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Fundraising

Women candidates must place a particular emphasis on raising the funds necessary to run a successful campaign. Fundraising, an inevitable part of any political campaign, allows the candidate to pay for items such as nomination fees, candidate deposits, promotional activities, transportation and a multitude of other expenses. Successful fundraising is an intricate endeavour that includes identifying potential donors, educating them on campaign issues, creating solicitation tools and developing a plan for receiving and allocating funds.

From the Library

Empowering Women for Stronger Political Parties

How women participate in political parties – and how those parties encourage and nurture women’s involvement and incorporate gender-equality issues – are key determinants of women’s political empowerment. They are also key to ensuring gender-equality issues are addressed in the wider society. If strategies to promote women’s involvement in the political process are to be effective, they should be linked to steps parties can take across the specific phases of the electoral cycle – the preelectoral, electoral and post-electoral phases – and to the organization and financing of the parties themselves. 
 
The most effective strategies to increase women’s participation in political parties combine reforms to political institutions with targeted support to women party activists within and outside party structures, women candidates and elected officials. These strategies require the cooperation of a variety of actors and political parties from across the political spectrum.
 
The Guide identifies targeted interventions that political parties can take to empower women. It is structured according to four phases, following an electoral cycle approach.

Strengthening women political participation in Lesotho

mdrame's picture

There are many definitions of the word politics but because I had a choice I picked up the definition by Bahram Maskanian because it appeared to be very close to what I will be talking about. Bahram defines politics as an art and science of managing and governing one’s entire social, cultural and economic affairs. He goes on to say that politics is the activity and interaction engaged in by any given society’s citizen’s to build and maintain a community and establish communal social services for all people.

Political Campaign Planning Manual (Malaysia)

Originally developed a decade ago by NDI's staff team in Russia, this manual traveled the globe numerous times with localized updates. NDI's team of political party experts in Malaysia edited the version you hold for that specific context. In 2004, Indonesia's candidates ran campaigns using this manual and, later, candidates and their teams similarly followed the formula in that country's first directr elections for governors and mayors. In 2007, in the landmark elections required by the peace agreement in Aceh after a forty-year, conflict, a more substantial update to the manual gave candidates greater confidence to compete in the ever-changing world of campaign politics. The updates made to the manual reflect advances in targetting, message development and the use of technology in campaigns in every country; the lesson for all of us is that political campaigning is, quite simply, about effective planning. Campaigning techniques are refined over time. The lesson of political practitioners everywhere is to learn from each others' victories and mistakes. And, to make sure the campaign we run is appropriate to the context in which we are competing.

Advocacy and Running for Office: A Training Manual for Women

CRosario's picture

This manual brings together training material used in Vital Voices advocacy and campaign skills trainings across the globe.  You can contact the editor at sfoster[at]stepheniefoster.com.

Corruption and Access to Justice in Southeast Europe: Addressing The Gender Dimensions

In their process of meeting the European Union’s pre-accession requirements, the countries of Southeast Europe (SEE) have focused on establishing and consolidating rule of law. However, their pursuit of this goal has focused on a narrow perspective of what rule of law entails: judicial and police reform. Programs with this narrow approach to rule of law do not address the gender dimensions of two very significant rule of law issues: corruption and access to justice. These problems and their gender dimensions contribute to the overall frustration that citizens of SEE have with inefficient and ineffective public administrations. They are particularly significant in the fields of health, education and gender-based violence – all areas that have a disproportionate impact on women.

Handbook for Women Candidates

This Handbook for Women Candidates is the result of a series of workshops and meetings with women candidates and women active in political parties in Khartoum. It contains a toolkit on election campaigning and public speaking and is drafted specifically to meet the needs of candidates in emerging democracies.

Electoral Financing to Advance Women’s Political Participation: A Guide for UNDP Support

This primer offers an introduction to the intersection of gender and electoral financing. The primer outlines the role that political systems play in shaping electoral financing options and outcomes, and gives a summary of basic campaign financing constraints that women face.

Consolidated Response on Financing Women Candidates in Muslim Countries

This consolidated response highlights barriers faced by women in Muslim countries in funding their political campaigns and participating in public life. The consolidated response also discusses the impact of existing legislation, political parties, women’s organizations and international institutions on women’s participation in politics in these countries and provides strategies to overcome it.

Campaign Schools for Women and Youth: Candidate’s Handbook

This manual guides candidates on how to plan a campaign, mobilize members, organize campaign communications, fundraise, mitigate electoral violence, and build relationships with media.

The United Nations Democracy Fund

The United Nations Democracy Fund ( UNDEF) assists governmental and non governmental organizations to build and strengthen democratic institutions, promote human rights and ensure the participation of all groups in the democratic process.