Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Local government activities on International Women's Day!

08 March 2022

 

Women’s empowerment to play a full role in local government planning and decision-making is a key priority for CLGF, not just In terms of advocacy, but also in practical terms. 

 

Women are often more disadvantaged in the face of global issues like climate change, covid, rapid urbanisation, entering politics, smashing the glass ceilings of both public and private sector organisations. There is data to show that, when woman are fairly represented across the board, society and communities fare better, with benefits for everybody. Working towards SDG5 – empowering women politically, eradicating stereotypes and acknowledging and maximising the contribution that women have to make is crucial.

 

Please see below, just a snapshot of how some of our members are marking this day. We pay tribute to local government across the Commonwealth for the progress they are making towards the gender empowerment and in the face of many challenges.

Belize

In Belize, from 4–6 March, the Belize Mayors Association hosted the first-ever SHE4SHE Champions World Summit, Belize 2022 with the theme:  Towards Inclusive Governance in Public and Political Affairs. Borne out of the personal vision of Her Lordship Sheran Palacio, Mayor of the City of Belmopan, Belize, She3She Champions World Summit ushered in the convergence of women and girls from across the globe to mark the day and hold a dialogue on issues relating to women and girls' empowerment, gender equality, female leadership, and political participation. The subjects ranged from how more women can participate in public and political affairs, to tackling stereotypes, building a conducive environment for women to participate and, most importantly, protecting women.

 

The summit fostered Open discussions on Women’s Solidarity: An impetus to the Advancement of Gender Equality and Sustainable Impact. Topics covered:

  1. Women’s Participation in Public and Political Affairs
  2. Facilitating Women Inclusion in Political Governance through Elimination of Gender Stereotypes
  3. Why Women Representatives Matter
  4. Building an Enabling the Environment for Women’s Participation in Public and Political Affairs
  5. Women Protecting Women

 

In her keynote address on the topic: Why women’s participation matters, VP Howard-Taylor said: “As women collaborate to change the dynamics of the women's movement for increased participation, there must be deliberate efforts to make a resounding call to their male counterparts to stop the biases against women leadership.“

 

About the She4She Champions

She4She Champions is a platform designed to bring together elected women, officials, executives, entrepreneurs, professionals, women pastors, and leaders to further enhance their leadership capabilities.

The Annual Summit is hosted to share strategies and capacity building to advance women's leadership. It engages key decision makers to generate solutions, implement best practices and build partnerships for women's development.

 

Ghana

On 8 March, Ghana will hold a workshop on the Partnership for Municipal Innovations - Women in Local Leadership project. Hosted by the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) with partners: the Federation of Canadian Municipalities; Global Affairs Canada, and with support from Global Affairs Canada. This project is aimed at advancing gender equality, gender responsive service delivery and the inclusion of marginalized people at the local government level. A second project, under the theme Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow aims to provoke a conversation on the need to help bridge the gap in leadership by finding solutions in increasing women participation in decision making at the Local governance level

Jamaica

On 11 March, Jamaica will launch its women’s empowerment project and the social media literacy and competency workshop. The pilot project is the work of the Jamaica Local Government Association (ALGAJ) and the ALGAJ Women in Local Government Network together with CLGF. It aims to increase the use of social media, digital technologies, and software applications within local government, particularly amongst women councilors as a means to reinforce their communication skills as change agents in promoting participatory democracy. Project outputs will include: include workshops, development of a digital social media toolkit, production of promotional videos

Follow ALGAJ for more on Twitter @ALGAJamaica

Sri Lanka

On 22 March, Sri Lanka will be holding some cross party training organised by the University of Jayawardhanapura, Faculty of Political Science and hosted by the national local government association - the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities (FSLGA).

 

On 2 April, Sri Lanka will be launching the National Women Councillor Platform. Hosted by the Sri Lanka LGA, FSLGA with partners – CLGF and the CLGF Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network, the partnership will support the launch of the national platform during a national conference. A two-day event which will produce a declaration, framing the objectives of the platform going forward; and a draft directive developed for Provincial Governors to establish women’s committees in all councils under their purview.

Zambia

On 8 March, in Zambia they will be holding a ceremony and march-past from the University of Zambia to the Show Grounds Main Arena, which is open to the public. This is being hosted by the Gender Division of the Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ) with partners: the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Government Ministry and elected officials from its Local Government Gender Equality Committee. The march past will involve various stakeholders such as ministries, women's groups, Faith Based Organisations and Civil Society Organisations among others.

 

The keynote address for the ceremony will be provided by the President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema with other contributions from USAID, UN, Cabinet and Human Rights Commission among others. Find out more by following LGAZ on twitter @LGAZ_News

 

We wish you all great success and invite you to become part of the CLGF Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network and advocate for women in decision-making. We invite you to share stories and images of the way in which you have marked this important day. See article on International Women's Day and our networks. 

 

 

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