 News
More than 200 women and men from a cross-section of political parties came together Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in Erbil, Iraq, to develop a unified vision for a National Platform for Women in advance of parliamentary elections scheduled for early 2010. The conference was organized by NDI.
Conference participants chose four issues to be the major components of the platform: healthcare, education, employment and political participation. It is hoped that the platform will be at the center of the debate between parties and candidates during the election, with the goal of increasing women's participation in the parliament and the electorate over time. Read more»
Twenty-five women, aged 22 to 34, from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are taking part in NDI's "Youth of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow" program, a year-long effort to invest in and nurture the leadership skills of young women carrying out local projects in their countries and communities. Each participant arrived in Rabat, Morocco, for the launch conference with a vision for improving her community and a commitment to building a network of young women leaders in North Africa. In an intensive four-day program, the women were urged to realize "the power of their potential." Read more»
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In El Salvador, women have crossed party lines to develop a set of national legislative priorities to move the nation toward gender equality. NDI, with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development, convened 35 current and former women legislators at a forum where they identified priority issues: advocating for a gender-focused budget, a law that guarantees equal opportunity for women and men, and a national law against femicide. Read more»
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As southeastern Europe moves beyond its history of violent conflict, women are at the forefront of creating connections across the region. From Oct. 9-12, NDI convened women from 14 Social Democratic parties in eight countries to foster cooperation among ideologically like-minded women leaders. The conference resulted in an agreement to establish a regional network to advocate for the inclusion of women's policy priorities on their parties' legislative agendas. Read more»
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On Oct. 27 and 28, the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics) launched the Arabic version of its website, expanding the network's ongoing dialogue and knowledge exchange in a region where women are significantly underrepresented in politics. Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Talal of Jordan gave the keynote address at the event, which was attended by over 150 women leaders and explored the role of media and technology in increasing the number and effectiveness of women in politics. NDI is one of five partner organizations in the project, along with International IDEA, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the UNDP and UNIFEM. Read more»
Afghanistan: Women's Participation in the 2009 Elections
Afghanistan's presidential and provincial elections on Aug. 20 witnessed an historic increase in the number of women engaged in the electoral process. Some 326 women ran for seats on provincial councils, the governmental bodies closest to the people. NDI trained two-thirds of this group and then selected 18 of these women to be interviewed during the course of their campaigns and after election day to discuss the particular barriers women faced when participating in the elections.
NDI deployed more than 100 long- and short-term observers to monitor the elections. The mission found that the rights of women in the electoral process were especially vulnerable to abuse and required special attention. Read more about NDI's observer mission»
About Win With Women
The Win with Women Global Initiative is a complement to more than two decades of work by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in pursuit of an equitable, democratic society where women’s needs are meaningfully addressed. Some of its latest activities are presented here.
The Initiative is aimed at increasing women’s leadership in elected office, political parties and in civil society. It was launched in 2003 by NDI and its Chairman Madeleine K. Albright to promote strategies for increasing women’s political leadership worldwide. The anchor of the Win with Women Global Initiative is the Global Action Plan, a document that outlines practical recommendations for political parties to broaden their appeal by addressing women’s role as voters, candidates, party activists and elected officials. Women and men from more than 100 countries are active supporters of the Initiative and Global Action Plan.
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