The Regional BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) workshop began on Monday, July 13th, and its focus is to put elections in context of governance and democracy. It is the most comprehensive professional development course available in election administration. It improves the skills, knowledge, and confidence both of election professionals and of others in the electoral process, such as members of the media, political parties and parliamentarians, and electoral observers and civil society organizations. This BRIDGE course is the first of its kind by focusing particularly on gender issues.
The 32 participants for this workshop in Pohnpei come from backgrounds outside the traditional areas of electoral and parliamentary office which includes representatives of Ministry of women, NGOs and training institutions etc. The countries represented include the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.
In a message to the participants, Ms. Elizabeth Cox, the Regional Director of the UNIFEM Office in Suva, Fiji, raised the need for an increase in political participation by Pacific Island women as active citizens and leaders.
Ms. Cox said, “The workshop will be an occasion for all participants to learn about the principles of electoral issues in general and how they affect women’s representation in particular. It will enable you to reflect on the electoral systems used in your countries and will equip you with the skill to develop strategies that help to overcome the various obstacles that women face when entering politics. Furthermore, it will enable you to actively apply the learned principles.”
Cox also said, “Over the past decades, some progress, in terms of women’s political representation at national parliamentary levels, was achieved across the Pacific region. However, women remain greatly underrepresented in high-level decision making positions and in order to achieve the so called “critical mass” of 30% representation of either gender, yet alone full gender equality in decision making, there is much more work to be done.”
The workshop is an effort towards building the capacity of Pacific women to eventually become a stronger group of trained and certified trainers from Pacific countries with a background in gender and good governance.
Jointly hosted by UNIFEM and the Federated States of Micronesia National Government, the workshop will run for two weeks.
The workshop will help key stakeholders from participating countries engage in training relevant national audiences, including women’s groups, government, political parties and electoral officials with the aim to increase national capacity of key players supporting women’s political participation and representation at all levels of legislature.
After the training, the participants will be qualified to design training programs and customize modules for their organizations as part of their national training programs with the aim to increase critical knowledge about the various aspects that impact on women’s political participation and representation in the context of elections.
UNIFEM’s Gender Equality in Political Governance program Deputy Regional Manager, Ms. Jeanette Bolenga, told the group that as multipliers of the knowledge their training will go a long way in helping women’s leadership and participation in governments.
“UNIFEM is looking forward to working with you in the future as key stakeholders in your countries that can actively contribute to achieving women’s increased representation in politics and strengthen women’s capacity to become more active citizens and leaders.”
The workshop ends on Thursday the 23rd of July.
UNIFEM’s GEPG Program is a 5 years initiative co-funded by AusAID under its Pacific Leadership Program. The program will contribute to advancing gender equality in political governance in the Pacific region at both national and local levels with the main purpose of increasing the participation of women as active citizens and leaders.
