Improving the representation of women in political leadership is an issue that cuts across CDI’s entire work program. In particular, the South Pacific has the world's lowest levels of female representation in parliament - click on this table for details: Women in Pacific Parliaments, electoral systems and gender special measures. Pacific Island countries have committed to promoting the advancement of women in different spheres of life, including that of political representation. There is also strong community support for better women’s representation in parliament. Almost 90 % of people interviewed in the 2007 People’s Survey in the Solomon Islands said there should be more women in parliament.
CDI places a high priority on gender equality in all our activities. The main goal of the CDI’s gender and political participation program is to work with focus countries to create an environment in which women can advocate on matters of policy, run for political office, be elected and govern effectively, and participate meaningfully in every facet of civic and political life. This requires a focus on gender relations: men’s and women’s roles, responsibilities and decision making in different areas of life, issues of power and control. Engaging men in this process is of utmost importance.
CDI seeks to identify and engage with emerging leaders in our focus countries. We are working to identify and invest in future leaders who can act in the national interest of their countries, with a strong emphasis on nurturing and encouraging women and up-and-coming younger political leaders as a cross-cutting goal across our entire work program - click on this table for details: Gender Equity in CDI's Training Program.
Following is a list of CDI and related activities concerned both wholly or in part with issues of gender and women's political representation. Click on each link to access the item in detail:
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CDI conducted three 2-day Progress Check workshops in mid-April for intending candidates and their campaign managers as the 3rd and final round of training activities in the Papua New Guinea Women Candidates Training Strategy (WCTS). The Strategy is a joint initiative between CDI and PNG’s Office for the Development of Women (ODW, an agency within the Department for Community Development).
Over 70 female candidates and their campaign managers have been trained through the WCTS on the fundamentals of campaigning, including: developing and delivering a message; creating a campaign team structure, plan, and timetable; fundraising and budget management; public speaking; Limited Preferential Voting and electoral laws; and the roles of an MP.
Click on the links above for all the details.
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Asia-Pacific | Women in Politics Course | Canberra | 23 November - 1 December 2011 |
CDI's Women in Politics Training Course (WiP) took place from 23 November to 1 December 2011 in Canberra. WiP 2011 was designed for women in East Timor, Indonesia, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu intending to enter national or local politics, either as a candidate for election or as a party activist or official.
Equitable gender participation in politics is a crucial element of real democracy. Promoting female candidacy in elections, as well as effective participation and leadership by women in parliaments and political parties requires specialised training and CDI’s WiP course aims to assist in meeting that need.
WiP covers a broad range of issues, from strategies to promote gender equity in politics to the practicalities of running election campaigns. WiP 2011 consisted of a mix of lectures, external site visits, group work and participatory forums with academics, female Members of the Australian Parliament, officials from the major Australian political parties and a range of other experts.
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 (such as lobbying, networking, media relations and resource mobilisation);
- enabling participants time and space to reflect on barriers to women’s political representation in their own countries and region, and develop nationally-specific strategies to overcome these barriers; and
- providing an opportunity for participants to make connections and build networks, including with Australian Members of Parliament and political party representatives. WiP is particularly designed for women intending to enter national politics, whether as a candidate for elected office, a political party organiser, or similar role in the democratic process. CDI particularly encourages applications from young and upcoming female leaders.
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As PNG's national elections draw closer, work is gathering pace for the PNG’s Office for the Development of Women as it begins to implement its Women Candidates Training (WCT) Strategy.
The Strategy, which was developed by ODW with assistance from CDI and UNDP’s Women in Leadership Project, is a home-grown response to the poor political representation of women in PNG. Dame Carol Kidu, until recently PNG's Minister for Community Development, is the only woman in Parliament and, as she will not be re-contesting her seat, PNG faces the prospect of having no women members of parliament.
Drawing on the experiences of women candidates in the 2007 elections and on CDI’s experience in conducting women candidate training in the Solomon Island and Bougainville, ODW's Strategy aims to increase the chances of women being elected by proposing a structured sequence of training and advisory events for women candidates and their campaign managers in the 10 months leading up to the election. The Strategy will involve:
- four regional workshops (in Alotau, Mt Hagen, Madang and Kavieng in the period October-December 2011);
- four progress check workshops (in Alotau, Mt Hagen, Madang and Kavieng in the period February-April 2012); and
- four feedback sessions (at two locations in each region, to be provided over two days immediately after nominations close in mid to late May 2012).
