Untitled DocumentCountries Overview Algeria: Women Leaders: Everyone Wins (2004-2005)
NDI, in cooperation with Algerian political parties and the Center for Information and Documentation on the Rights of Women and Children (CIDDEF), organized a summer university program entitled "Women Leaders: Everyone Wins." This residential leadership skills development retreat featured the participation of 38 Algerian women politicians from eight different political parties, as well as international and Algerian experts. The summer university sought to foster a consensus among Algerian party leaders on the importance of encouraging women to engage in politics as voters, activists, elected officials and members of the party leadership. Participants worked together in small, multiparty groups to develop a series of recommendations for political parties on increasing women's participation in politics. These proposals, which represented a collective effort by the participants to articulate achievable, short and medium-term measures to be presented to their respective political parties, included the establishment of a quota system that would set a minimum standard for women's representation within the party executive and on party lists and the creation of a special fund to train women candidates and party activists. In 2005, "Women Leaders: Everyone Wins II" was held, and this retreat gave priority to grassroots party activists. By catering specifically to women from the grassroots level, this activity aimed to help participating parties create a larger pool of women politicians with all of the necessary skills to become future leaders and elected officials.
Morocco: Networking Women Leaders for Effective Advocacy (2003)
Since the 2002 Parliamentary elections, NDI has worked with the newly elected women MPs, providing them with a range of skills to help them better serve their constituents' needs and to advance the possibility of establishing a women's caucus in Parliament. In the time since the women have taken office, training sessions have included legislative skill building and conflict negotiation. Several trainings have called on international trainers and women leaders from Finland to South Africa, to share their challenges and successes of working in coalitions with other women to affect legislative policy.
Serbia: Supporting Elected Officials (2002-3)
Since the first NDI political skills training in 2000, NDI's work with women in Serbian politics continues to produce results. After a recent seminar for elected officials on how to create mechanisms to implement gender equality, participants successfully pushed for the inclusion of women in the government's senior political council. Currently, NDI is conducting advanced trainings for female elected officials who had received previous training from NDI as candidates. The Institute also provides advanced training and individual consultations to women elected officials at all levels of government. This year NDI will begin to work with the Gender Commission in the Serbian Parliament to assist its members in efforts to ensure that issues of gender are considered throughout the legislative process.
Mali: Strengthening the Capacity of Newly-elected Women Legislators (2002)
In 2002, 15 women deputies were elected to the National Assembly. Although they comprise only 10.2 percent of the National Assembly, these women serve as examples for future women candidates, party leaders and elected officials in Mali. In order to equip these newly elected women with the skills necessary to make them effective legislators, NDI conducted a new-member orientation program to educate women deputies on the following legislative skills: proposing, reviewing and amending legislation, developing a strategy around a legislative measure, lobbying colleagues, building coalitions, pursuing public support, and organizing and leading committee meetings and debates. NDI has also helped to connect women legislators and women civil society leaders to assist them in advocacy on behalf of women's interests. At an NDI-sponsored roundtable, women members of the National Assembly, civic activists, and political parties developed the Bamako Declaration which includes adoption of a new family code that better protects the rights of women and a call for political parties to reserve at least 30 percent of leadership positions and candidacy posts for women.
Nepal: Strengthening Local Governance Skills (2003)
In 2001, building upon its previous women's empowerment programs which trained over 4,000 candidates and activists and 1,750 local women representatives in leadership and public administration skills, the Institute initiated a multifaceted, non-partisan 24-month training program to increase the political participation and effectiveness of local women leaders. The current women's program has two components: women's candidate training and women's representative training. The Institute's representative training for women includes the basics of being an effective legislator and additional skills training which includes budgeting, legal awareness, negotiation and project development skills. With enhanced confidence and capacity these women activists will be able to improve their political parties and support Nepal's fragile democratic institutions.
Senegal: Preparing Women to Lead their Local Communities (2002)
During the May 2002 local elections, 1,531 women gained seats, many for the first time. NDI helped newly elected women better understand their roles and responsibilities and play a meaningful role in their councils. Community activists were included in some of these sessions to promote collaboration between government and civil society. In late 2002, NDI published a series of guides for councilors dealing with the importance of women's political participation, the mission and roles of rural, municipal, and regional councils, citizen participation in local councils and the significance of the decentralization process in Senegal. To ensure the guide's usefulness and to benefit elected officials in every region, the guide was printed in five local languages. Of the 1,531 women elected in 2002, 1,281 have been the beneficiaries of NDI's training program for local councilors.
