Strengthening Political Parties - Ensuring People’s Voice Towards the 2030 Agenda

Political Parties of Finland for Democracy (Demo Finland) on behalf of The Political Party Peer Network is organizing the conference “Strengthening Political Parties - Ensuring People’s Voice Towards the 2030 Agenda” in Helsinki, Finland on 17-19 June 2019.

The theme this year is “Strengthening political parties – Ensuring people’s voice towards the 2030 Agenda”. The conference gathers democracy support actors, representatives from various organizations and stakeholders from different countries to Helsinki, Finland. The purpose of the conference is to share expertise, knowledge and experiences. The programme includes a panel discussion, different workshops organized by PPPeer Network Core Group organizations and plenary discussions.

International IDEA is particpating in this conference with workshop on "Intersections of Gender and Political Finance". Speakers for this workshop are, Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu, Head of Political Participation and Representation, International IDEA and Edlira Çepani, National Coordinator, Women's Network Equality in Decision Making, Albania. This workshop will examine the intersection of gender and political financing and the challenges that arise from this connection which perpetuates gender inequalities in politics and elected positions of power and decision making. Overcoming the obstacles to achieving gender inequalities in politics requires political parties’ initiatives in many areas because they remain as the key “gatekeepers” on the candidate’s nominations, selection and identification processes for elective positions. The workshop will distil the current initiatives and practices on how political financing for political parties presents mechanisms to overcome the gender inequalities in politics and promote equal participation and representation as a benchmark for SDG 5. The workshop will present a global overview from an Access-ParticipationTransformation (APT) perspective and national perspectives on the link of political financing for political parties and gender equality from four countries.

The programme includes also the following workshops:

• 21st Century Political Parties - Building a Road Map for Party Reformers (National Democratic Institute, NDI)
• Strategic Planning: How strategic planning supports programmatic political parties (Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, NIMD)
• Winner Takes It All?: Helping parties rethink the balan ce between long-term policy thinking and short-term competition (Westminster Foundation for Democracy, WFD)
• Political Party cooperation in the Arab World (Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, KAS)
• Meaningful Inclusivity – Underrepresented Groups in Political Parties (The Oslo Center, OC, Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy, DIPD, Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR)