MENA AREA
The term MENA countries encompasses the entire Middle East and North Africa territories. It denotes a broad region extending from North Africa to the Middle East and the Near East. The MENA region is sometimes referred to as the Arab World or the Greater Middle East.
The countries included in the MENA region are located in northwest Africa and extend from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east. The region encompasses the territories of Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the West Bank, Gaza, and Yemen. Other acronyms are used to define the same area, and whose use has supplanted the earlier and more circumscribed designations of Near East and Middle East. These include WANA (West Asia and North Africa) and MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan). The latter also includes the states of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The population of the MENA region is approximately 436 million, with the majority residing in middle-income economies with a GDP of approximately $3.111 trillion. Since 2011, women's support networks that facilitate the mainstreaming of women's agency and gender equality have become particularly active in countries in the EU-MENA region.
The WE PROPOSE project will identify and analyze the social networks and civil society actors engaged in activities supporting return migration flows in the Mediterranean area of the MENA region. Additionally, it will explore the entrepreneurial and self-entrepreneurial choices and possibilities of migrant women within the socio-economic contexts of temporary residence (Italy) and return (Morocco and Tunisia).