CLGF's Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network (ComWLG) received a boost recently, with the appointment of a dedicated officer to oversee development.

Made possible by a successful bid to the European Union for a second phase of the Strategic Grant Agreement (SGA), which has supported projects in several regions of the Commonwealth, the funding has allowed for the expansion of operations in the Caribbean office. This is in line with the programme objective: to expand and strengthen CLGF as an institution. The new Networks Officer, Janine Xavier-Cross, has been appointed, to have oversight of two of CLGF's most active networks, with the Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network (ComWLG) receiving attention

Established in 2017, the clear objective of ComWLG is to support women in local government by providing a platform to strengthen Commonwealth advocacy for women; and to capture and share experiences and best practice from across the 54 countries. This is based on the four priority areas, which are detailed on the ComWLGF webpage.

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Ms Xavier-Cross explained the activites planned for the coming months, including:

• Mapping opportunities and looking at potential partners: identifying what members are doing, and in-country contacts (including organisations) to work with CLGF to support women’s participation in local government;
• Meeting of ComWLG Network – information to be shared as soon as it is available;
• Data collection and research looking at women’s political participation and other key issues as they relates to gender inclusion;
• Survey and research work on mentoring systems;
• Knowledge products – creation of online materials;
• A pilot project with one of our associations;
• Identifying champions of women in local government.

Click HERE for the SURVEY.  The survey deadline is: 5th June 2020 

Survey underway

The Commonwealth Women in Local Government Survey is currently underway.  We want to establish a baseline about the situation in the Commonwealth; to find out more about the programmes, initiatives and systems in place to support women in local government. We want to get a greater understanding of what you are doing to build a work programme that gives the most efficient support to what you have in place. We want to know what strategies and training you have in place to support the inclusion of women in local government, to be able to identify what is needed at the national level to increase women’s participation in local government. Finally, we want to find out from local government associations what our network can do to support your organisation?

You are invited to stay connected with ComWLG via the Facebook Page for the Women in Local Government Network. Contact Networks Officer Janine Xavier-Cross via email with your questions.

Running until the end of May 2022, in addition to the Networks Officer post, the Strategic Grant Agreement (SGA) also supports the project officer position, occupied by Mr Joshua Min Lee to work on the various projects.