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News & Updates
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Empowering Women in Kenya: A Conversation with Advocate Maimuna Mwidau
Watch an engaging conversation with prominent women's advocate Maimuna Mwidau and IFES Deputy Director for Africa Abigail Wilson on the progress women have made over the last half decade and the challenges they still face in the pursuit of gender equality in Kenya.
News & Updates
Interview/Speech/Testimony
Step by Step: Moving Women Forward in Africa
Maimuna Mwidau, a women's advocate from Kenya and a 2012 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award recipient, has worked to advance gender equality throughout Africa. Kenya's 2010 constitution, which guarantees women a place at the table of Kenyan politics, has been the pinnacle of her efforts thus far.
News & Updates
Feature
Indonesia Presidential Election Visit Program
On July 9, 2014, as part of the IFES Indonesia Presidential Election Visit Program, IFES Indonesia Program Officer Marti Yusnida and I visited Rutan Pondok Women’s Prison in Jakarta with a group of female diplomats. In Indonesia, unlike many other countries, prisoners serving a custodial sentence have the right to vote.
News & Updates
Feature
IFES President Visits Medan, Indonesia, to Support Women’s Leadership Program
Following Indonesia’s July 9 presidential election, IFES President and CEO Bill Sweeney travelled to Medan in North Sumatra to meet with some of the participants of IFES’ women’s leadership program. The program, implemented in partnership with the Center for Political Studies, Department of Political Science (Puskapol) at the University of Indonesia, aims to address the lack of representation in the field of electoral administration in Indonesia and prepare women to serve in different positions in electoral administration.
Publication
Book
Gender Equality & Election Management Bodies: A Best Practices Guide
The full participation of women and men in a country's political and decision-making processes as voters, candidates, elected officials and electoral management body (EMB) staff is crucial. Yet, despite a set of robust international instruments and many positive developments in recent years, women represent only 21.7 percent of world's parliamentarians and in many countries they continue to be marginalized and underrepresented in political and electoral processes. Clearly, major steps still need to be taken before true gender equality is achieved in this arena.
September 23, 2014
News & Updates
Feature
Women’s Election and Leadership Training Program
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) has implemented the Women’s Election and Leadership Program in several countries to develop the capacity of women to participate in the election process as election officials and to develop leadership skills among women. These programs provide a blend of technical knowledge and soft skills to enable trainees to effectively use the knowledge and skills gained in electoral roles.
News & Updates
Feature
Empowering Kenya’s Chama Market Women through Advocacy Training
Underrepresentation of women in Kenya does not only stem from the number of women that register to vote but also the lack of availability of targeted voter education. To this end, IFES is implementing a pilot voter education program aimed at empowering women to act as advocates in their local communities. This program is directed at strengthening the effectiveness of voter education initiatives targeting women voters and improving voter access to the electoral process through working with Chama women groups.
News & Updates
Feature
Kenyans Say “We are #BetterThanThis,” Aiming to Support Women’s Participation in Elections
On July 5, 2017, the IFES KEAP project officially launched the #BetterThanThis campaign, which comes from the insistence that we can do better than the current state of Violence Against Women in Elections (VAWIE) in Kenya. Throughout the electoral period, IFES directly engaged Kenyans on VAWIE through the #BetterThanThis campaign while simultaneously publicizing the HAK 1195 hotline service to raise awareness about this critical issue and provide lifesaving access to services for affected persons.
News & Updates
Feature
Creating a Policy Platform to Advocate for Rights of Kenyan Women with Disabilities
Women with disabilities often face barriers such as multiple forms of discrimination and lack access to decision-making processes as a result of their intersectional identities. IFES and Women Challenged to Challenge (WCC), a disabled people’s organization (DPO) run by women in Kenya, are implementing the “Power to Persuade: Empowering Women with Disabilities to Influence Public Policy” initiative, with support from Global Affairs Canada, to amplify the voices of Kenyan women with disabilities to participate in political life.
News & Updates
Feature
Commemorating International Women’s Day in Indonesia
To commemorate International Women’s Day in Indonesia, IFES, the International Republican Institute and the Association for Elections and Democracy hosted “Women’s Challenges in a Political Year” – a public discussion aiming to motivate and unite leaders and communities to think, act and be gender inclusive. With the next general election scheduled for April 2019, it is a crucial time for Indonesia to seriously consider the unique challenges and barriers that women currently face in participating in elections.