In cooperation with the International Centre of Local Democracy (ICLD), International IDEA will today welcome 40 women politicians - 25 outside of Sweden, 13 from within Sweden - all active in local politics and governance.
The participants come from Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine and Zambia and have been part of ILCD’s 18-month training programme “Local political Leaders – Capacitating women in politics”. Their training in Sweden will last three weeks and following their visit to International IDEA the participants will go to a Swedish municipality to learn about the work of women politicians in Sweden.
Fifteen years ago International IDEA’s Handbook on Democracy at the Local Levelidentified a number of challenges for democracy at the local level, including service delivery, urbanization and globalization. These challenges are as relevant today as they were at the start of the 21stcentury.
There are numerous problems that are global in nature yet continue to affect the state of democracy at the local level including:
- cross-border migration,
- climate change,
- transnational organized crime,
- failures in the delivery of basic health and education services, and
- the underrepresentation of women in political life.
As women active in local politics, the participants are aware of the challenges these global challenges pose for the everyday life of citizens. The local level is the main arena for managing social conflict, diversity, and urbanization, as well as for encouraging civic engagement by both women and men.
International IDEA’s session will focus on two questions: What are important gender-related challenges for political institutions and processes in municipalities? How can political party dialogue help women politician in addressing some of these challenges?
