Supporting the Rights and Voices of Women

In the lead up to the 2011 local elections held on 8 May 2011, the UN facilitated public debate on the importance of women’s participation as candidates and voters. UN Women and UNDP supported more than 24 Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) in seven regions in working on the idea of women as a constituency and holding decision makers to account for national and international obligations on gender equality. At the local level NPO efforts focused on making grassroots women concerns reach local political parties and strongly advocating for implementation of the gender quota at the local level. The results of the UN Women-supported “Baseline Analysis on the Situation of Women Leaders at the Local Level” showed that there is little awareness among political parties about the difference between how the quota applies at the national level as opposed to the local level. By working with political party branches and women fora at the local level, NPOs aimed to increase awareness and knowledge of the Electoral Code and of the obligation of political parties to fulfil the quota by having a woman in every third name on the lists of candidates. NGOs began to carry out civic education and awareness activities in mobilizing women as voters and in increasing awareness of their participation in public life.

Based on the Women’s Manifesto, developed by partner NPOs around the 2009 elections, the NPOs will develop in cooperation with women and girls in seven regions of the country the Community based Scorecards as a key tool to monitor political parties and government responsiveness to women’s needs and interests and Gender Equality.

The Scorecards will also be used as an advocacy tool to voice women’s needs and priorities at the local level with the political parties and decision makers with the view to making political parties endorse these issues prior to local elections. The electoral period will be used as a platform to inform on the results of the scorecards and raise public attention and debate on women’s issues and gender equality commitments. Grassroots NPOs, with UNICEF support, also linked the work on scorecards with Youth Parliaments.

To improve public perceptions on participation of women in decision making, UN Women and UNDP facilitated the development of three documentaries on women in politics, featuring the challenges and successes of four women politicians, two at the central level and two at the local level. Apart from airing these documentaries in the main TV channels, NPOs contracted in seven regions used these documentaries, as well as other tools, to encourage women’s participation both as voters and as candidates in the local elections.

Sources: 2010 Annual Progress Report