Voter outreach must be a focal point of any campaign, as ensuring voter turnout requires persuasion. Important components of voter outreach include: Raising issues of concern; educating voters on such issues and a candidate’s overall platform; registering voters and mobilizing them to vote for a candidate or an issue.
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Photo Credit: Onislam.net |
Muslim women in India's Uttar Pradesh district are leading a new campaign to educate their community about the importance of participation in the democratic process, urging them to vote in their district’s 23 February elections.
"We have been going from door-to-door and making aware Muslim women and girls about the importance of their vote," said Noor Bano, a woman, who headed the campaign in Rura village in Ramabai Nagar district.
She affirmed that the voters in the villages have widely supported the cause with several Muslim women joining the group in Bhognipur town too.
Read the complete story at On Islam and the The Times of India, published 4 February 2012.
"If I had only known that when I was young," or "if they had only told me" are just some of the statements made by many women who seek assistance at the centre for victims of gender violence set up by the local government in a town on the outskirts of the Argentine capital. The survey on gender violence among adolescents noted that one out of four women in Argentina has been the victim of some kind of violence, and that in 2010, at least 260 "femicides" – murders in a context of gender violence – were committed in this country of 40 million people, almost all of them by the victims' current or former partners.
For more information, please visit: IPS
Protests against Moammar Gadhafi have been a daily occurrence outside the White House since weeks before the U.S. and allies established a no-fly zone over Libya.
But on Wednesday, a small group of North African women held a separate demonstration along Pennsylvania Avenue to draw attention to the case of Eman al-Obaidi, the young lawyer who made international headlines by entering a Tripoli hotel and telling a gathering of western journalists that Gadhafi government forces had raped her.
For more information, please visit WTOP.
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.
It’s not a world you can enter without being prepared. I’m convinced that being involved in politics implies a certain personal culture. You can’t be the kind of woman who’s at a loss for words, you have to stand up for yourself and learn to take what comes your way.
iKNOW Politics: What were the challenges you faced as a woman political leader?
Honourable Celestine: While in office I worked on food self-sufficiency and income-generating activities. I gave women doing agricultural work small loans so they could increase their harvests. I also worked to improve the truly awful working conditions of women nut oil producers. First the women boiled the nuts, then they lowered their bodies into the liquid to knead it. This took every ounce of physical strength they had, which is, after all, limited. Their output was therefore low and they sold what little they produced. Those who bought the oil took advantage of the low prices and resold it for more money on the market. To put an end to this ordeal, I gave the women an oil press, which allowed them to increase their production and their income. The oil press had an immediate impact on productivity, profits rose sharply.
iKNOW Politics: Did you introduce any laws in favour of women during your term in office?
Honourable Celestine: I tabled a bill on violence against women. It wasn’t easy to obtain the signatures of the male colleagues I needed to present the text. They prefer to speak of gender-based violence, because they feel that men are also victims of violence. So we changed the wording to gender-based violence. We have several laws to explain, we’re thinking about the law on the right of women to have control of their own bodies, the law on HIV/AIDS, the law on sexual harassment, among others. Today in Benin, the schools are emptying of their girl pupils, parents are afraid to send their daughters to school because they’re harassed on all sides, by the teachers, the village elders and young boys.
iKNOW Politics: In your constituency, did support from women play a big role?
Honourable Celestine: I was elected in a commune of five constituencies of 400,000 inhabitants, and thanks to the loans and donations I made I had many women partisans. But at the last minute a man came along and handed out banknotes and managed to win them over. This happened because our women have daily needs to meet, so they are always tempted to accept a banknote to solve their problems rather than to vote for promises that won’t be kept for months or years. They cannot think in the long term, what interests them is today. Moreover, I think that men are very good at pulling the wool over our eyes. Populism is a problem everywhere in Africa, extreme poverty plays in favour of vote-buying, and it’s very hard to fight this. This is why we have to focus on educating young girls, to broaden their minds and allow them to project into the future.
iKNOW Politics: Some women are reluctant to get involved in politics because they think their family life will suffer. What do you think? Why does it seem so hard to reconcile family life and politics?
