PRESS RELEASE

 

The Club of Madrid encourages Sierra Leone’s President to support women politicians; inaugurates resource centre in Parliament for women MPs

 

Former President of Sri Lanka and Club of Madrid Member Chandrika Kumaratunga and Senator Gloria Musu Scott, Former Chief Justice of Liberia, promote women’s political participation in the country

 
Freetown, December 14, 2007.- The Club of Madrid, in partnership with Sierra Leone’s Campaign for Good Governance, today concluded a four-day African Women Leaders Project (AWLP) mission, aimed at strengthening democracy through women’s political participation. 
The objective of the project and of the high-level delegation – led by Club of Madrid Member Chandrika Kumaratunga – is to contribute to the strengthening of female political leadership and, in the long-term, increase women’s political participation and public confidence in governance. It was the 3rd AWLP mission to Sierra Leone.
Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President of Sri Lanka and newly-inducted member of the Club of Madrid; and Senator Gloria Musu Scott, Former Chief Justice of Liberia, led the mission, which included AWLP Coordinator Rosemary Kaduru and representatives of local NGO Campaign for Good Governance (CGG).
The delegation was in Freetown 11-14 December 2007 and meet with Sierra Leone’s President, Ernest Bai Koroma; other leaders of Sierra Leone’s government; the Speaker and other Members of Parliament; political party representatives; the Mayor of Freetown; Civil Society organisations and women leaders.
President Koroma expressed his support to the Club of Madrid and Campaign for Good Governance for this valuable programme, saying that his government is “committed to ensure equal rights and participation at all levels for women of Sierra Leone.”In addition to the aims and objectives of the project, the delegation discussed a broad range of issues concerning the importance of women’s participation in politics and governance.
Delegation members held extensive dialogue with female members of parliament, and political and civil society leaders with the objective of identifying issues and challenges faced by women in carrying out leadership responsibilities. In the process, mission leaders offered recommendations to resolve issues related to further nation building and economic development, while securing opportunities for equal participation for women in leadership roles.
On 12 December, President Kumaratunga commissioned a resource centre in the parliament for women MPs. The Speaker and Members of Parliament, political party leaders and representatives of local and international Civil Society Organisations and the United Nations attended. While commissioning the centre, Kumaratunga thanked the Club of Madrid for equipping the centre and said that “this is a valuable resource for women political leaders to advance their knowledge and establish communications with the outside world.”
Kumaratunga suggested that, while continuing the struggle to enhance participation of women in public life, it is equally important to work “towards empowering women through education and economically, through improved incomes.” She recommended that women‘s organisations give serious consideration to organising micro, small, and medium enterprises in agriculture and small industries for women in order to empower them economically, saying that this was absolutely essential in the struggle to achieve women’s empowerment. She reminded members of parliament that the people who elected them to parliament did so with much hope that the women could improve their lives. If women MPs do not succeed in doing this then the struggle to empower women by electing them will be negated. Women leaders in parliament, Kumaratunga suggested, could prove their worth by urgently undertaking projects for poverty alleviation. Detailed discussion on how this could be achieved ensured and the Members of Parliament agreed to undertake specific projects for poverty alleviation.
Senator Scott said that “Running a campaign for office as a woman is very challenging but it is the easiest part, once you get elected then the real challenge begins”. She emphasised that women should be supportive of each other especially by strengthening those already in leadership positions at all levels so that they can stand as role models for other women.
The programme also includes a two-day leadership training programme for female and male parliamentarians, 13-15 December. The training is led by Sen. Scott and Dr. Bernadette Lahai, one of the longest serving members of Sierra Leone’s Parliament.
The Club of Madrid will continue to contribute to the strengthening of female political leadership in governance. Sierra Leone is likely to be one of the focus countries for a new Club of Madrid programme in West Africa.
 

 

Information about the African Women Leaders Project

The African Women Leaders Project (AWLP) is an 18-month initiative that provides support to women leaders in Sierra Leone and two other African countries. Four missions are being organized to Sierra Leone, where Club of Madrid Members and experts share leadership experiences related to increasing women’s access to decision making in the social, economic and political spheres with political decision-makers. Project activities are structured around three pillars: political leadership capacity building and gender awareness sessions; building of sustainable international networks; and advocacy actions. The project is being implemented in Sierra Leone in partnership with the Campaign for Good Governance and in association with the Network of women Leaders and Parliamentarians. The European Union and the Canadian International Development Agency fund the project. 

 

 

Club of Madrid – Democracy that delivers

The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members – 70 democratic former heads of state and government. In partnership with other organizations and governments that share its democracy-promotion goals, the Club of Madrid provides peer to peer counsel, strategic support and technical advice to leaders and institutions working towards democratic transition and consolidation. www.clubmadrid.org

Campaign for Good Governance

The Campaign for Good Governance is an advocacy organization promoting good governance and human rights in Sierra Leone. The organization has a national representation and focuses on four programmatic areas: decentralization and local governance, access to justice and realization of rights, security sector reform and civil society strengthening. www.slcgg.org 

  


Mission Leaders

 

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

Former President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005)

Chandrika Kumaratunga is a Member of the Club of Madrid (2007). She was the fifth President (and fourth to hold the office as Executive president) of Sri Lanka and the country’s first female President. Her father, Solomon Bandaranaike, was assassinated while serving as Prime Minister in 1959. President Kumaratunga’s mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was elected as the world’s first female Prime Minister in 1960. During her mother’s time in office, Ms. Kumaratunga served as Director Land Reforms Commission and as Chairperson of the Janawasa Commission for the alleviationof poverty. She worked in journalism for Le Monde and then as Managind Editor of the Dinakara Sinhala, a Sri Lankan Daily from 1977 to 1985. From 1976 to 1979, Ms. Kumaratunga served as an Expert Consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

In May of 1993, Ms. Kumaratunga was elected to the Western Provincial Council of Sri Lanka and appointed as the Chief Minister of the Province. In August 1994, Ms. Kumaratunga contested the Parliamentary General Elections as the People’s Alliance’s Prime Ministerial candidate and was elected to Parliament and appointed Prime Minister in 1994. Seventeen years of National Party rule ended with Kumaratunga’s election to the Presidency campaigning on a platform of vigorous new efforts at lasting peace with the Tamil Tiger Movement (LTTE).

At the outset, Ms. Kumaratunga made strong peace overtures to the LTTE, but when a viable peace agreement could not be reached, she pursued a prolonged military campaign in the north of Sri Lanka. During the 1999 elections she was badly wounded in an LTTE assassination attempt.

 

Gloria Musu Scott 

Member of the Liberian Senate (2005 - …)

A legal expert, Ms. Glora Musu Scott is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, and a current member of the Liberian National Bar Association. As co-founder of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia, she has advocated for women’s rights. Ms. Scott was also an assistant professor at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, from which she had received a bachelor’s degree in economics prior to her law degree. Ms. Scott also participates in the Independent Elections Commission.

  


Press contacts

Bárbara González del Valle (bgonzalez@clubmadrid.org). Tel: 34 911 548 230Silvia Pescador (spescador@clubmadrid.org). Tel: 34 911 548 230

  

Page last updated: January 09,2008

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