The Drum Beat – Issue 541 – Women’s Political Engagement
May 10 2010
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This issue includes:
* SHE-CAPACITY: Face-to-face candidacy support.
* VISIT The CI’s Fragile Contexts and Democracy & Governance theme sites!
* RADIO as a tool for empowering women.
* The CI now TWEETS! Follow us!
* TECH to enhance women’s participation.
* POLL: Representing marginalised groups…how?
* Communication RESOURCES for women in governance.
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From The Communication Initiative Network – where communication and media are central to social and economic development.
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How can communication strategies, tools, and activities enhance women’s political participation and candidacy toward enhancing gender equity and democracy and governance around the world? This issue of The Drum Beat examines this question by providing a sampling of summaries from our various knowledge sections.
If you have strategies, experiences, or tools to share that highlight how communication is being used to give women a voice in the political sphere, please send information, at any time, to dheimann@comminit.com
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SUPPORTING WOMEN CANDIDATES, FACE TO FACE
1. Women’s Candidacy Initiative (WCI) – Malaysia
This group of women and men promotes women’s participation in the electoral process in Malaysia. WCI offers trainings and talks on issues of concern to women, with topics such as «knowing your rights», political participation, and decision-making. Informed by on-the-ground work talking with women in various areas, WCI has printed 2 leaflets with information on women’s issues and the need for a gender-sensitised Parliament. The organisation has taken the leaflets up to the northern states of Malaysia; the leaflets have also been carried in the alternative press. WCI members have also been invited to share their experiences at training workshops with young women in politics in Malaysia, as well as women from around the region.
Contact: Dr. Julian C. H. Lee julian.lee@sass.monash.edu.my
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/290846/348
2. Breaking the Barriers: Sierra Leonean Women on the March
by Joanna Hoare
Published in February 2008, this paper describes the activities of 2 projects – the Women In Leadership (WIL) project and the Promoting A Culture of Equal Representation (PACER) project – designed to increase the numbers of women in Sierra Leone’s local and national government. As part of WIL, Oxfam GB joined with a Sierra Leonean women’s rights organisation (the 50/50 Group) to provide 390 women with intense training and support during the 2004 election period. The training focused on preparing the would-be candidates for election, and covered campaigning skills, communication skills, information on the workings of representative government, and the principles, rights, and responsibilities of an elected government and its electorate. Of the participants, 86 stood for election, and 53 were elected. These women reported that WIL had strengthened their confidence, both in terms of giving them the courage to stand up and speak on campaign platforms and to challenge intimidation!
, and in helping them to develop their ideas into a manifesto.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/298039/3083
3. Panchayati Raj Campaign – India
In 2000, The Hunger Project (THP) launched a campaign, repeated in 5-year cycles, to strengthen the role of elected women representatives in India. In the first year after election, women participate in a 3-day Women’s Leadership Workshop (WLW) that alerts women to their human rights, educates them about their powers and responsibilities as panchayat leaders, builds their capacity to create a vision and plan actions to achieve it, and links them with government and other resource people in their area. In Year 2, THP works with panchayats to create bottom-up plans («microplans») for villages to meet basic needs. The focus in Year 3 is on creating federations of elected women representatives. In Year 4, THP ensures that panchayats have successfully implemented their plans and that lives have truly improved on a sustainable basis. In the run-up to elections, THP carries out campaigns to encourage the participation of women – both as independently minded voters and as candidates.
Contact: Rita Sarin at http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=4d16f25ddbbf90f9c3111cca6541fb08
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/298205/348
4. Rebuilding Feminist Movements Initiative – Global
In this initiative, the approach of Just Associates (JASS) to movement-building is a multilayered education and action strategy that includes political education training, intergenerational leadership development, popular education and communication, bridge-building across agendas and borders, and participatory research initiatives that are linked to concrete social justice efforts. Women from different generations, ethnicities, backgrounds, countries, and movements: analyse their context; map their personal and collective histories; identify challenges, opportunities, needs, and priorities; and generate a 4-year plan to build political capacity and alliances for implementing feminist agendas. In keeping with the core objective of strengthening participants’ political analysis skills, most of this project’s analysis begins with a participatory process drawing on participants’ knowledge and assumptions about power from the most personal level to the public realm.
