Spring 2012

Madeleine K. Albright Awards Luncheon [3]

NDI honored the Women's Discussion Club of Kyrgyzstan with the Madeleine K. Albright Grant [4] at an awards luncheon March 22. The club "is precisely the kind of innovative and grassroots organization that can help make real democracy possible," said Albright, NDI's chairman. The grant supports community-based organizations that create greater roles for women in political and civic life. It is part of NDI's Win with Women Global Initiative [5], which promotes women's political leadership worldwide.

Melanne Verveer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, presented the grant to Dinara Aitkulova, chair of the Discussion Club, and introduced a short documentary detailing the group's work [6]. The Women's Discussion Club [7] will use the $25,000 award to form a coalition of political party women's wings to advocate on behalf of women's rights within the legislature and their respective parties.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. "One woman can make a difference, but women working together can change the world," she said. The luncheon was preceded by a panel discussion, where speakers reflected on the progress of women in politics around the world while reminding the audience of the importance of building more inclusive institutions and political processes. Read more» [3]

New Guide: Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties [8]

	The guide includes a poster that details ways parties can include women during every part of the election cycle

Political parties are the primary and most direct vehicle through which women can access elected office and political leadership. This spring, NDI and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) launched a new guide, Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties: A Good Practices Guide to Promote Women's Political Participation [9], to help political parties encourage, nurture and incorporate women's involvement. "Parties that take women's political participation seriously benefit from stronger electoral positions, access to new groups of voters and stronger relations with their constituents," NDI President Kenneth Wollack said Feb. 29 at the guide's launch in New York. Available in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish, the guide gives practical advice to political parties and includes case studies from 20 countries. Read more or download the guide» [8]

"Future Women Mayors Academy" featured in The New York Times [10]

Women collaborate at the academy

Mexico's quota law has made a significant difference for women seeking elective office by requiring that 40 percent of candidates at the federal level be women. But women candidates still struggle at the municipal and local levels where no such quota exists. In March, The New York Times featured NDI's Future Women Mayors Academy, which provides women activists from all registered political parties with the motivation, skills and networks to position themselves to win mayoral races. The academy, currently in its second year, is operating in Morelos, Mexico, one of five Mexican states that have no women serving as mayor. Now, according to the article, "a band of national and international experts on politics and campaigns is trying to kick open the doors of city halls to more women." Read more» [10]

In Kosovo, Women Strive for Equality in Politics, Media

	Syla with Amb. Constance Morella

NDI is pleased to introduce the 2012 Andi Parhamovich Fellow, Aferdita Syla, who manages the Women's Parliamentary Caucus program in NDI's office in Kosovo. Syla is using the three-month fellowship to design a project to forge stronger ties between elected Kosovar women leaders who serve at the federal and municipal levels to help them address issues of concern to women. NDI established the fellowship in 2007 in honor of NDI staff member, Andi Parhamovich, who was killed when her convoy was attacked while returning from a party training session in Iraq. Each year, the fellowship goes to a young woman from NDI's local staff or partner organization working to promote women's political participation. Read more» [11]

President Jahjaga attends Kosovo's Week of Women

More than 100 women from throughout Kosovo gathered in Pristina for the Week of Women, a series of events organized by NDI in collaboration with the Women's Parliamentary Caucus. The conference featured women from different sectors – parliament, government, academia, civil society and business – who gathered to identify opportunities and strategies that will help women become more effective and successful in their chosen fields. The conference featured several high level guests, including the president of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, who spoke during the opening and closing sessions and hosted participants at a special dinner. "Let us create better chances that every woman in Kosovo is treated with respect and dignity and for every man and women to feel equal," she said. Read more» [12]

	Participants at the media forum

The Kosovo Women's Parliamentary Caucus partnered with NDI to bring together journalists and politicians for a conversation about how women are portrayed in the media. Those in attendance, including editors, reporters, media directors, representatives of the European Union and members of parliament, discussed challenges women face with media coverage, such as being seen as experts only on "women's issues." At the end of the meeting, the caucus and journalists agreed that the media would take steps to cover women and men more equally and not just focus on women in power, but also report on average women citizens. Read more» [13]

International Women's Day Tweetchat [14]

@NDIWomen

In celebration of International Women's Day, NDI's Women's Political Participation team hosted a tweetchat featuring NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright, President Kenneth Wollack and Vice President Shari Bryan, the U.S. Department of State's Office of Global Women's Issues [15] and the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics [16]). The discussion included tweets from a number of engaged users about opportunities, resources and challenges to women's roles in politics. (Are you on Twitter? Follow us: @NDIWomen [17]) Read more» [14]

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) [18] 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 [19] to promote strategies for increasing women’s political leadership worldwide. The anchor of the Win with Women Global Initiative is the Global Action Plan [20], 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.

Get Involved

Join the NDI Team [21]
Subscribe to this Newsletter [22]

Download the Global Action Plan [20]
Email the Win with Women Initiative [23]

[18]

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