In today’s democracies, women are equal citizens and should participate in equal measure with men in public policy making. This having said the general consensus is also that increased participation of women in democratic process results in better equality in rights and opportunities in both public and private spheres of life for women. For achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is essential that women across the globe have equal participation and leadership in political and public life. Despite efforts being made in this direction, data shows that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision making. There are many complex hurdles in increasing the participation of women in the house of representatives that need to be addressed to increase their participation in politics. The proposed project aims to improve participation of women in public life and in politics through a series of campaigns and capacity building.
Proposal Summary: (A short narrative that outlines the proposed program, including the program objectives)
Democracy has not necessarily resulted in greater participation of Women in parliaments or political process in a country. There are a multitude of factors such as cultural, social-economical and political, that influence women’s participation and acceptance in the political process in democracy. Participation of women in democracy (as measured by seats in assembly/parliament) across the various countries of the world is not uniform. We can come across different use cases where participation does not equate with the quality of democracy (e.g. Cuba, Mozambique) or with the economic development of the nation (Japan, Canada). However there are also examples such as those of Nordic countries where quality and quantity of participation directly correlates with the quality of democracy and development of society.
In today’s democracies, women are equal citizens and should participate in equal measure with men in public policy making. This having said the general consensus is also that increased participation of women in democratic process results in better equality in rights and opportunities in both public and private spheres of life for women. For achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is essential that women across the globe have equal participation and leadership in political and public life. Despite efforts being made in this direction, data shows that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision making. There are many complex hurdles in increasing the participation of women in the House of Representatives that need to be addressed to increase their participation in politics. The proposed project aims to improve participation of women in public life and in politics in Nigeria through a series of campaigns and capacity building.
The project will be implemented over a period of two years with the following objectives:
- Objective 1: Advance gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women through gender mainstreaming.
- Objective 2: To sensitise and counsel family members and local organisations to support women and help them in social inclusion, participation in politics by running a campaign against negative labeling of women in politics.
- Objective 3: To build the capacity of 30 women political aspirants on women rights, legislative advocacy, leadership, policy development and implementation and confidence building towards the promotion of the rights of women.
Introduction to the Organization or Individual applying (Brief introduction of what the organization does and what are the key objectives of the organization along with contact details)
XYZ NGO is a non-governmental, non-political and non- profit making organization established in the year 2000 with the aim of empowering women, advocacy and raising awareness on participation of women in politics, human rights and providing support to women and girls. We also help women to enhance their capacity through activities and principles of Democracy, Good governance and Accountability. The organisation develops strategies and mechanisms for women to overcome various obstacles and enable them to participate as equal partners in the decision-making and control of resources in their respective community. Over the last two decades, we are striving to empower the illiterate and poverty stricken people of the region, and mainstreaming them into the society.
Objectives of the organization:
- To work towards up-lifting women and girls.
- To empower women and promote their participation in politics.
- To disseminate information on government schemes, policy, acts to the local people.
- To improve democratic governance in Nigeria through advocacy.
Contact Details of the organization:
- Name of the Organization- XYZ foundation
- Name of the title of the contact person- Dr ABC
- Address- XYZ Foundation, 102, 111 Street, ABC
- Telephone Numbers- +111111111
- Email Address- xyz@xyzfoundation. org
Problem Statement (A clear, concise, and well-supported statement of the problem to be addressed) For achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is essential that women across the globe have equal participation and leadership in political and public life. Despite efforts being made in this direction, data shows that women are underrepresented at all levels of decision making. Some facts related to women representation in global politics are given below:
- Women in executive government positions
- Women serve as Heads of State or Government in only 22 countries, and 119 countries have never had a woman leader
- Just 10 countries have a woman Head of State, and 13 countries have a woman Head of Government.
- Only 21 percent of government ministers were women, with only 14 countries having achieved 50 per cent or more women in cabinets.
- Women in national parliaments
- Only 25 per cent of all national parliamentarians are women, up from 11 per cent in 1995.
- Only four countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda with 61 per cent, Cuba with 53 per cent, Bolivia with 53 per cent, and the United Arab Emirates with 50 per cent.