The success of these events will rely significantly on the Strategy's network of local civil society partners in regions across PNG. These partners have been closely involved in developing the Strategy and will play a central role in organising and delivering the training and advisory events. Working with regional civil society partners has helped ensure that the events are targeted to local needs and is supporting the emergence of enduring local capacity to support women candidates in the future.
ODW’s WCT Strategy partners include: in Southern Region, Papua Hahine Social Action Forum; in Highlands Region, the Provincial Women’s Council Resource Centre as a focal point for a coalition of women’s organisations; in Momase Region, Soroptomists International also a focal point for a coalition of organisations; and in New Guinea Islands Region, Namatanai District Council of Women also acting as a focal point for a local coalition.
CDI has worked closely with ODW and UNDP over the last 6 months in support of the WCT Strategy, providing advice and assistance in program design, preparation of materials and workshop organization and facilitation.
Recently, Dr Orovu Sepoe (CDI’s Special Adviser) and Dr Norm Kelly (CDI Associate) facilitated a Strategy consultation in Goroka on 19 and 20 July. Nineteen representatives of various women’s groups in the Highlands attended the consultation and reached agreement on a program of work to implement the Strategy in the Highlands. And two weeks ago, from 15 to 18 August in Port Moresby, CDI facilitated the first major Strategy event - a training-of-trainers (ToT) workshop for 16 trainers (four nominated by each regional Strategy partner) to prepare for the first round of regional candidate and campaign manager regional workshops.
The ToT workshop was opened by Dame Carol with David McLachlan-Karr (the UN Resident Representative), Brian Nakrakundi (Director of ODW’s Director) and Grant Harrison (CDI’s Deputy Director) adding to the welcome. Over the course of four days the participants worked through the structure and content of the regional workshops, gaining familiarity with concepts and materials on campaign strategies and tactics; campaign messages and public speaking; campaign dynamics; media relations; campaign planning, logistics and financing; electoral rules (including Limited Preferential Voting) and campaign team management.
By the end of the workshop all of those involved (participants and organizers) had a great confidence that the WCT Strategy could be implemented successfully and that itwould result in:
- 80 women candidates (and 80 campaign managers) more prepared than ever before to contest the national election, with greater understanding and confidence in campaigning; and
- civil society organisations and coalitions in each region with skills and materials to support and advise candidates at 2012 elections and at other national and local-level elections.
There was a strong sense also that the Strategy could make a wider contribution to politics in PNG. It could help encourage a different dynamic in election campaigning, with women candidates offering an alternative to male-dominated money politics; and it could offer another perspective on the debate about women in politics, with women contesting open seats (to complement the reserved seats proposal).
Armed with endorsement from PNG’s Joint Technical Working Group on Women in Leadership (formerly chaired by Dame Carol) and positive feedback from the ToT participants, ODW and UNDP are currently seeking funding support for other donor partners to guarantee to roll-out of the remaining events in the WCT Strategy.
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The Centre for Democratic Institutions’ Political Party Development (PPD) course was held in Canberra in May 2011. This was the sixth occasion the course has been conducted, being held annually since 2006. The two-week course is based at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University, and is presented by CDI Associate Dr Norm Kelly.
The PPD course is designed to provide senior political party officials from the South-East Asia – South Pacific region with the skills to strengthen their parties and party systems, with the objectives being improved governance and more stable democracies. The intention of the course is to provide participants with:
- Information on the Australian political system, with insights into how Australian political parties administer and organise themselves;
- An understanding of party theory and the factors that influence the development of party systems;
- A better understanding of parties and party systems in the region;
- Opportunities to develop contacts and networks with other parties in their own countries and throughout the region; and
- Development of links with Australian parties and institutions.
Twenty participants from seven countries were selected to attend the course in 2011 and the majority of these participants hold senior positions in their respective parties and included three current Members of Parliament. The South Pacific region has the lowest levels of women’s parliamentary representation in the world, and CDI is keen to encourage women’s participation in regional politics. This year, ten women participated on the PPD course, easily the highest level so far. The course includes specific sessions on women in politics, and meetings with senior women parliamentarians, with a focus on how Australia’s main parties encourage women’s involvement in administrative and campaign aspects of party work. CDI will continue to seek significant numbers of nominations from women for future courses.
