Since 2001, NDI has consulted extensively with women political and civil society leaders throughout West Africa on ways to strengthen their participation in political decision-making. In response to requests from these women, NDI and its partners launched a pilot program in October 2005 to assist women members of political parties and civil society leaders in building a regional network to increase women's political participation. The initiative seeks to assist women in sharing resources, best practices and experiences as they strive to influence policy debate, gain political visibility and secure leadership positions in their respective countries. Building on NDI's past experience conducting women's programs in West Africa, this program targets four countries: Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mali. At the conclusion of this eight month program, the Institute plans to continue to liaise with partners and women leaders throughout the region to assist in expanding the network to more African countries.
The program has three phases: consultations; an intensive regional planning conference and country specific follow-up and partnership building.
Consultations
The program began with consultations to identify women's groups and networks that would partner with NDI in this initiative in each target country. Once these partners were identified, NDI facilitated a brainstorming session with them to identify relevant policy issues to be covered during the regional conference.
Following the brainstorming sessions, NDI selected in collaboration with its partners, four women from each country who attended the regional conference. The participants were political party members and representatives of civil society organizations.
Regional Conference
Based on the findings of the consultation phase, NDI organized an intensive regional conference in October 2005, for the selected participants. The conference provided these women with an opportunity to share experiences in institutionalizing women's political participation and influencing their country's political debate. During the conference, participants agreed on a regional action plan to strengthen women's political participation and created a listsev to continue the discussion after the conference.
Coalition building and advocacy skill trainings
In February 2006, NDI conducted trainings for the program participants in coalition building and advocacy skills in the four countries of the program. The training sessions concluded with participants designing advocacy strategies to implement their action plans and specific tasks for members of the groups.
Following the coalition building and advocacy skills trainings, women have continued to meet in each individual country to strengthen their groups and launch advocacy campaigns. In Burkina Faso, the women are planning a conference in May during which they will officially introduce their group and present their action plan. Similar activities are being planned in the three other countries and will benefit from NDI's support.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact:
Walarigaton Coulibaly, Senior Program Assistant
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Updated May 2006
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