- Globally, there are 27 States in which women account for less than 10 percent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including four single/lower chambers with no women at all.
- At the current rate of progress, gender parity in national legislative bodies will not be achieved before 2063.
- Women in local government
Data from 133 countries shows that women constitute 2.18 million (36 per cent) of elected members in local deliberative bodies. Only two countries have reached 50 per cent, and an additional 18 countries have more than 40 per cent women in local government.
Regional variations are also noted for women’s representation in local deliberative bodies, as of January 2020: Central and Southern Asia, 41 per cent; Europe and Northern America, 35 per cent; Oceania, 32 per cent; Sub-Saharan Africa, 29 per cent; Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, 25 percent; Latin America and the Caribbean, 25 percent; Western Asia and Northern Africa, 18 per cent.
The situation is no different in Nigeria, women participation in politics is very low and the number of women in political positions in Nigeria is growing at a very slow rate. Research studies conducted to identify the reasons for such a dismal state of women in politics identify the following challenges:
Discriminatory Socio-cultural and Religious Practices: The socio-cultural and religious practices in Nigeria are biased towards men and do not allow participation of women in public life. Women in general are restricted to household activities and are discouraged from participating in public life from childhood through adulthood by their husbands, fathers, mothers and other relations.
Financial Dependence: Most women in Nigeria are dependent on their husbands or fathers for their finances. Considering elections and politics is an expensive affair, women are not able to participate in them owing to their poor financial disposition.
Financiers do not support women politicians: Most financiers and financing institutes prefer male political aspirants to female ones. Without financial backing, women are not able to campaign for themselves and thus not participate in the election process.
Under-representation of Women in Governance: Nigerian women are marginalized, discriminated against and are greatly under-represented in politics and governance. This underrepresentation leads to little or no reforms to improve the status of women in Nigeria.
Unhealthy Political environment: The political terrain in Nigeria is full of violence, assassinations, threats, blackmail, intimidation, humiliation, etc.. Such an environment scares women and keeps them away from active participation in politics in Nigeria.
Political Party Discrimination: Most political parties in Nigeria are male dominated and women are sidelined. Even the financiers influence the internal politics of the parties and do not allow the party to involve women in any decision
Wrong Perception of Women: Most women who are actively involved in politics are seen and treated as free women of easy virtues, too domineering, cultural rebellions, etc. During election campaigns women aspirants are made an easy target and are often insulted in public. Thus, they are often subjected to public ridicule and are socially stigmatized by both men and women. The public ridicule, negative labeling; derogatory names; abusive language etc. discourages women to participate in politics.
Program Goals and Objectives (Goals describe what the program is intended to achieve. Objectives refer to the intermediate accomplishments on the way to achieving the goals.)
Project Goal
The main goal of the project is to promote the participation of women in politics at various levels in Nigeria. This will be done through awareness raising, counselling, advocacy, capacity building and skills training to enhance their participation in politics and decision making.
Project Objectives
Objective 1: Advance gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women through gender mainstreaming. Objective 2: To sensitise and counsel family members and local organisations to support women and help them in social inclusion, participation in politics by running a campaign against negative labeling of women in politics. Objective 3: To build the capacity of 30 women political aspirants on women rights, legislative advocacy, leadership, policy development and implementation and confidence building towards the promotion of the rights of women.
Program Activities (A description of program activities and how they will help achieve program objectives.)
- Review of Discriminatory Practices: There is a need to review the various socio-cultural and religious practices against women. It is necessary to understand the various socio-cultural and religious practices being followed in Nigeria that hinder the participation of women in public life. This will be done through a series of meetings with various stakeholders including civil organizations, religious leaders and local institutions.
- Study of performance analysis of women participation in politics: Our teams shall also undertake an in depth analysis of women participation in local politics in the state. This will be done through research of existing literature and also through interviews with women and their family members. Women who are associated with politics or hold/ have held leadership roles will be interviewed on the various challenges they face or have faced in the past.
