Sida Program One-Pager: North Macedonia

Advancing gender equality is a central challenge in North Macedonia’s democratic progress. Women in North Macedonia have limited access to decision-making power because they face individual, socio-cultural, and institutional barriers to political participation. Barriers to gender equality in decision-making include a lack of experience and skills among women politicians, institutional obstacles within political parties, parliament and government, persisting socio-cultural norms that reflect gender bias, and violence against women in politics (VAW-P). A more conducive environment for women’s political participation would contribute to overall gender equality and increase the likelihood that more women would choose to participate in political life. Funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and drawing on global and country-specific expertise in women’s political participation, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is launching WoMen Lead (#WoMenLead), an empowerment program to lower the individual, socio-cultural, and institutional barriers to women’s political participation in North Macedonia. Through the program, NDI aims to improve gender equality in political parties, provide women candidates with the skills and a supportive environment to campaign successfully for and govern at the local level, and reduce violence against women in politics.