Theworkshop aimed to map out best practices in the region and identify more effective strategies for gender mainstreaming to ensure visible and consistent impact at the country levels in the coming years. About 30 gender focal points coming from 24 different countries took part to the workshop. At the end of the meeting, a document on key action points on lifting gender mainstreaming impact from good to great was elaborated. iKNOW Politics was presented to the audience, brochures and other promotional material as pens and T-shirt were disseminated.

The purpose of this meeting was to disseminate the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics (iKNOW Politics) as a key tool to empower women who participate or wish to participate in politics.  The event also served to present a testimonial video produced by iKNOW Politics that highlights the profiles and careers of nine women politicians in Latin America from the countries of Guatemala, Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador.  In the video, each woman interviewed shares her own personal experience in getting involved in politics and her view of the challenges women face in her country when participating in politics.

Three of the video’s protagonists attended the event, including Peruvian Minister of Women Aída García Naranjo, Guatemalan deputy Otilia Lux de Cotí and Natalia Arcila Cortés, Conservative Party member of Antioquia, Colombia.

The event’s opening panel members were Minister Aída García Naranjo, Kristen Sample (International IDEA’s head of mission for the Andean region and regional coordinator for democratic, development and gender affairs) and Rossana Andía (iKNOW Politics regional coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean).

For the panel “The difficult path toward recognition and representation: A few experiences,” participants included Bethsabé Andía, the program and project coordinator in Peru for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and guest politicians Otilia Lux de Cotí and Natalia Arcila Cortés.

After the panelists’ presentations, a debate was held between them and the attendants.  The topics that surfaced included issues such as: strategies to avoid political corruption, promoting parity, public policies that encourage women’s participation in politics, the relationship between space-city and women’s political participation, quotas for indigenous women, women’s role in decision-making positions and management, public affairs agendas, human rights in Colombia, armed conflict and gender violence, caps on women’s participation in politics: material resources (individual capacities, structural flaws or affirmative action?), gender, race and women’s political participation.

The conclusions were presented by Luis Nunes, primary technical specialist at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI).  Throughout the course of the event, Pilar Tello, coordinator for International IDEA’s gender training and educational programs in Peru, served as the master of ceremonies.

The attendants – some 150 people – were mostly women political party members, activists, and past and present members of Congress.  All participants were given a folder containing a printout of iKNOW Politics’ Consolidated Responses and Virtual Debates, as well as a description of the Network members and the event’s panelists.  A document on the Network’s background and other useful information on global, regional and national data on women’s participation in politics and areas of power were also included.

The attendants who had email addresses were able to participate in a guided registration to the iKNOW Politics website in Spanish, leading us to have some 30 new members.

Below are details of the materials distributed to the attendants during the event, which are found at the end of this summary (in Spanish):

• Background on the International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics
• iKNOW Politics in numbers: data on women’s political participation and information on the project’s scope
• Summary of the panelists’ profiles
• Description of iKNOW Politics’ partners (UN Women, IPU, UNDP, International IDEA and NDI)

Titles of the publications submitted:

·         Gender mainstreaming in the Americas

·         How to promote gender equality within political parties

·         Young women’s participation in politics

·         Management profile of women in local governments

·         Training as a strategy to empower women who participate in politics in Latin America

·         Women’s caucuses and their impacts on the political culture of Latin American countries

·         Women’s participation in local governments

·         Best practices used by political parties to promote women’s participation in politics

·         Gender quotas as a means to promote women in politics

·         The role of media and technology in increasing the number and effectiveness of women in politics

·         Funding for women’s participation in politics

·         Women’s political participation in the twenty-first century: the use of communication technology

·         Working with men to promote women in politics

Viewing the video testimonial

To view video testimonials click here

(The videos are in Spanish and an interview is held in Portuguese with Spanish translation)

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The seminar also analysed strategies in order to improve communication channels between elected representatives and citizens through the use of new information technologies.

Invited as international guests were Ecuadorian Assembly Member María Paula Romo, former Uruguayan deputy Beatriz Argimón, former Spanish deputy and current UN Women advisor Begoña Lasabagaster, and Ricardo Castillo, Venezuelan expert in communications at George Washington University.

Representing Peru, Congress Members Luz Salgado, María Magdalena López and Aurelia Tan (Fuerza 2011), Julia Tévez and Rosa Mávila (Gana Perú), and Esther Capuñay (Solidaridad Nacional) participated in the seminar.

The seminar included a presentation from iKNOW Politics, which stressed the importance of the network to the work of women parliamentarians.

The objective of this meeting was to examine the role of political parties in achieving gender equality and diversity in political leadership and decision making. Sub-Regional Seminar is to leverage for effective measures to promote equal access in political processes and participation in decision making by both men and women. The specific objectives were to:

• Define priority actions and mechanisms to accelerate progress towards gender equality in political leadership;
• Identify strategies and share good practices for gender-sensitive transformation of political spaces and processes;
• Strengthen national and sub-regional alliances and partnerships to increase accountability on gender equality.

The beginning of the meeting was streamed on iKNOW Politics and some women were interviewed.