- Stakeholder Consultations: We shall be conducting 10 stakeholders consultations to discuss the findings of the performance analysis and the review of discriminatory practices. During the stakeholder consultations we will work on developing suitable strategies that would help women to participate in decision making processes and be more active in public life.
- Development of ICT material and toolkits: Comprehensive communication tools that discuss the importance of women empowerment and their role in politics will be developed. Communication material will be developed in the form of training tool kits, posters, leaflets, audio-video material and booklets.
- Awareness Generation: Awareness generation is a key activity towards achieving project success. A mass awareness drive will be carried out in different project localities with the help of local field partners. The following activities will also be undertaken as part of the awareness sessions in different cities.
- Production and broadcast of radio shows
- TV roundtable discussions
- Distribution of booklets
- Marathons and cycle rallies
- Documentary screening
Along with the above mentioned activities we will also be distributing leaflets and pamphlets. To develop a support system for aspiring women, we shall be organizing a sensitization campaign. We shall be involving experts and community mobilizers to counsell and sensitize men and immediate family members of aspiring women. The following sub activities have been planned to make the sensitizing campaign a success:
- Involvement of community leaders or grasstops
- Developing local champions to be proactive on behalf of the campaign
- Engagement with government
- Developing a media relation strategy to push forward the campaign message.
Advocacy: Advocacy will be an important aspect of the project as it will help in influencing the opinions and decisions of people and organisations regarding women’s participation in politics. Advocacy will play an important role in creating and changing the policies, rules and regulations for promoting participation of women in politics in Nigeria. We shall be conducting high level meetings with various politicians, government officials and public servants, private sector leaders and will take their help to influence policy makers in making necessary changes in existing policy and regulation so as to facilitate women’s participation in decision making. We shall also involve journalists and the media, development agencies and large NGOs to make impactful changes in the discriminatory socio-cultural and regulatory frameworks.
Counselling Sessions: We shall be undertaking a series of counselling sessions for men in politics. It is necessary for men to support women who enter politics and for this there is a need to make them aware about the advantages of equality in politics. The counseling sessions will also help in eliminating the discriminatory laws and negative attitude of male politicians against women. Our counselors will ensure that the political parties reduce the usage of derogatory remarks against female politicians and develop inclusive policies.
Identification of women who are interested to participate in politics: Our team will identify 30 aspiring women who are keen to participate in local and national level politics. The selection of the 30 women will be based on a pre-developed criteria and only those women will be selected who will fulfill the selection criteria.
Capacity building of 30 selected women: Capacity building will go beyond traditional ‘training’ to include functional and technical capacities such as planning, monitoring, stakeholder dialogues, communication and community mobilization. The purpose of the capacity building will be to produce better qualified, ethical, accessible and more representative women public leaders. The objectives of the capacity building exercise are:
- To improve the knowledge of women on the procedure and functioning of democracy in Nigeria.
- To enhance the skills of women aspirants in drafting, presenting and approval of a political manifesto.
- To interact with Political Leaders, Politicians, Policy Makers, Administrators, Researchers, etc.
- To make candidates as trained Political Leaders imbibed with values, culture, national and international aspects.
- To empower women and make them successful leaders through the following skill development exercises.
- Public Speaking
- Women Empowerment
- Confidence Building
- Financial Independence
- Election Campaigning
- Leadership Skills
Program Partners (A list of the names and type of involvement of key partner organizations)
The project will be primarily implemented by our organization and we shall engage local institutions and civil organizations for the mass awareness and sensitization drive.
Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (This is an important part of successful grants. The plan should describe how activities will be monitored to ensure they are happening in a timely manner and how the program will be evaluated.)
The Project Director and our Executive Director will carry out field visits in the project site to evaluate and ascertain the progress of the project on the ground. To ensure timely delivery and local participation, we shall form a monitoring committee to conduct quarterly assessments. Community meetings will be facilitated by the community leaders in conjunction with the project officers to ensure that their aspirations and perspectives are fully reflected. A quarterly review exercise will be carried to assess progress. Additionally, an external consultant will be hired to conduct a mid-term review and produce a report as well as an improvement plan. Finally, an independent evaluator will carry out evaluation of the project to assess if the project has achieved the desired objectives.