Contact: Annie Holmes eah@justassociates.org OR info@justassociates.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/278830/348
5. Advocacy and National Elections: Women’s Political Participation in Honduras
by Maite Matheu
This February 2008 paper discusses Oxfam’s work with the feminist organisations Movimiento de Mujeres por la Paz «Visitación Padilla» and Centro de Estudios de la Mujer Honduras (CEM-H) on a campaign to increase women’s political participation in the 2005 presidential, congressional, and local elections. As part of this work, Visitación Padilla facilitated activities such as workshops in rural areas to teach women about the new electoral system and meetings between women candidates for congress and women from economically poor areas to allow the latter to present their demands. CEM-H, for its part, lobbied candidates to adopt a progressive, women’s-rights agenda, and then encouraged women voters to consider supporting them. In addition to visiting individual candidates from all the political parties to raise their awareness of women’s rights and poverty issues, CEM-H organised public forums at the local level. Candidates were encouraged to sign «pacts», which «was an importa!
nt method of engaging male leaders in particular, who recognised that including priorities identified by poorer women in their election manifestos would translate into increased votes from women in their constituencies.»
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/297903/348
6. Khabar Lahariya – India
Khabar Lahariya, or «KL» (Bundeli for «News Waves») is a weekly rural newspaper written, edited, illustrated, produced, and marketed by a group of women – most of them from marginalised tribal, Dalit, Kol, and Muslim communities – in Chitrakoot and Banda districts of Uttar Pradesh in north India. Because politics in the traditional sense is historically not a domain in which women belonging to marginalised communities have engaged, KL initially did not report on political news. When the women decided to «blank out» the Lok Sabha election because they felt under-confident and lacked information, organisers conducted a «crash course» on politics, then planned and produced 3 «election specials» with the team. The special issues contained interviews with local candidates from different political parties, as well as information and opinion pieces.
Contact: nirantar@vsnl.com
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/308142/348
7. Pa Kite M Deyo! Don’t Leave Me Out! Haitian Women Demand Their Right to Participate in Public Affairs
by Kristie van Wetering
This February 2008 paper describes the work of Haitian organisation Fanm Yo La in mobilising Haitian women to vote and to hold their elected representatives to account, and in supporting women candidates before and after election. In the 2 years leading up to the 2006 presidential, legislative, and municipal elections, Fanm Yo La carried out a national citizen mobilisation campaign that involved, among other activities, thematic training workshops designed to address the specific needs of female candidates, political activists, and community leaders were organised. «In Carice, the female candidate for the post of mayor was successfully elected, and in neighbouring Mont Organisé, six out of the seven female candidates were elected to their respective posts. In addition, women outnumbered men at the polls. These results were echoed on a national level. A total of 4,000 female candidates ran in the elections; of these, 400 women were successfully elected to various posts…»
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/295837/348
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Other CI SPACES for a lens on women and political participation include:
* Our NEW! Fragile Contexts and State Building Theme Site
http://www.comminit.com/en/fragilecontexts.html
* Our Democracy and Governance Theme site
http://www.comminit.com/en/demandgov.html
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RADIO TO AMPLIFY WOMEN’S VOICES AND CHOICES
8. Empowering Communities, Informing Policy: The Potential of Community Radio – femLINKPACIFIC’s Mobile Women’s Community Radio Experience: 2003-2008
This September 2008 handbook explores community radio as a tool for enabling women to have a voice on a range of social, economic, and political issues. It is centred on the experience of femLINKPACIFIC, which established a women’s mobile community radio station, femTALK 89.2FM, in 2004. This radio-station-in-a-suitcase has been taken out to rural and semi-urban women around Fiji in an effort to encourage participation, sharing of information, and innovation. femLINKPACIFIC’s «Not Just Sweet Talk» campaign has become a platform to document the experiences and stories of female candidates, while also being an avenue for local communities to address development priorities. «Pre-broadcast consultations staged with the local government authorities mean women can access local government officials, sometimes for the very first time.»
