Women’s Political Participation

Promoting Peace

In the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, NDI provided technical assistance and support to “Barefoot Candidates,” women who campaigned barefoot to symbolize their integrity and humility and to express their connection with constituents. By providing candidate training workshops, NDI and the newly formed Political Caucus of Women Leaders in Mindanao worked to address widespread corruption in elections by helping women, such as the Barefoot Candidates, who were running on a platform of improving communities through transparent, effective governance.

Working with women is an important piece of NDI’s strategy in Sudan, where the Institute has a number of programs. For example, created in partnership with the Sudan Radio Service, the Let's Talk! radio program introduces listeners to a wide range of civic topics, including the role of women in politics, and encourages women to become more politically active. Prior to the radio program, NDI also brought together women's organizations from northern and Southern Sudan to encourage dialogue between individuals of different ethnic, tribal, religious and cultural groups. As part of this dialogue, NDI provided concrete information about the rights of women under their country’s constitution.

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Supporting the creation of networks and coalitions for women politicians

To build an inclusive political environment, NDI works to foster coalitions between women politicians and activists so they can support each other. This includes bringing women together across national and party lines, which has led to the creation of women’s coalitions working jointly to ensure the development and passage of vital policy and legislation.

In Jordan, NDI provided technical assistance, training and support to women running for parliament and helped launch Women Helping Women: Jordan’s Women’s Election Network (WHW), a network of people interested in supporting and funding women candidates. WHW provided fundraising training to several women candidates, raised money and in-kind donations for candidates, and implemented a post-election survey on women’s participation in the national Jordanian elections. NDI also completed and launched a book and video documentary entitled First Class, which profiles the women Senators and MPs in Jordan from 2003-2007. Available in English and Arabic, the booklet and video can be viewed here.

In Bulgaria and Romania, NDI worked to strengthen multi-party women’s caucuses and provided networking opportunities for women politicians. This initiative enhanced women’s political participation in both countries through the exchange of best practices through a series of cross-border workshops.

To create an environment favorable to women’s political participation in Indonesia, NDI explored priorities and perspectives among voters, conducted consultations to deliver specialized campaigning techniques to each party, and led a series of multi-party trainings to help women party activists and leaders develop political skills. In addition to working with eight political parties, NDI worked with the Indonesian Women’s Political Caucus (KPPI). NDI provides on-going technical assistance to KPPI on how to broaden its membership base, raise funds for women candidates, expand its network of branches, strengthen its capacity to train candidates, and sharpen its advocacy for structural changes to women's political leadership in Indonesia.

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The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.