Click on the link above for all the details on this activity. |
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The Centre for Democratic Institutions’ Women in Politics Training Course was conducted from 24 November to 2 December 2010 in Canberra. The course was convened by CDI Associate Ms. Monica Costa.
In its third year the Women in Politics training course continues to strengthen the capacity of social and political actors in the Asia-Pacific region to improve women’s political representation. This course was developed to support women intending to enter national politics whether as a candidate for elected office, a political party organiser, or similar role in the democratic process.
The course offered a unique opportunity for participants to learn and discuss best practices in promoting gender equality as well as share their own country-based experiences. The course explored avenues to translate this knowledge into the context of the Asia-Pacific through the development of national strategies to address challenges faced by women in engaging with the political arena.
Nineteen participants from the six CDI priority countries participated in the course and roughly half of the participants hold positions in political parties while the other half are engaged in civil society organizations committed to support improvements in women’s representation in politics. Participants included women interested in running for office in coming elections (both national and local) and those engaged in advocacy efforts to improve women’s representation in politics. There is strong demand for this course across the Asia-Pacific region as indicated by the number of applications - around 180 applications from 15 countries for 20 postions only were received by CDI .
The 2010 Women in Politics training course covered topics including :
- Getting elected and re-elected
- Leadership
- Electoral systems and reforms affecting women
- Lobbying/networking
- Role of political parties and politicians
- Government, NGOs and academia’s contribution
Click on the link above for all the details on this activity. |
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CDI has recently sponsored CDI Associate Dr Norm Kelly as a full member of two international Electoral Observer Missions (EOM) to Melanesia - to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville elections in May 2010, and the Solomon Islands general election in August 2010. These missions have been implemented by the East-West Center (EWC) in Hawaii under the auspices of the US State Department’s Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership (APDP).
The EOMs' full reports on these elections will be completed in the coming months and accessable here, as will a seperate CDI policy paper Dr Kelly is developing that will compare and contrast the electoral and party systems of Bougainville and the Solomon Islands. As part of our follow-up and evaluation of CDI's recent training activities in both these jurisdictions, this paper will include a focus on the campaigning experience for all candidates but with a particular emphasis on the experience and performance of female candidates. In turn, this policy paper will serve to help inform our future activities in this area. |
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The Centre for Democratic Institutions’ Political Party Development (PPD) course was held in Canberra from the 7 to 18 June 2010. This was the fifth occasion the course has been conducted, being held annually since 2006. The two-week course is based at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University, and is presented by Dr Norm Kelly. The PPD course is designed to provide senior party officials from the Asia-Pacific region with the skills to strengthen their parties and party systems, thus contributing to improved governance and more stable democracy. The course provides participants with information on the Australian political system, including insights into how Australian political parties administer and organise themselves; a grounding in party theory and the factors that influence the development of party systems; a better understanding of parties and party systems in the region; and opportunities to develop contacts and networks with other parties in their own countries and throughout the region, including with the major Australian parties and political institutions.
