WUNRN
ASIA-PACIFIC CDI'S 2011 WOMEN IN POLITICS TRAINING COURSE - OVERVIEW & OUTCOMES
http://www.cdi.anu.edu.au/cdinews/D_P/2011-12/2012_01_CDI.News_JAN.pdf
Canberra, Australia | The Centre for Democratic Institutions’ fourth annual Women in Politics Training Course (WiP) was conducted from 23 November to 1 December 2011 in Canberra. WiP is a highly popular course for women intending to enter national or local politics, either as a candidate for election, a party activist or official, or campaign supporter for women candidates. The course was convened by CDI Associate Ms. Monica Costa.
Objectives and Participants
Despite government commitments to improving women’s representation in
the political arena, progress on women’s political representation in the
Asia-Pacific region has been limited. This course assists efforts to improve
regional indicators on women’s political representation. WiP aims to support
the emergence of more gender-balanced political representation. Specifically,
the course aims to help improve women’s political representation by:
· enhancing political leadership and
practical campaigning skills;
· enabling participants understanding of
barriers to women’s political representation in their own countries and region
and to develop nationally-specific strategies to overcome these barriers; and
· fostering national and regional
networks.
Participants for the 2011 WiP represented a mix of interests and
experiences, including women running for political office, advocates for
improvements in women’s representation in politics and agents for change inside
political parties. Twenty participants from the CDI priority countries of East
Timor, Fiji, Indonesia, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu were selected from over 130
applications to participate in the course. This year’s course did not include
participants from Papua New Guinea because CDI is conducting training courses
for women candidates in the 2012 PNG elections. CDI encouraged applications
from young and upcoming female leaders.
Program structure
WiP covers a broad range of issues, from issues around women’s
substantive and descriptive political representation to the practicalities of
running election campaigns. The range of topics covered by the training course
included:
·
Challenges and
opportunities for women’s engagement in politics in the region.
·
Arguments for and against
women’s engagement in politics.
·
Diversity of political and
electoral systems in the region.
·
Campaigning and resource
mobilisation strategies.
·
Communicating with voters
and engaging with the media.
·
Electoral systems and
their impact on women’s political participation.
·
Debates on electoral
reform in the Asia-Pacific region including so-called temporary special
measures.
·
Strategies to lobby and
network effectively to improve gender indicators in the political arena.
·
Role of government, NGOS,
academia and female and male political leaders in improving women’s
participation in politics and promoting a gender equality agenda.
·
Approaches adopted by
political parties to getting more women elected and promoting gender equality.
Conclusion and outcomes
Critical to the success of the course was the interest and enthusiasm
that the participants brought with them to Canberra. The 2011 course built on
the successes of previous courses. The approach to the course was retained
using a mix of lectures, external site visits, group work and participatory
forums. Two important revisions to the approach in 2011 were (i) expanding the
time allocated for participants to exchange and learn from each others
experiences; and (ii) introducing sessions on the diversity of political and
electoral contexts in the Asia-Pacific region. As detailed in the full report
the course was considered a success by all participants and was effective in
achieving its three stated objectives as follows:
Enhancing political leadership and practical
campaigning skills
Participants were exposed to the challenges of women’s political
leadership by hearing the personal experiences of Australian women members of
Parliament. Many of these experiences resonated with the participants’ own
political journeys. These accounts were highlighted in the course evaluation as
an influential and inspiring component of the course. A number of course
components were focussed on strengthening campaigning skills including resource
mobilisation, campaign planning and engaging with media. The practical focus of
these activities asked participants’ to develop an actual a campaign plan,
develop a media release and undergo a mock interview. In 2011, as with previous
years, this component of the course was identified as a highlight for these
women as they start to plan their own campaign. Course evaluations recommended
that the course could be improved with the inclusion of male champions from
political parties in Australia.
Identifying barriers to women’s political
representation and developing nationally-specific strategies to overcome these
barriers
The engagement with researchers was critical to building participants
understanding of the barriers to women’s political representation in the
region. In many cases participants were challenged by research findings from
across the region and their own countries. Course evaluations noted that the
research component of the course was important for participants to build their
confidence to engage in political and electoral reform debates in their own
country. As detailed above the development of country strategies was a core
output of the course. It allowed participants to translate information learned
from course sessions into practical measures to improve women’s political
representation in their countries. The quality and complexity of the strategies
delivered, as well as the significant debate that these generated within the
group, are an indicator of their success.
Building national and regional networks
One the aims of the national strategies was to focus attention on the
necessary national networks to improve women’s political representation. Having
participants from a range of institutions brought different perspectives to the
discussion and worked well to identify workable and tangible steps that would
need to be taken by different stakeholders to affect change. Course members
were able to build a high degree of affinity and have committed to maintain
contact and support each other both within countries and across the region.
While this year’s course expanded the amount of time dedicated to sharing experiences,
participants suggested even more time should be devoted to this activity in
future courses. This recommendation would further contribute to building
regional networks.
The WiP training course was received with great enthusiasm and
commitment by guest speakers in academia, civil society, public and private
institutions. Their investment and support to this training is very much
appreciated. In particular CDI thanks the political parties, and their
parliamentarians, for their time and investment in sharing experiences with
emerging women leaders in the Asia-Pacific region. These contributions have
been critical to the success of the course and have provided inspiration for
participants’ day-to-day work in promoting women’s political representation and
their political aspirations. The support provided by the Parliament and the
Museum of Australian Democracy is also highly appreciated - Their staff were
extraordinarily helpful in responding to the group’s questions and in providing
opportunities for participants to experience democracy in action. CDI also
wishes to thank both the Australian Electoral Commission and AusAID for
supporting the WiP training course through the direct involvement of their
staff.