Honourable Celestine: I think that from the outset there has to be a relationship of trust between husband and wife that makes it easier for the man to give the woman more freedom. Trust within the couple is very important and implies a degree of responsibility on the part of the woman. Her first duty is to make sure her household is run properly. Getting involved in politics is a choice, it’s a decision the woman makes, and she must not allow it to take over to the detriment of her other responsibilities. Women have to be well organized, to manage their time well so that they can be wife, mother and active woman politician all rolled into one. Those who are not prepared for this should not get involved or they should be prepared to break up their homes.
iKNOW Politics: What advice would you give young women who want to get involved in politics?
Honourable Celestine: I ask them to have the courage to face the world of politics. They have to show a sense of responsibility to be able to perform their duties, and to be able to put up with a lot. That’s what politics is, first and foremost, it’s not a walk in the park. You have to be mentally prepared to face all kinds of difficulties. You’ll be called all kinds of names, accused of all manner of things. It’s not a world you can enter without being prepared. I’m convinced that being involved in politics implies a certain personal culture. You can’t be the kind of woman who’s at a loss for words, you have to stand up for yourself and learn to take what comes your way. Getting involved in politics is not as simple as going to a party or a dinner dance, it’s more complex than that!
The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) and the Summits of the Americas Secretariat are pleased to invite you to participate in a virtual forum on “Women’s leadership for a citizens’ democracy,” which will be hosted by the Summits Virtual Community (http://svc.summit-americas.org).
The last five years have seen a plethora of national and hemispheric-level dialogue on the main challenges to the construction of a citizens’ democracy, as well as the meaning of democratic systems and their institutions. However, these dialogues have not substantively considered women’s political rights or the issue of parity in political representation, or their implications for democratic systems.
In the interest of placing women’s voices, visions and rights at the centre of political reform, democratization and State modernization processes, CIM will initiate a continuous dialogue on this topic, with the aim of enhancing understanding of the implications of a citizens’ democracy for the rights and interests of women, in all their diversity.
This dialogue will begin through a virtual forum, which will be held from March 7th to 25th 2011 through the Summits Virtual Community. The Virtual Forum aims to ensure that the ongoing discussion of a citizens’ democracy from the perspective of women’s political rights includes the experiences, views and demands of women from different realities.
If you are already part of the Community, join this discussion on:
http://svc.summit-americas.org/forums/hemispheric-consultation-womens-leadership-citizens-democracy
If you haven’t yet joined, please follow these easy steps:
Create an account with the Community
Visit the section on “Forums” (users may only post comments as of March 7th)
Click on the title of the forum “Women’s leadership for a citizens’ democracy” and join the discussion
Once you’ve joined the forum, you’ll be able to read and post comments, use the “my actions” box to share documents, photos, videos and blogs, and invite other to join the discussion.
Politics is another way for women to achieve self-fulfillment, a woman deputy in Russia's parliament told Xinhua Monday.
In an interview ahead of the International Women's Day, which falls on Tuesday, Tatiana Voronova, a 36-year-old member of the ruling United Russia party serving in the State Duma, or lower house, first recalled her political career.
"My career brings me a sense of tremendous accomplishment," said Voronova, in a gray business suit and always with a smile.
She said that her wish is to make the envisioned future come true. "If a politician is not able to create an image of future and make the image possible, then he or she is not a politician," she stressed.
To read the full article, please visit xinhuanet.com
The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), in collaboration with the Grenier International NGO, conducted an awareness-raising session on preserving a peaceful post-election environment for about 100 women in Nagnénéfoun Village, in the northern commune of Korhogo, on Friday 7 January 2011.
For more information, please visit StarAfrica.com.