The South Pacific region has the lowest levels of women’s parliamentary representation in the world, and CDI is keen to encourage women’s participation in regional politics. This year, five women (28 per cent) participated on the PPD course, the highest level so far. The course includes specific sessions on women in politics, and meetings with senior women parliamentarians, with a focus on how Australia’s main parties encourage women’s involvement in administrative and campaign aspects of party work. |
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| Having identified a need for the training and development of future women leaders in the Solomon Islands, the Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI) conducted a Women Candidates Training Workshop in Honiara from 8th-12th March 2010. Fittingly, the workshop commenced on International Women’s Day. This workshop follows on from the success of a similar workshop that CDI conducted in Buka, Bougainville in November 2009. CDI’s partners in delivering the workshop were the Solomon Islands National Council of Women (NCW), through their Women in Shared Decision-Making (WISDM) program, the Solomon Islands Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs, and the Solomon Islands Parliament. The workshop was led by CDI Associate Dr Norm Kelly, a former parliamentarian and campaign manager, with assistance from experienced campaigners from the Australian Labor and Liberal parties. There was an emphasis on the practicalities of conducting a successful election campaign. |
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| Inaugurated in 2008, the WiP course is held annually and aims to build the capacity of women and men from the Pacific region who are working toward the goal of improving the representation of women in parliament and public office. It is designed for women who are intending to enter national politics in the Pacific Islands, whether as a candidate for elected office, a political party organiser, or similar role in the democratic process. 18 participants from 10 countries, including all CDI focus countries, participated in the 2009 WiP course. Approximately half of the participants held positions related to politics while the other half was engaged in civil society. Participants include both people that expressed interest in running for politics and those that want to be engaged in advocacy for change in women’s representation in politics. |
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The Centre for Democratic Institutions’ Women Candidates Training Workshop was conducted from 24 to 26 May at the Kuri Resort in Buka, in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. This is the first time CDI has conducted a course aimed purely at training potential women candidates for upcoming elections. The House of Representatives of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARB) includes three reserved seats for women, and elections are due to be held in May 2010. One of the main objectives of the course was to enhance women’s campaigning skills, not only for the prescribed women’s seats, but to be more competitive in the 33 open, general constituency seats. |
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In an effort to bolster our impact on the poor state of women’s representation in the parliaments of the Pacific, CDI implemented a new training course in 2008 under the title of “Women in Politics”. The course brought together women and men working in parliaments, governments, and civil society/private sector from PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Kiribati and Tonga. This course was convened by Dr Sun-Hee Lee who joined CDI in June 2008 on secondment from AusAID as Special Adviser on Gender Issues.
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Research - Workshops - Conferences - Seminars - Publications |
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PPS 2012/01 | Christine McMurray - National Elections and Women Candidates in Solomon Islands: Results from the People’s Survey |
The Solomon Islands comprises around half a million people from nearly a hundred different language and cultural groups. Around 80% of the population depends mainly on subsistence agriculture and many adults have only a few years of primary schooling. Since attaining independence in 1978, Solomon Islands has been governed by a national parliament based on the Westminster system. There are currently 50 elected members to represent nine provinces and the capital, Honiara. Elected provincial governments are responsible for local government, while at the community level, chiefs and elders still make many of the decisions.
Corruption and poor management have impaired the performance of both national and provincial governments and many people do not have access to basic infrastructure or economic opportunities. A striking feature of elected governments in Solomon Islands is the general scarcity of women. Although some community elders are women and women have achieved senior positions in the public service and civil society, very few women have been elected to provincial governments and only one has ever won a seat in the national Parliament. Prior to the 2006 and 2010 national elections, various donors and local organizations made substantial efforts to educate communities in the concept of democracy, civic rights and the importance of voting independently for the candidates most likely to provide good governance (Alasia, 2008: 119-126; Transparency International, 2010). They also helped to encourage, organise and support women candidates and in the 2010 election women contested 21 of the 50 seats. Despite this, women candidates received only 4% of the vote in the 21 seats they contested. Not a single woman won office or even came close to receiving most votes in the seats they contested. The majority of women candidates were among the least successful.
This paper explores data on Solomon Islanders’ perceptions of the role of an elected Member of Parliament (MP), their experience of elections and their perceptions of women as leaders. The data are drawn from the People’s Survey (RAMSI, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010), which has been conducted annually since 2007 to inform evaluations of The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and to provide feedback to the Solomon Islands Government and the community.
Click on the link above for all the details on this activity. |
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CDI’s collaboration with PNG’s Office for the Development of Women (part of the Department for Community Development) and UNDP’s PNG Women in Leadership Project has taken a significant step forward with the development of a Strategy to guide implementation of a series of training events for women candidates in the lead-up to the 2012 elections in PNG.
The Strategy is the result of a planning workshop hosted in Lae on 22 and 23 March 2011 by the Office for the Development of Women. The workshop was supported by UNDP and facilitated by a CDI team comprising Deputy Director Grant Harrison, Special Adviser Dr Orovu Sepoe, Program Manager Luke Hambly and Associate Dr Norm Kelly.
