Al Zahraa (The Flower) Society is an organization that promotes women’s rights and empowerment. It is dedicated to providing psychological support to women who are survivors of sexual and domestic violence as well as to the women and children who have been displaced from their homes by war. During its first year of funding Al Zahraa set out goals to help protect women and children from violence through supporting, empowering, and raising awareness of important psychological, social, legal, and economic issues.

During this past year Al Zahraa, with support of the Martín-Baró Fund, was able reach 40 vulnerable women who faced multiple types of discrimination and abuse such as physical, psychological and sexual abuse from their husbands and others. Al Zahraa was able to provide structured group support sessions as well as individual sessions to these women, all while advising and educating them on legal issues and women’s rights. In addition, Al Zahraa provided training to these women in two different fields; hairdressing and Fee Creativity which included working with various ceramic and recycled materials to make goods. The vocational training not only provided a new source of income for the women, but also worked as a stress reliever for the women by returning normalcy to their lives. For their second year of funding from the Martín-Baró Fund, Al Zahraa aims to further assist women with disabilities in their activities. Al Zahraa would also like to expand the vocational training it provides to the women they support. These new initiatives are in addition to its continued efforts to help women who are victims of sexual and domestic violence.