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Cambodia: Parties Want More Women Candidates in Upcoming Elections

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2012-01-16 20:07

Summary: 

Cambodia’s political parties say they are hoping to get more women candidates to run in local elections next year. Some say they could potentially double the number of women representing their parties in commune councils after the elections in June 2012.

Only 8 percent of commune councilors were women in 2002, compared to 15 percent after the 2007 elections. The National Election Committee says nearly 11,500 commune councilor seats will be contested in the June 2012 polls, leaving a lot of room for more women candidates.

Body: 

Read the complete story at Voice of America News, published 26 December 2011.


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.

Asia Pacific Feminist Forum

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2011-10-28 07:55
2011-12-12
2011-12-14
Etc/GMT-4
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Chiang Mai
Country: 
Thailand
Venue: 

Furama Hotel

54 Huay Keaw Road, Muang Chiang Mai 50300
Tel: (66) 5341 5222 Fax: (66) 5341 5200
 

Description: 

The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) will hold the first ever Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) on 12-14 December 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This event will bring together 100-150 activists- women lawyers, academics, advocates and youth leaders. It will be an occasion to celebrate our collective achievements, reflect on our challenges and political climates, deepen feminist knowledge and analysis, strengthen our sisterhood, solidarity and collaboration, and reaffirm our resolve to advance women’s rights.

 

Workshops:

Workshops will be divided into four categories:

1. Knowledge building: to share new scholarship, analysis, and understandings in key areas of challenges confronting the women’s movement in the region

2. Skills building: to share successful strategies and skills in advocacy for reform

3. Movement building: to share successful efforts at building our movement across nations or regions. Discussions on what has worked for the movement.

4. Our well-being: Massage, dance, songwriting workshops, and other creative workshops for our well-being

Find more information at this link.


Call for Applications: Asia Pacific Feminist Forum

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2011-10-28 07:35
2011-10-28
2011-11-04
Etc/GMT-4
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Chiang Mai
Country: 
Thailand
Description: 

The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) will hold the first ever Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) on 12-14 December 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The APFF will bring together women activists, lawyers, academics, advocates and youth leaders to celebrate our collective achievements, reflect on our challenges and shifting political environments, deepen feminist knowledge and analysis, strengthen our sisterhood, solidarity and collaboration and reaffirm our resolve to advance women’s rights.

For more information visit the APWLD website. 

Workshops will focus on:

1.  Knowledge building: to share new scholarship, analysis, and understandings in key areas of challenges confronting the women’s movement in the region.

2. Skills building: to develop strategies and practical skills that can aid women’s rights advocacy.

3. Movement building: to strengthen collaboration across nations or regions and build new movements that reflect current challenges.

4. Our Well-being: Massage, dance, song writing workshops, and other creative workshops for our well being.


Promoting Women’s Political Representation in Southeast Asia - IKAT

Building Sustainable Partnerships to Promote Women's Political Representation in Southeast Asia

Democracy With Women, For Women

This publication presents an overview and brief analysis of the first round of grants issued
by the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in partnership with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Both organizations are engaged in advancing gender equality and democratic governance around the world. The following pages probe, in a concise fashion, what was achieved through seven grants to improve women’s political participation in a diverse set of countries and regions.

A series of project profiles, drawn from reports and independent evaluations, summarizes objectives and activities, results, challenges, lessons and ideas for future work. Collectively and individually, the profiles shed light on effective strategies in implementing gender and governance programmes. This information may be useful for people carrying out or funding similar initiatives, or for gender advocates, governance specialists and researchers interested in a concise overview of recent experiences illustrating advancements in women’s political participation.

Since 2006, UNDEF has provided grants to strengthen democratic governance in over 100 countries. UNIFEM works with about 10 percent of UNDEF projects to inject its long-standing expertise in gender equality and governance. While all UNDEF projects contribute to realizing gender equality goals, UNIFEM puts deliberate emphasis on ensuring that women have an equal voice in all aspects of governance, peace and security and public decision-making. Globally, progress towards a gender balance in politics is being made, but the pace of change is slow, and the number of women in political offices remains low.

In 2006, the first round of UNDEF proposals awarded $36 million to 125 projects. Grant awards ranged from $50,000 to $500,000. UNIFEM assisted 10 projects in Argentina, Cambodia, Ecuador, Haiti, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania participated in a Great Lakes regional project, while Inter Press Service International implemented an Africa regional project in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Swaziland.

Cambodia: SRP to bridge gender gap

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2011-03-02 02:06

Summary: 

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua yesterday announced a new initiative to promote women’s involvement in politics ahead of commune elections in 2012 and national elections in 2013.

The announcement of the programme, Moving Forward with Women, For Women, was made at a press conference at SRP headquarters in Phnom Penh.

Body: 

To read the full article, please visit The Phnom Penh Post.


Report on Constituency Dialogues in Cambodia 2010

NDI‟s January to September 2010 constituency dialogues revealed significant consistencies in the concerns facing Cambodians across the program‟s 12 provinces: land conflicts; agricultural challenges, particularly irrigation needs and access to markets; pervasive corruption, especially among local authorities; unequal application of the law and lack of justice for the poor; and infrastructure and development needs, such as roads, health centers, schools, and electricity. There were remarkably few differences in the main issues from those in NDI‟s CD program the previous year. In 2010, NDI found that Cambodians had a pervasive sense that although their country‟s economy was growing, this development was benefiting the rich and connected, and not the average Cambodian. Feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction underscored people‟s remarks, and participants were outspoken and critical at the events.

Ending Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking: A Guide to New Strategies

CRosario's picture

This toolkit provides you with resources and ideas to help focus your efforts to fight domestic violence, sexual violence and trafficking and to give you a framework for action. It contains not only specific case studies of women across the globe, but it also provides policy background as well as concrete examples of what you can do to mount a campaign to combat human trafficking, sexual violence or domestic violence. Contact the authors at sfoster[at]stepheniefoster.com
and cindydyer[at]vitalvoices.org.

Cambodia: Crusader Rowing Upstream in Cambodia

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2010-03-03 11:24

Summary: 

Ms. Mu Sochua is a member of a new generation of women who are working their way into the political systems of countries across Asia and elsewhere, from local councils to national assemblies and cabinet positions.

A former minister of women’s affairs, she did as much as anyone to put women’s issues on the agenda of Cambodia as it emerged in the 1990s from decades of war and mass killings. But she lost her public platform in 2004 when she broke with the government, and she is now finding it as difficult to promote her ideas as it is to simply gain attention as a candidate.

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To read the complete story please visit NY Times.