YWU has tried to select directions that will affect Yemeni women positively to encourage women to take a role in building the new Yemeni Society.  These directions are:
1. Widening the YWU’s popular base to include all levels, organizations, and foundations.
2. Diversifying the YWU’s activities and methods to insure the effective participation of the Yemeni women.
3. Concentrating on illiteracy eradication activities in all forms.
4. Solving women, family, child and mother care’s problems.
5. Paying attention to the needs and problems of women in rural and remote areas.
6. Studying women and family’s legislations and laws and reviewing them to help correct women’s legal situations.
7. Helping special needs groups by creating effective partnerships with local organizations.
8. Implementing social developmental projects.

Many of these directions have been executed within the frame of the plans, projects, activities, and services that the YWU and its branches have done.  This was proven by the surveys of the Union’s branches and its centers in urban, rural, and remote areas.

Strategic Plans of the Yemeni Women Union
The main objective of preparing the strategic plan is to create a futuristic vision that enables the YWU to have an important and effective role in adopting women’s issues in all strategic objectives and directions that the YWU is adopting for the years 2004-2007.  The strategic plan is the results of the efforts of the YWU’s leadership efforts and international organizations.  The YWU is facing challenges in achieving this plan in the specified time.
Objectives of the Strategic Plan
• Empowering women educationally and closing the gender gap especially in basic education.
• Empowering women economically, especially women with special needs, in urban, rural, and remote areas.
• Raising awareness in the health and education field.
• Raising awareness about the dangers of early marriages.
• Institutional capacity building.
• Creating income generating projects for the YWU branches and centers.
• Giving loans for poor families and connecting it to illiteracy eradication.
• Raising awareness about Women’s legal rights.

Executive Office and its Branches in the Governorates' Activities
The YWU has done many activities and completed many missions during the year 2004 in all developmental fields.  The YWU has struggles to eradicate illiteracy and it is considering it a priority.  The Union is rehabilitating and training women in many fields of life in all Yemeni governorates.  It is also training trainers to implement awareness campaigns about wide spread diseases among women and children.  It is also fighting poverty through implementing developmental projects for poor families like micro loans projects and training some on how to manage small income generating projects.  The YWU has done many surveys to have a better knowledge of poor areas as well as surveys on female prisoners in many governorates.  It has also participated in many local, national, and international conferences to exchange experiences in the field of social work.
• Violence against Women Project support from Oxfam
- Implemented a legal awareness program in different areas with 1977 participants.
- Implementing many training courses in the field of violence against women for illiteracy eradication teachers and supervisors in districts.
- Holding awareness conferences about marital laws in six areas.
- Holding discussion circles to raise awareness about psychological health and laws for 1700 participants with participation from male and female school students.
- Training workshops that included  people who are judges, lawyers, and women.
- Lectures about the psychological and physical effects of violence against women.
- Legal awareness raising through lectures that targeted many women in different centers of the governorates and destruct .
- Publishing 5000 copies of posters and brochures about the phenomena of violence against women.
- Offering legal help for women during selected times and days.
- Establishing a lobbying group to create a positive pressure about women’s issues.
- Conducting a research about violence against women to know the causes and types of violence in the society.
- Spreading religious and legal awareness through lectures and discussion groups about inheritances and women’s rights.
- Holding a live show on the local radio about domestic violence and reporting in the news about violence against women conferences.
• Alternative Mother Project
- The Alternative Mother Project is a project that aims to help female prisoners’ children.  These children are placed during the week in selected families and in the weekend they go back to their mothers in prison.  The children’s care includes food, education, and social and psychological support.
Checking on female prisoner and following up with authorities to improve their     situations and open illiteracy eradication classes.
• Illiteracy eradication classes for adults.
• Sewing and Tailoring
• Hand crafts
• Agricultural awareness and environmental protection.
• Health and social awareness.
• The YWU has been developing women’s skills in the filed of ceramics and glass painting.  Women at the branchs learn skills that help them establish income generating projects.
• Hair Salons and Wedding halls

Projects
a. A book titled Women’s Rights under Local and  Islam Laws
The Executive Office with the support of the United Nation Developmental Program has published Women’s Rights under Local and Islamic Laws. This book compares women’s rights that are stated in Islam and the country’s laws and the reality that women are living.  It also explains and describes inherited cultural practices and the wrong understanding of Islam and their effect on women’s situations, their role in public life, and the their low participation in the developmental process in all forms.  Many elite specialists had participated in publishing this book and it is considered one of the most important achievements of YWU.
b. Participating in Institutional Capacity Building of the YWU Project which is funded by the Royal Netherlands Governorate with coordination with Care International in Sana’a.
The YWU in Yemen has held many workshops about Institutional Capacity Building of the YWU.  These workshops are within the frame of the Strategic Plan.  These workshops aim to help the YWU and its leaders and branches implement their work correctly.  The project has completed training workshops under the supervision and coordination with Care International in Sana’a in the following fields:
• A training workshop on evaluation and follow up.
• A training workshop on quick evaluation by participation.
• A training workshop on gender issues and leadership.
• A training workshop on modern management methods.
• A training workshop on financial management.
• A training workshop on the training of trainers.
• A training workshop on strategic planning and programming by participating.
• A training workshop on volunteerism work and social development.
• A training workshop on micro projects management and income generating projects.
• A training workshop on conflict resolution.
The results of these workshops were graduating trainers in all fields and that gave the YWU an ability to manage, plan, fund, implement, follow up, and evaluate new projects.  It also prepared trainers in the filed of creating projects and managing them. There were 24 workshops and 2681 beneficiaries.   
When the project first started, the YWU assisted by trainers and consultants from outside Yemen but now all trainers and consultants are Yemenis to encourage Yemeni cadre to work and successes in the field of training.  The project concentrated on gathering all its branches in these workshops to exchange experiences and skills and
to create strong relations and mutual trust among branches.
• There are A group of volunteer lawyers work in the law unit of the branches and they offer legal help for female prisoners and also women the cities and districts
• Kindergartens project is considered an income generating project branches  to help the worker women . There are 14 kindergartens at the 10 branches were kids learn and be prepared for elementary school.  The kindergartens’ fees are very affordable to help working women.

