On February 15, the Club of Madrid (CoM) officially launched the African Women Leaders Project (AWLP), an 18-month initiative funded by the European Commission and Canada's International Development Agency, that will provide support to high-level women leaders in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

Three missions to the target countries will be organized in each country, where Club of Madrid Members and experts will share leadership experiences related to increasing women’s access to decision making in the social, economic and political spheres with African political decision-making leaders.

Increasing women's political participation is imperative for democracy to be fully realized. With over 1,000 years combined leadership experience, the Club of Madrid’s 66 members – all former presidents and prime ministers – possess the necessary practical experience, credibility, and networks to provide high-level, targeted and time-sensitive support to encourage increased women's political participation and place the issue more centrally onto country and regional political agendas. Political leadership of elected women and reform-minded men can be enhanced through the sharing of successful strategies for navigating the political sphere and advancing gender equality.

In Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the country’s average for female representation is significantly below regional and world averages. In this respect this project aims to promote international and regional legal frameworks for enhancing women’s political rights, including for example the establishment of gender quotas.

The new international context offers great opportunities for promoting women’s political participation. The appointment of several women to key governmental positions historically reserved for men such as former Nigerian Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, or Prime Minister Luisa Dias Diogo of Mozambique and Africa’s first female elected President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is a powerful source of inspiration and confirms that women’s political leadership at the highest level is possible in the region. Moreover, the elections in Nigeria and Sierra Leone next year offer a great opportunity to work with newly elected women, making this a momentous occasion to have an impact.

This project will contribute to the strengthening of female political leadership and, in the long-term, to greater public confidence in women political leaders and increased women’s political participation.

 

Specific objectives

1) Provide women political leaders with new resources and skills to strengthen political leadership

2) Identify and share best practices from the region and internationally for increasing women’s political participation, including gender quotas and other affirmative action policies;

3) Facilitate the sharing of experiences and dialogue between national women parliamentarians and outstanding women political leaders in Africa and throughout the world;

4) Establish high-level, specialized networks among reform-minded leaders in the region and internationally, to enable the sharing of knowledge and resources;

5) Promote greater gender awareness of the obstacles to women’s political participation and the centrality of equal political participation to a functioning democracy;

6) Increase women's political participation in target countries through devising relevant advocacy strategies and identifying feasible policy options.
Activities will be structured around three thematic pillars: political leadership capacity building/sharing of experiences; building of sustainable national, regional and international networks; and political advocacy for an increased participation of women in politics.

 

Main activities

1) Leadership capacity building and experience sharing workshops for women

2) Gender awareness workshops

3) Public online forums for discussions with constituents about democracy and women’s political leadership

4) Online private forums to encourage discussion and relationships among target groups and other key participants

5) Gender Political Participation Baseline Report

6) High-level meetings with national authorities to advance the policy agenda for women’s political participation

7) Final international conference to present key findings and recommendations; and,

8) Publication with main conclusions and policy recommendations.

 

Club of Madrid Added Value

Nine missions are being organized to the target countries, where Club of Madrid Members and experts will share leadership experiences related to increasing women’s access to decision making in the social, economic and political spheres with African political decision-making leaders. In this respect, the CoM Members include six women who have reached the height of politics in their country and are particularly well-positioned like Vigdis Finnbogadottir, Iceland’s President for 16 years, and  founder of the Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL). The other five CoM Members are CWWL Members (Jennifer Shipley, New Zealand; Gro Harlem Brundtlund, Norway; Hanna Suchocka, Poland; Mary Robinson, Ireland; and Kim Campbell, Canada), and the latter two have served as CWWL Chair.  In addition, several CoM Members also belong to the International Women’s Forum. Both organizations are associates on this project.

Local partners have been selected based on experience and commitment to democracy, gender equality and the promotion of women’s political participation. Their strategic and local knowledge will help to design/organize relevant workshops, determine key stakeholders, and identify practical policy goals in order to maximize the project’s impact and utility.

Associates will complement the resources and expertise of local partners, providing additional resources, logistical capacity, country and substantive expertise and specialised networks. 

 

Estimated results

1) Women’s political leadership skills are strengthened

2) Increased awareness of barriers to women’s political participation and the need for equal political participation

3) Greater public confidence in women’s political leadership

4) Practical policy recommendations to promote women’s political participation developed

5) New strategic alliances and networks

6) Increased capacity to promote gender-sensitive policies among female and male parliamentarians and leaders

7) Political commitment to increasing women's political participation is elevated.

The project may contribute in the long term to developing policy and laws on issues such as childcare, schools, domestic violence, sexual and reproductive rights, trafficking of women and children, girl’s education and income generation for women.

This project is part of CoM’s global effort on Dialogue, Identity and Democratic Development. The project is funded by the European Union’s Initiative on Democracy and Human Rights (75%) and the Canadian International Development Agency (25%).

 

If you would like to be in touch with a project officer, please contact us.