacity for empowerment is modulated by external forces impacting on different aspects of their lives. WEMC communicates its findings to policy makers and other decision-makers to bring about an enabling environment conducive for women's exercise of agency to empower themselves. Critical ingredients in this enabling environment are the policies, laws and schemes that are meant to provide women with better access to economic resources, health care, decision-making, justice and legal protection. Through strategic communication, WEMC mobilises the support of potential allies, including policy makers and implementers, development practitioners, community decision makers and opinion leaders, as well as the general public.
 
 


Women's empowerment initiatives are subject to influences operating outside formal governance structures, including the family, the community, religious leaders and local political actors. WEMC's communication strategy is designed to engage with these influences.

WEMC communicates its research findings to women in enabling ways so that they can use the new knowledge to enhance existing empowerment strategies or to develop new strategies. To strengthen women's capacity to challenge disempowering structures and processes, WEMC endeavours to expand their linkages with sources of support and to promote knowledge-based advocacy for appropriate changes in policy and practice at various levels.

  
WEMC thus aims to build an integrated interface between new knowledge generated through its research on the one hand and, on the other, policy uptake and decision-making in international, regional, national and local arenas. The development of such an interface will result in the quantitative increase of persons and institutions championing women's empowerment in their own work, as well as the qualitative increase in the responsiveness of policy-makers and implementers to women's empowerment needs.
   
 
The WEMC communication strategy counters discourses that lock women into disempowering gender systems, particularly those that seek justification by reference to religion and culture. WEMC debunks the notion that women's empowerment is alien to Muslim contexts. To this end, the WEMC communication strategy:
1.
Disseminates information about the diversity of women's lives in different Muslim contexts
2.
Transmits lessons on empowerment strategies, old and new
3.
Provides strategic insights on culturally appropriate, socially sensitive support mechanisms for women in Muslim contexts
  4.
Facilitates communication and linkages between empowerment initiatives in, across, and beyond Muslim contexts.
  
 
   
 
Key features of WEMC communication
1.
Responsiveness to changing conditions in very diverse realities:
WEMC has an ongoing mapping process to identify and prioritise
‧Data collection, management and analysis
‧intended audiences
‧strategic opportunities for introducing WEMC research findings in different arenas
‧messages to counter threats to women
‧areas where WEMC research can make a difference
2. Partner-led local communication strategies:
WEMC is building on the accumulated experiences of its partners and associates to communicate to varied audiences, sometimes in very challenging circumstances - audiences that range from international and bilateral development agencies, national and local policy-makers, to illiterate rural women.
3. Developing new channels of communication:
WEMC is actively developing new channels of communication, particularly at meso and micro levels, where few institutional channels for effective communication and positive change exist.
4. Strategic use of media and products:
WEMC uses diverse means to address, engage with, influence and mobilise strategically important audiences. Communication is tailored to the specific needs and preferences of particular audiences.
5. Supporting women in their struggles for empowerment:
WEMC research findings are transformed into tools for women to use to advance their struggles for empowerment - for example, by replicating successful empowerment strategies.
 
   
  WEMC Communication Desk
A Communication Desk, based at the WEMC Secretariat in City University of Hong Kong, pulls together the multiple context-specific strategies of partners into a coherent strategy. Working closely with partners, the WEMC Communication Desk:		  
 
  • Receives, analyses and collates reports of different components
  • Ensures that all partners are kept informed of localised developments in communication
  • Helps to assess the varied impacts of new developments
  • Identifies new opportunities and new champions for women's empowerment beyond local contexts
  • Monitors the policy environment and the public sphere for emergent threats to women's empowerment and suggests measures for addressing these
  • Identifies and facilitates strategic communication opportunities
  • Ensures that key research information is translated into relevant languages