Over 40 community, government and donor agency stakeholders attended the workshop and participated actively in small discussion groups, sharing their experience and observations on:
- the challenges faced by women candidates in the 2007 elections
- the training and advisory services which could help women candidates prepare for the 2012 elections
- the value of combining resources in a coordinated, national effort
- the regional organizations or networks which could support a role in such an effort
The workshop proved to be highly successful, resulting in the preparation of a draft Strategy describing particular training and advisory activities and commitments from various regional partners to be involved in implementing the Strategy.
Since the workshop, the Office for the Development of Women has produced a final version of the Strategy which has been endorsed by the Joint Technical Working Group on Women in Leadership (Chaired by the Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol Kidu).
UNDP is coordinating financial support for the Strategy implementation and the Office for the Development of Women, with continuing technical assistance from UNDP and CDI, has recently begun preparations for the first event – a train the trainer workshop in which facilitators from each of PNG’s regions will be prepared for their role in Strategy implementation.
Click on the link above for all the details on this activity. |
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A Guide to Campaigning for Pacific Women | FaHCSIA, PIFs, UNDP | 2008 |
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Women in Government in Solomon Islands - A Diagnostic Study | Whittington, Ospina and Pollard | 2006 |
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A Woman's Place is in the House - The House of Parliament: Research to Advance Women's Political Representation in Forum Island Countries | Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat | 2006 |
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Marian Sawer with Manon Tremblay and Linda Trimble, 'Introduction: Patterns and Practice in the Parliamentary Representation of Women', in Marian Sawer, Manon Tremblay and Linda Trimble (eds), Representing Women in Parliament: A Comparative Study, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 103-19, 2006. |
Program Development & Further Activities |
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| As a follow up to the CDI Women in Politics (WIP) course in November 2008 in Canberra, Special Adviser on Gender Issues, Sun-Hee Lee, visited Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu on 21 January – 3 February. The main purpose of the visit was to take stock of relevant activities which will help to form a position on ways of assisting national efforts to get more women elected in the next cycle of elections. |
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| Dr Sun-Hee Lee, CDI's Special Adviser on Gender, was among the high profile speakers at the Business for Millennium Development (B4MD) Summit held in Melbourne on September 24. Why doing business with the poor is good both for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and business, and how Australian businesses can create new opportunities by aligning themselves with MDGs were the main topics of the Summit, which was supported by AusAID and the UNDP. |
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| CDI special adviser on gender issues Dr Sun-Hee Lee participated in a sub-regional workshop on special measures for women, organised by the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and held on 24-26 September in Port Moresby. This workshop built on the outcomes of the 2006 Rarotonga meeting of women parliamentarians from the Forum Islands countries together with development partners, academics and civil society organisations. |
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CDI sponsored short attachments to the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in Canberra for two staff members from the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) House of Representatives. The two officers were: Mrs Loretta Masiria (Hansard), and Ms Michaelyne Sabin (Librarian). |
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CDI Executive Officer Luke Hambly was 1 of 3 speakers at an AusAID-covened panel discussion in Canberra on the subject of Female Leadership & Decision Making in PNG. |
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"Women play major role in peace process" Deputy Speaker of the Autonomous Bougainville Parliament Francesca Semoso interviewed by The National in Goroka at the CDI Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue.
"Woman leader calls for gender balanced budgets " Deputy Speaker of the Autonomous Bougainville Parliament Francesca Semoso interviewed by The National in Goroka at the CDI Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue. |
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The 8th CDI Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue provided a forum for Members of Parliament from the Pacific Island Countries, Australia and New Zealand to discuss public leadership with regional and international colleagues in a practical, non-partisan and dynamic environment. A feature of this event was a full-day's programming devoted to the theme of 'Including Everyone', which explored the obstacles and opportunities of formal political representation and leadership facing women in the Pacific. |
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CDI Program Manager Daniela Capaccio visited Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu in 2006, for discussions with various organisations involved in promoting women in politics in the Pacific Islands. |
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CDI supported a 'Women's Participation in Governance' workshop in the Simbu Province in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea from 17 to 19 September 2003. The focus of the workshop was on women and governance, in particular their inclusion in elections and electoral processes. Issues of citizenship, democracy and the role of women in PNG were discussed and the workshop aimed to develop strategies for promoting women's involvement in electoral processes. |
