Third meeting to systematise the Basque Network in Support of the National Union of Sahrawi Women

Date: 2026 April 24

The Basque Network in Support of the National Union of Sahrawi Women (NUSW) has held the third workshop of its systematisation process, reinforcing the continuity of work begun last year. This session, held on 16 April, is part of a participatory process aimed at providing recommendations to improve 20 years of cooperation and solidarity between the Network and the NUSW in the struggle for the rights of women belonging to a people living in conditions of refuge, exile and occupation.

The third workshop, facilitated by Hegoa, reviewed the previous work and identified both positive and negative impacts in order to draw up specific recommendations from the Network for the NUSW. Since their inception, the workshops have aimed to develop a process of systematising the progress and impacts of the work on both Basque society and Sahrawi women from a perspective of feminist and internationalist solidarity. To this end, the Network has more than 15 representatives from various entities and organisations, such as the Association of Friends of the SADR of Araba, several municipalities, Euskal Fondoa and Emakunde.

This systematisation work involved the participation of the NUSW last December, on that occasion in the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. Those collective activities and interviews were key to the Network’s systematisation process from the perspective of the NUSW. Participants assessed the most significant contributions, shared their expectations and identified priorities to design the strategic lines of collaboration.

This phase involved members of the NUSW executive bureau, those in charge of the Women’s Centres in the wilayas and users of spaces such as the Smara Centre, the first of which was created two decades ago with the Network’s support. In addition, interviews were conducted with the General Secretary of the NUSW and the SADR Minister for Social Affairs and the Promotion of Women, which made it possible to identify priorities and expectations for the future.

Among the aspects most valued by the NUSW and the Network is the establishment of the Women’s Centres in the refugee camps in Tindouf. As Chaba Seini acknowledges, these are meeting spaces for women’s empowerment. Seini’s recent re-election for a second four-year term as General Secretary of the NUSW is seen as an opportunity to provide continuity to the systematisation process. This third workshop therefore allows the Basque Network to build on the work initiated last year and reinforces its commitment to feminist and internationalist solidarity.

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