Plowing in Yemen's Northern Highlands 1984. Photo: Najwa Adra
Najwa Adra is a cultural anthropologist specializing in Yemen and the Middle East. She has worked on women’s economic and political participation, education, health, agricultural extension, informal legal systems and social exclusion. She has a long-standing interest in intangible cultural heritage and its potential contributions to national development. Between 1999 and 2003, she received funding from the World Bank and the Social Fund for Development, Sanaa, to pilot Literacy through Poetry/Heritage through which adults learn reading and writing skills using their own oral poetry and proverbs as text. see previous page Her skills include grassroots development, project design and implementation, sustainable development, multi-sectoral coordination, stakeholder analysis, trend analysis and qualitative field research. She has training in implementing the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage. Below are selected publications and reports relating to development:
Women's Participation in Development
2020 Women, Violence and Exiting from Violence with a Gendered Approach: MENA Region and Diaspora, with Nadje Al-Ali, Sana Farhat, Danièle Joly, Pénélope Larzillière and Nicola Pratt. In, International Panel for Exiting Violence (IPEV), Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. In French and English. Authored a chapter on Yemen in the report. A longer version is expected to appear as a Working Paper with the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.
2016 Tribal Mediation and Empowered Women: Potential Contributions of Heritage to National Development in Yemen. International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 5(2):301-337.
2013 - 2014 Women and Peacebuilding in Yemen: Challenges and Opportunities. Policy Brief, Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre (NOREF). Available online: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/173204/ca9106951a2408f79cdadbf30fc9c244.pdf
Republished in Open Democracy, January 21, 2014
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/women-and-peacebuilding-in-yemen-challenges-and-opportunities/
2013 The Impact of Emigration on Women's Roles in Agriculture in the Yemen Arab Republic. (Revision and update of a 1983 report.) Report prepared for FAO, Rome.
2008 Invited participant. UNIFEM/UNDP/Gender at Work initiative on Gender and Democratic Governance in Development, New York, NY, December 11, 12. Contributed to A User's Guide to Measuring Gender-Sensitive Basic Service Delivery. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/users_guide_measuring_gender.pdf
2006-2007 Articles for The Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Suad Joseph, ed. Leiden: Brill:
Law: Customary: Gulf and Yemen. Volume II:418-419, 2006. Available online:
http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-women-and-islamic-cultures/law-customary-gulf-and-yemen-EWICCOM_0109d
Body: Female. Yemen. Volume III:47-48, 2006. Available online:
http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-women-and-islamic-cultures/body-female-yemen-EWICCOM_0159h?s.num=2&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-women-and-islamic-cultures&s.q=Najwa+Adra
Economics: Agricultural Labor. Yemen. Volume IV:136-137, 2007. Available online:
http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-women-and-islamic-cultures/economics-agricultural-labor-yemen-EWICCOM_0226f
Economics: Land Reform. Yemen. Volume IV:215, 2007. Available online:
http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-women-and-islamic-cultures/economics-land-reform-yemen-EWICCOM_0238e?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopedia-of-women-and-islamic-cultures&s.q=Najwa+Adra
2006 Social Exclusion Analysis – Yemen. Report based on desk study for DFID Yemen Country Assistant Plans (CAP) and World Bank Country Social Analysis (CSA).
1986 Situation Analysis - Women. UNICEF, Sanaa, Yemen Arab Republic. Includes, Bibliography of Women and Children in YAR, and an annex, The Situation of Children in YAR.
1983 Local Perceptions of Breastfeeding, Fertility and Infant Care in Al-Ahjur, Yemen Arab Republic. Unpublished report prepared for the Population Council, Cairo, Egypt.
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development
2016 Tribal Mediation and Empowered Women: Potential Contributions of Heritage to National Development in Yemen. International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 5(2):301-337.
2008 Learning through Heritage, Literacy through Poetry. Adult Education and Development, 70:
https://www.dvv-international.de/en/adult-education-and-development/editions/aed-702008/literacy-and-efa/learning-through-heritage-literacy-through-poetry
2005 Brainstorming Notes on Mainstreaming Intangible Heritage into Ongoing and New Development Programs in Yemen. Unpublished report for UNDP, Sanaa.
2004 The Relevance of Intangible Heritage to Development. Anthropology News, 45(3):24.
2001-2003 Literacy through Poetry/Heritage Project (Please see the previous page.)
1999 What’s Art Got To Do With It? Anthropology Newsletter, May:15. (Commentary on the theme: What is Relevant About Anthropology?)
