About the Hurra Coalition
The Hurra Coalition is a diverse group of women's rights organisations and advocates calling for family law reform in various countries across the Arab states. Hurra means “Free (woman)”. As the name denotes, the coalition aims to free women and girls from all forms of discrimination in family laws. The Hurra Coalition exists to support and develop a robust, diverse, and inclusive women’s rights movement.
Our vision and goal
Every woman and girl in the Arab region should enjoy their human rights to achieve their full potential.
Our mission
We are the Hurra Coalition, a group of feminist civil society organisations (CSO) and institutions that seek to fully achieve equal rights for all women and girls in the Arab region. We believe that equality and justice between women and men at all social, economic, and cultural levels is the path towards building a society based on human rights principles.
We created the Hurra Coalition because we believe in the importance of joint action and networking in maximising impact and resources, particularly because various communities in the Arab region have common causes and cultural roots. We seek to achieve our goal in the spirit of excellence, mastery, and courage and hope to be seen as guardians of the dignity of women in the Arab region. We also invest in the next generation, building the skills and leadership of young women and men so they can carry this work forward as advocates in their own right, continuing what Hurra's members have started.
Our objectives
The Hurra Coalition has six main objectives:
- Make equality in family law, its policies, and practices a regional and national priority in compliance with international human rights standards.
- Encourage and support partner women’s rights organisations to campaign for family law reform.
- Build the capacities of the national WROs/CSOs that are members of the coalition.
- Consolidate regional solidarity among Hurra Coalition members to share commonalities, challenges, and best practices, as well as provide ongoing support to each other in their family law reform campaigns.
- Ensure the engagement and inclusion of young activists/young women in national campaigns and build their capacities in the field of legal and media advocacy.
- Create and build synergies with other regional networks that share similar values and goals with the Hurra Coalition, all within the framework of the goals and in conformity with the Global Campaign for Family Law Reform mandate.
The evolution of the Hurra Coalition
The seeds of the coalition were sown in 2019 when Equality Now organised a convening in Lebanon, bringing together a diverse group of women’s rights organisations interested in joining forces to lobby for change in their respective countries in the Arab region.
Between that initial convening and the coalition's official launch in 2023, members continued to drive national-level legal advocacy campaigns. This work included building the capacity of legal practitioners, journalists, and parliamentarians on egalitarian family laws; lobbying decision-makers to mobilise support for legal reform; and raising public awareness and legal literacy. Each year, members also convened to share progress, exchange lessons learned and strategies for overcoming challenges, and set priorities for the coming year's national campaigns.
This sustained groundwork culminated in the formal launch of the Hurra Coalition in 2023 as a feminist, intersectional movement dedicated to reforming the laws that govern the family. That September, Equality Now was unanimously voted in as the coalition's Secretariat. In this role, Equality Now has since strengthened members' capacities across multiple areas — including campaign strategy, legal and media advocacy, engagement with policymakers and decision-makers, and fostering active participation among young activists from marginalised communities.
Since then, the coalition has grown, with the support of our partner Gucci (CHIME FOR CHANGE), into a dynamic group fostering a robust, diverse, inclusive, and collaborative women’s rights movement.
Our members run joint advocacy campaigns across borders, share legal strategies that have worked in one country to accelerate progress in another, and share evidence-based research to make the case for reform stronger everywhere it is raised. When a member organisation achieves a legal victory in one country, that precedent, strategy, and lesson gets shared across the coalition, so progress in one place can be replicated to build momentum everywhere.
Who we are:
Our membership
The Hurra Coalition is not a single entity, but a collective of 21 leading women’s rights organisations (WROs), advocates, legal associations, and research centres spanning 10 countries across the Arab region, who are themselves strongly connected to other national and regional networks. Our strength lies in our diversity and multiplier effect, bringing together experts and advocates from different legal systems and contexts to share strategies and foster regional solidarity.
Our members
The Secretariat
Equality Now serves as the founding member and Secretariat for the Hurra Coalition. With global legal expertise and deep roots in the region, Equality Now supports members with campaign strategy, strengthening the capacities of organisations and youth, international human rights technicality, and communications.
Our partners & supporters
The work of the Hurra Coalition is made possible through strategic partnerships with funders who share our vision of a region where equality belongs in the family.
The wider movement
The Hurra Coalition is part of a wider movement working worldwide on family law reform at national, regional and international levels