Project-Cartoon Movie
YWU is working in cooperation with the USAID to prepare a television cartoon series that aims to support peace, love, and kindness.  It also aims to elevate the revenge phenomena in Al Jawf Governorate.  The cartoon series is inspired by norms and customs in the governorate.  The project is still under implementation and specialist from Syria and Egypt were chosen to participate.

Activities
Local Activities
The YWU had participated in many conferences, conventions, and meetings with political, governmental, nongovernmental, and civil society parties.  The following are examples of local activities:
• Participating in the first regional conference on handicaps that the Arab Human Rights Foundation held with cooperation with Oxfam.
• Participating in Arab Child Day activities that the Higher Committee of Mother and Child held.
• Participating in the Arabic conference titled Psychological Health of Arab Girls and Women which was organized by the Arab Association of Human Resources and Management Development with cooperation with the Family, Child, and Mother Sector in the Arab League.
• Participating in a work shop titled Education for Democratic citizens.  The Unit of Civil Education in the Women Forum for Research and Training (WFRT) with the cooperation with the Canadian Program for Development organized the event.
• Participating in a Dialogue Meeting organized by the Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights.
• Holding a conference titled the Family Role in Social Growing with cooperation with the Faculty of Education in the University of Sana’a.
• Participating in a Consultation Meeting with the members of the Yemeni Congress about integrating gender in development.  The meeting was organized by the National Committee and the United Nation Development Program.
• Participating in a Discussion Meeting with representatives of Civil Society Organizations in Yemen to prepare for a delegation that will be sent to Europe to support the civil society in Yemen.
• Participating in a special training session about capacity building of NGO’s in the filed of management through leadership and democracy.  The session was organized by WFRT.
• Participating in the opening of Family Care and Reproductive Health Center of the Yemeni Family Care Association.
• Participating in the inauguration of Human Rights in Islam Program that was organized by WFRT in Sana’a with cooperation with GTZ.

International Activities
The YWU had participated in many conferences, conventions, and meetings with political, governmental, nongovernmental, and civil society parties.  The following are examples of international activities:
• Participating in the Arab Conference for the tenth review of the international year of the family in Beirut from 7-9 October 2003.
• Participating in the first National Women Committee conference that was held in ASCWA in Beirut from 407 December 2003.
• Participating in the Arabic festival of theaters in Syria in January 2004.
• Participating in the Arab Summit in Jordan in March 2004.
• Participating in a conference in Qatar titled Partners in Development from 14-19 February 2004.
• Participating in a convention held by the Lebanese Women Council titled Roots, Achievements, and Outlooks from 1-20 February 2004.
• Participating in the Arab Conference titled Supporting Psychological Health of Arab Girls and Women in Cairo on 14 of Feb 2004.
• Participated in a convention titled Adult Education and Development from 22-26 May 2004 in Kuwait.
• Participated in the Regional Arab Conference titled Ten Years after Beijing from 8-10 July 2004 in Beirut.
• Participated in the Regional Conference that was held in Nairobi about Discrimination against Women Policies (FGM) from 16-18 September 2004.
• Participating in the Arab regional meeting in Jordan from 5-6 October 2004.
• Participating in the Women Summit in China that aimed to follow up and evaluate.
• Volunteer lawyers were sent from the YWU to Morocco to exchange experiences and learn new skills.
• Participating in the International Democratic Conference and Human Rights.
• Participating in the regional workshop about implementing UNISCO’s recommendation about education and cultural education.
• Participating in a workshop about empowering women in the Gulf and the Arabic Peninsula to take political decisions.

Executive Office Memberships
Special Consultative status with ECOSOC
- Member of the Consultation Commission of the Human Rights Ministry.
- Member of the Technical Committee for Poverty Elevation Strategy.
-  Member of the Advancement Committee for Human Rights Decisions.
- Member of the General Arab Union.
- Member of the Arab Illiteracy Eradication and Adult Education Network.  YWU is also the General Secretary of the Network.
- Member of Social Security Network.
- Member of the Executive Office of the Arab Family Organization.
- Member of the Arab Social Organizations Network.
- YWU is the head of the Civil Society Organizations Work Team.
- Member of the Human Rights Team.