Ghana: Women Elected Officials and Women's Rights Legislation
(2000)
NDI, in cooperation with the Women's Parliamentary Caucus and the International Federation
of Women Lawyers (FIDA), has been working with women in Ghana to enact historic legislation
to criminalize domestic violence. The taboo nature of sexual abuse in many countries
often makes it impossible for women to pursue legal action against their abusers. The
fundamental need for such legislation was expressed during NDI sponsored meetings that
brought together various women's civic organizations, the Women's Parliamentary Caucus
and the International Federation of Women Lawyers. The effort was formalized in April
2000 when NDI assembled, along with members of the Women's Caucus and FIDA, parliamentary
staff, leading male members of parliament and legal experts, to analyze existing Ghanaian
laws on domestic violence and propose concrete amendments. With NDI's assistance FIDA and
female members of parliament organized a follow-up forum in May to raise public awareness
of the legislation and consult with parliamentarians and civic leaders to advocate for its
passage. The Women's Caucus and FIDA are committed to introducing the legislation later
this year.
Nepal: Training Newly Elected Women Parliamentarians (1999)
In 1997, a royal decentralization ordinance was enacted that allowed for women's political
participation at unprecedented levels in Nepal. This ordinance called for the reservation
of 20 percent of local government ward seats for women. Women currently hold approximately
32,000 local government seats in Nepal, but the vast majority of the newly elected women
representatives have little or no experience in the political arena. Following elections
in 1997, NDI designed and implemented a training program for newly elected women
representatives at the VDC and ward level. This program began in October 1997 and ran
through June 1998. In 1999, NDI conducted a second program aimed at training local women
representatives, continuing the Institute's work in Nepal. This program will train
approximately 1,600 of Nepal's newly elected women representatives. As an integral part
of the program, the formation of Women's political caucuses will encourage representatives
to continue working together after the completion of NDI's program.
Kenya: Supporting Women Legislators (1998)
Building on its work in Kenya since 1994, after the December 1997 municipal, legislative
and presidential election, in which 57 women attained their party's nomination to stand for
parliament and one woman, Charity Ngilu was a credible candidate for president, NDI sought
to continue to promote linkages and deepen women's involvement in politics. In 1998, NDI
conducted three nationwide seminars in Nairobi and eight grassroots seminars in the
constituencies of various women candidates or officials. The national seminars brought
together women candidates who had participated in the December 1997 general elections.
NDI designed each seminar's agenda to include a period where the women candidates could
reflect on their campaign experience; a strategic planning component enabling them to
devise new approaches based on their experiences; and a selection process to choose a
potential candidate that she would mentor. The only initiative in Kenya that sought to
assist women legislators in the post election period, this program deepened relationships
among Kenyan women and provided valuable insights to potential candidates on the practical
experiences of the women who had run. In addition, program participants learned valuable
lobbying and strategic planning skills.
South Africa: Building Women's Skills for Effective Governance (1996)
South Africa boasts one of the world's highest rates of women's participation in its
legislatures; 25 percent of national legislators are women. Yet elected women legislators,
who often have the same qualifications and experience as male legislators, are judged,
unlike their male counterparts, as representatives of their gender. As a result, they
face considerable pressures to participate effectively in the democratic governance of
their country. In response to requests from these women, NDI has sought to support the
development of legislative skills. In the Northern Province, NDI organized programs
addressing media relations and constituent communications for women legislators. In
KwaZulu-Natal, NDI organized three seminars to strengthen the legislative capacity of
the province's women MPs. The seminars focused on different skills the women felt were
necessary to their success in the legislature, including bill analysis, amendment drafting,
research, presentation, scheduling and debating skills. In both regions, women legislators
have decided to continue their activities.
Malawi: Assisting Women Legislators (1996)
In a legislature characterized by divisiveness and political acrimony, the Malawi
Parliamentary Women's Caucus is a multiparty forum that effectively brings together
MPs from different political parties to address legal reforms that improve the status
of Malawian women. Since the formation of the Women's Caucus, NDI has provided assistance
to the group by drafting by-laws, compiling recommendations for legal reform and advising
on moving those reforms through the legislative process. After the Caucus submitted
recommendations to the legal draftsman, NDI sponsored special meetings of the Women's
Caucus to hear the opinions of experts in the areas of: inheritance, citizenship, marriage,
divorce and affiliation. Following that meeting, the women agreed upon recommendations on
the wording of all proposed amendments and submitted the proposed amendments to the
legislature.
Namibia: Forming a Women's Caucus (1996)
In Namibia, where female MPs comprise nineteen percent of the legislature, women
lawmakers expressed an interest in forming a women's caucus. The intention of this
caucus is to promote a greater degree of gender sensitivity during the development of
policies and legislation. The objectives of the women's caucus would include developing
a more gender sensible environment within political institutions and advocating on behalf
of women. To address the initial needs of the caucus, NDI conducted a one-day workshop
on caucus structure and policy-making in July 1996. The women discussed how to build a
structure that will create channels of communication between parties, non-governmental
organizations, unions and associations. Another topic raised was how to develop skills
necessary to fully participate in debates on women's issues. The workshop had a high
attendance and the participants left energized.
