GenCED and NED to host West Africa Young Women in Politics forum 2022
The Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) in collaboration with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is set to host the 2022 West Africa Young Women in Politics Forum from February 2, 2022, to February 3, 2022, at the Mikilin hotel in Accra.
The two-day Forum is expected to host participants, panelists and stakeholders from different West African Countries; Ghana, Nigeria, the Gambia, Burkina Faso among others who are members of various political parties in the sub-region.
The theme for the forum is dubbed “Accelerating the Growth of Young Women within Political Parties in West Africa.” It is geared towards training and creating an avenue for young women in politics and to help them build a positive image for themselves as they pursue their political careers.
Women over the years have been disadvantaged and do not enjoy the same opportunities as their male counterparts within the various political parties they find themselves in. This has been attributed to a lack of growth in political leadership such as structural factors in political parties, gender-based violence, culture and religion hence the reason why the theme for the forum was chosen.
The forum will also focus on discussing issues that hamper the growth of West Africa Young Women in political leadership, the various stereotypes young women face in political parties and the likes. Panelists and stakeholders are expected to grace the occasion to deliberate on how best these challenges can be addressed and proffer solutions to them.
The two-day forum will be structured in sessions where capacity building training will be held for participants. It is aimed at training participants on image branding and political communication to enable them to couch the niche for themselves and their political career as they aspire to hold offices in their various countries.
The forum is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.
Background
Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED) is a Non-governmental Organization that seeks to empower women and youth for sustainable development in our communities. It was established in May 2011 as an independent, not-for-profit, research and advocacy organization. GenCED is currently focusing on the following key areas of development as enclosed in the 12 Critical Areas of Worry in the Beijing Platform for Action: Governance, Social interference Issues and Entrepreneurship.
The inspiration behind GenCED’s work is the emergence of multiparty democracy provides the opportunity to enhance civic participation, social accountability and economic governance which includes mechanisms/platforms to increase men and women’s access to increased knowledge, participation in decision-making processes and demand accountability from their duty bearers. Gender equality and equity principles are yet to be fully integrated into democratization processes, structures of power and decision-making procedures countrywide.
Source: africaneditors.com / Amos Ekow Coffie
