UN Women launches a training of trainers in the area of women's political participation
Date:
Chisinau, Republic of Moldova - 25 people from different regions of Moldova met in Chisinau from 29th of May to 1st of June 2018 to attend a pilot training of trainers (ToT) on empowerment and political participation of women, a first of its kind in Moldova.
The training, organized by UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment), aims to provide three key aspects for women candidates in elections: knowledge, skills and confidence.
Asya Varbanova, the Acting Head of UN Women Moldova, stated at the launch of the training sessions: “The pilot training is a key milestone in UN Women strategic priority to see that more women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance here in Moldova. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the distinguished group of participants who have brought their time this week to share, to learn, and to support the creation of an invaluable tool for promoting women`s political leadership and empowerment. We will be engaging with a global model, while fine tuning a product that can be adapted and used to support women`s political participation in Moldova.”
During the four days, participants will help improve the existing training programme, through feedback and their rich professional experience. This knowledge will be used for other UN Women trainings of trainers on women’s political participation around the world.
Gabriella Borovsky, Global Policy Specialist on Women’s Political Participation, UN Women, said: "Women have a fundamental right to participate in political life and shape the policies of their countries. And this pilot training is focusing on helping to increase the pool of women who are willing to seek and serve in elective office from the local to regional and national levels. Specifically, this training has been created to support trainers to build capacities of women to campaign.”
Participants learned key aspects on empowering women candidates and organizing women's electoral campaigns. More specifically, the training focuses on transformational leadership, gender and power relations, building commitment to candidate in elections, and addressing candidate`s challenges. Participants will also draft effective public messages and speeches, learn about best communication tools and managing risks. They will also learn more about coordinating and managing electoral campaigns, developing a campaign plan and budget, creating voter contact plan and assign campaign roles.
The facilitators of the training program are Gabriella Borovsky, Global Policy Specialist on Women’s Political Participation, UN Women, and Susan Markham, Gender Equality Advocate and Women’s Political Participation Expert.
Women’s political participation is both an enabler and result of gender equality. It is a key target within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development.