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/284600/348
9. Radio Programming Inspires Afghan Women to Run for Office
Because, according to the May 1 2009 Independent Election Commission (IEC) report, no female candidates had registered for mid-2009 provincial council elections in Afghanistan’s 8 provinces, the radio programming service Salam Watandar produced a number of stories and interviews to highlight the lack of gender representation. In addition, and with the registration deadline just a week away, Salam Watandar, funded by Internews, created an outreach campaign focusing on potential female candidates in 5 key provinces. As a result, on May 9, the IEC announced that a total of 342 women had registered for 124 seats on provincial councils around the country.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/301683/3083
10. Women’s Empowerment and Good Governance through Community Radio: Best Experiences for an Action Research Process
Published by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) in April 2008, this book offers a collection of articles which seek to contribute to the impact of community radio (CR) on governance issues, especially related to gender equality and women’s rights. It brings together case studies and experiences written by women practitioners participating in democratic processes through CR. The book provides examples of how women can get involved in governance issues – particularly to help them gain a greater degree of independence and equality.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/296236/348
11. Hamari Awaz (Our Voice) Radio – Pakistan
Sarsabz Foundation launched the 30-minute programme Hamari Awaz (Our Voice) as part of its Radio Faisalabad station in an effort to: discuss the problems women faced during the local body elections; provide them accurate information; and offer solutions to their problems in clear and easy-to-understand language. The programme began with a 10-minute modelling of an Aj Ki Union Council session, followed by a brief report. Next, the Community Corner involved field staff recording the public’s opinions about the practices of their own union councils and their perceptions of their Public Representatives. Then, a 5-minute interview session presented one outstanding woman as a role model. This was followed by an information report on women’s rights, international laws, and national action plans related to rights issues. Finally, listeners were encouraged to call in to ask questions and share their views.
Contact: Dr. Naveeda Zia sarsabz@brain.net.pk
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/118230/348
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TECH DRIVERS OF PARTICIPATION
12. International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics) Project – Global
The iKNOW Politics website is a platform for: promoting gender-sensitive governance; equipping women politicians at the national, regional, and grassroots levels with the sources and expertise they need to make their political mark; informing efforts to increase the number of women in politics; and countering the isolation women face in public life by connecting parliamentarians, candidates, representatives, party leaders, party members, researchers, academics, and practitioners across borders, generations, and cultures.
Contact: Anita Vandenbeld avandenbeld@iknowpolitics.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/276942/348
13. The Role of New Media in the 2009 Iranian Elections
by Laura Mottaz, ed.
This report discusses presentations and panel discussion in Washington DC, United States, on July 7 2009, in which new media practitioners, Iran specialists, and interested observers attempted to clarify the role of new media in the Iranian elections and the implications of these technologies for future democratic movements. It was noted that Iranian women found a way to voice opinion through blogs.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/304006/348
14. Flamme (Flame) – Africa
This electronic forum was originally designed for women to share and exchange ideas, strategies, information, and issues related to the impact of implementing the Beijing Plus Five Platform for Action (PFA). Specifically geared toward African women, Flamme (Flame) was set up in an effort to strengthen the capacity of women through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to lobby, advocate, and participate in the Beijing Plus Five review process.
Contact: africa@apcwomen.org
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/125355/348
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PLEASE VOTE in a Democracy & Governance Poll:
Which of the following is most important for effective representation of the interests of marginalised groups?
* media representation and coverage to create public awareness.
* group organisation for self-advocacy.
* representation and advocacy support through NGOs.
* government representation through assigned intermediaries.
VOTE and COMMENT – http://www.comminit.com/en/node/309932/348
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POLITICAL PARTICIPATION RESOURCES
15. START: A Guide to Campaigning for Pacific Women
This October 2008 booklet was developed as a quick reference point to help women remember some of the key issues they may need to consider and key activities they may need to undertake when running in elections. It is based on the experiences of Pacific women themselves who have stood for election, drawing on their successes and the lessons they learned along the way.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/290969/348
16. A Campaign Manual for Women Candidates in the Sierra Leone Local Government Elections
Developed by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in December 2008, this manual is designed to train women candidates in campaigning for local elections. Its 4 key sections cover everything from the role of local government to planning a campaign, speaking in public, and fundraising.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/282220/348
17. Women and Elections: Guide to Promoting the Participation of Women in Elections
This handbook is intended as a quick reference guide for organisations working to promote the participation of women in the electoral process in post-conflict countries. The handbook, published in 2005, describes the opportunities for expanding women’s involvement at each of the key stages of the electoral process, and includes a set of general recommendations.
Recommendations for each stage of the election process are covered in a separate chapter.
http://www.comminit.com/en/node/185978/348
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For more on women’s political participation, along with other gender rights-related issues, see http://www.comminit.com/en/nodes/36?op0=OR&op1=OR&filter1[]=216&filter1[]=87&filter1[]=67&op2=OR
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This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.
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The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative Partnership – ANDI, BBC World Service Trust, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Calandria, CFSC Consortium, CIDA, DFID, FAO, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, Ford Foundation, Healthlink Worldwide, Inter-American Development Bank, International Institute for Communication and Development, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, MISA, PAHO, The Panos Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, WHO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com
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The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.
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