Central and Eastern Europe: Enhancing the Skills of Elected Officials (1995)
In Central and Eastern Europe, the tokenism that characterized much of women's
participation during the communist era continues to affect public perceptions of
the organization of women in political leadership. Since 1992, NDI sponsored a series
of conferences to encourage women to establish a political network. The January 1995
conference that NDI co-sponsored with the nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization,
Association for Civic Initiative (ACI) in Skopje, Macedonia, was the final stage of
the region's Women in Politics program. The objective of this conference was to provide
women in elected office with training on decision making, leadership development and
communication skills. The conference brought together 40 women from 13 countries in
the region, including participants from Bosnia/Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia and the
Yugoslav Republic of Serbia. The majority of participants were either members of parliament
or local government officeholders while a few were members of politically active
nongovernmental organizations. Six international advisors led workshops on various
topics, such as how to determine appropriate policy responses to public issues, how
to practice the art of negotiation and form political coalitions, how to reach out
to and represent women and other constituent groups, and how to attain leadership
positions in one's party or NGO. The agenda also featured group exercises intended to
develop strong communication skills in such venues as town meetings and press conferences.
Finally, each participant received training in how to plan a training session so as to
facilitate training for her female colleagues on the concepts and skills that she learned
at the conference. As a result of the conference, intra-country and inter-country linkages
have been established between women political leaders.
Malawi: Women's Advocacy for Inclusion in the Political Structure (1995)
In order to maximize the participation of women in Malawi's constitutional review process,
NDI worked with several women's organizations in 1995 to complement its earlier work with
women in political parties. NDI provided logistical and technical assistance to the
nonpartisan Society for the Advancement of Women - a group that organized a meeting
for 40 women leaders to discuss the draft constitution. At the meeting, NDI distributed
copies of the draft constitution. The Institute also helped participants organize a
drafting committee that prepared a position paper with suggestions for strengthening
the constitution's provisions concerning women. Chief among those concerns was the need
to retain a provision in the draft constitution that created a senate with reserved seats
for women. The women also adopted a strategy that included publicizing their concerns,
lobbying political parties, and making an alliance with traditional authorities. Partially
as a result of these efforts, the constitution adopted in May 1995 contains a provision
to create a senate with guaranteed representation for both women and traditional authorities.
In May 1995, NDI co-sponsored a one-day workshop with the National Commission on Women
in Development for women legislators to discuss the feasibility of forming a women's
caucus. International trainers from South Africa and the United States addressed strategies
to overcome the obstacles presented by the tradition of a male-dominated legislature. The
conference addressed multiparty cooperation among women in parliament, as well as the
organization and education of women to assume political leadership roles. Following the
conference, the Malawian women legislators agreed that a women's caucus should be formed
and set a date for the first meeting.
Argentina: Women Local and National Leaders (1994)
In October 1994, NDI organized the second in a series of programs to enhance the
leadership and lawmaking capabilities of female legislators in Argentina. The October
seminar built on recommendations from a November 1993 NDI conference in Buenos Aires
that focused on developing strategies to increase women's participation in politics.
Both programs responded in part to a 1991 Argentine law that requires female candidates
to constitute 30 percent of national political party lists. NDI cosponsored one seminar
in Buenos Aires with the Argentine Foundation for Women's Equality, a nonpartisan,
nongovernmental organization, targeting women leaders at the national level. Legislators
and executive branch officials attended the seminar. The second seminar targeting women
at the provincial and municipal level took place in the province of Mendoza with the
nonpartisan, nongovernmental Institute for Women's Training, Research and Participation
(IFIM). Both seminars focused on women and political leadership in Argentina and included
NDI-sponsored international experts from Norway and the United States. The seminars
consisted of plenary sessions and working group activities focusing on coalition building,
strategies for leadership, strategies for the passage of legislation, and ways to assist
women seeking office on the national, provincial and municipal levels.
Malawi: Study Mission for Women Leaders (1994)
In October 1994, during the week of Botswana's presidential, parliamentary and district
council elections, NDI conducted a study program for five Malawian women leaders. The
purpose of the program was to offer the Malawian delegates the opportunity to exchange
ideas and information with their colleagues who are at the forefront of the women's
empowerment movement in Botswana. The Malawian delegates included the chair of the
Malawi Electoral Commission, a leading legal and women's rights advocate, and
representatives of the three parliamentary parties. The discussions in Botswana
centered around the absence of women in political and civic leadership positions
in Malawi. Following the study mission, NDI began a two-year political party and
civic organization program in Malawi to provide organizational support and training
focusing on issues of democracy and governance. This program will support the efforts
of women leaders and women organizations in Malawi as they work to increase their
representation and activity in all sectors of political and civic life.
Contact Information
For further information on Women's Participation, please contact:
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