The Ra’idat programme is a year-long training programme for young women from across Libya who wish to be, or are already active, in their communities as leaders and want to develop their skills.

Through Ra’idat, the UN in Libya aims to provide space for and magnify the voice of young Libyan women so they can ably participate in deciding their country’s future including through the political dialogue.

What is the Ra’idat programme?

The programme focuses on, through training every two months, building the communications, teamwork, leadership and advocacy skills of participants alongside their knowledge of elections, human rights, and women’s legal rights in Libya.

Training sessions cover:

• Strategic communications and advocacy – includes developing communication campaigns, media literacy,  media training and messaging, presenting and debating skills.
• Teamwork and leadership skills
• Political awareness – includes elections and national reconciliation
• Human rights – includes women’s rights and transitional justice
• Critical thinking
• Potential opportunities to undertake training at the European Union and/or the African Union.

Application criteria

The Ra’idat programme is open to young Libyan women from across the country who meet the following criteria:

• Libyan and aged 18-30;
• Must be active in their communities, or have the ambition to be active leaders;
• From any region of Libya and be living in Libya;
• Applicants with disabilities are encouraged;
• Applicants from all social and cultural components are encouraged;
• Candidates cannot be related to senior state officials to avoid conflicts of interest.

How to apply

Applications open annually on 1 July. The next round of applications for cohort 3 of the programme will open on 1 July 2025 for two weeks. There is no extension to the period.

Applicants must complete the dedicated application form which will be highlighted on UNSMIL social media and website.

Applications which are written by ChatGPT or AI will disqualified. The programme team emphasizes the need for applicants to focus their community ambitions and ideas.

In 2024-2025 there were 747 applicants to the programme.

Timeline of applications

After applications are closed, all applications will be assessed against the criteria listed above.

70 applicants will be chosen and contacted in late August to take part in online interviews with the programme team, where their compatibility with the programme will be assessed.

Following these interviews, 35 candidates will be invited to join cohort 3 of the programme which will start in October 2025.

Only successful applicants will be contacted for the next step.