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Event "Women, Local Power and Democracy: Reflexions and Perspectives" |
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UN-INSTRAW Project has reinstated the issue of local power in Latin America
Teamwork capacity, the visibility of women politicians at the local level and the creation of spaces for dialogue and reflection – these are some of the results of the UN-INSTRAW/AECID Project “Strengthening Governance from a Gender Perspective and Women's Political Participation at the Local Level in Latin America,” as described by its participants.
Upon
completing three years of the Project, its key actors – including
researchers, academics, political experts, women representatives of
gender machineries and feminists – honoured UN-INSTRAW with their
opinions on the achievements of the project. Research on local
political organization, support to initiatives aimed at attaining
women’s rights, political capacity-building and reflection on how to
achieve political incidence are some of the project’s most important
results.
According
to Line Bareiro, researcher, political expert and feminist, the project
has placed the issue of local power on the research agenda and given
support to women politicians who, by means of this initiative, were
united, given visibility and had access to a meeting point. “The local
perspective was reestablished in the research agenda,” said Bareiro at
a UN-INSTRAW Conference that was held in Santo Domingo in February
2009.
Alejandra
Massolo, consultant on gender equality and local governance, stated
that “the research carried out through this Project has contributed
significantly to the promotion of knowledge on the different aspects of
women’s political participation at the local level, giving support to
decision-making in connection with incidence in public policies.”
The
participants also discussed the stimulus for the articulation of key
actors. Concerning the work with women politicians at the local level,
Claudia Ranaboldo, Senior Researcher of the Latin American Centre for
Rural Development (Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural -
RIMISP), indicated that the most important achievement of the project
was its contribution to networking and dialogue among local female
politicians. “Support was given to the capacity of women to articulate
with other actors such as associations, women members of social
organizations and women from the civil society, amongst others.”
Another
achievement was the inclusion of the demands of indigenous and
Afro-descendent women in the political agenda. In the opinion of Ximena
Abarca, Executive Director of the National Women’s Council of Ecuador
(CONAMU), the governing body on gender equality in public policies in
Ecuador, the Project was assertive in supporting women of African
descent and indigenous women from Ecuador in the formulation of their
expectations and demands to the National Constitutional Assembly.
“The
strengthening of women’s organizations was achieved and their
participation was made visible through their own demands. In the case
of indigenous women, it was established that in the chapters related to
indigenous justice, women could place above all the issue of the
equality of situation compared to men. In this way, relating to
practice and customs, indigenous women should not be discriminated in
our country. Concerning women of African descent, they were able to
propose issues related to racial non-discrimination,” affirmed Abarca.
The
knowledge and the solutions to confront problems originate from women.
According to Ariel Harlpern, Coordinator of the PROCASUR programme
Pathways to Learning, one of the most important achievements of the
Project in terms of strengthening capacities in Bolivia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador and El Salvador, was that participants realized that there are
common problems but also common solutions, and they acknowledged that
the most important motivators for change exist is in their own
organizations and not in external models.
Equally, it was proven that it is necessary to work together in a
comprehensive way, in order to give new significance to the regional
level.
“The
innovation plans that originated from the women who participated in the
Pathways favours teamwork between neighboring municipalities, the
Associations of Municipal Women and gender machineries,” stated Ariel
Harlpern.
The
project favoured reflection over political incidence through virtual
dialogues and face-to-face meetings. The experts agreed that there is
no one formula to achieve political incidence.
However, upon analysis of previous experiences in which women have been
able to produce important changes, certain common elements can be
found. Such is the case of the successful implementation of the quota
law in some countries of the region. According to Gloria Bonder,
Director of the Gender, Society and Politics Area of FLACSO, some of
the key elements to achieve the adoption of a law approving the 30
percent quota in Argentina, were the political articulation towards
democracy, a government with a historical tradition of women’s
participation in politics and a women’s movement vigilant of political
articulation.
According
to Line Bareiro, the willingness to accept law enforcement, active
women willing to reach the judicial level in order to enforce the law,
and a public opinion in favor of women’s political participation have
been key elements to achieve the appropriate implementation of the
quota law in several countries in the region
Read more about the event and the Project here
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