Partner News

On 21-22 August, women leaders, politicians and civil servants from all provinces of Kyrgyzstan gathered at the second National Forum Women's Leadership – A Breakthrough into a New Era. The forum served as a platform for dialogue about the importance of women's contribution to the development of society, rethinking women's leadership factors and creating a joint strategy for the development of the country.

Just a few years before she was elected as a Member of the Zanzibar House of Representatives (ZHoR), Zawadi Amour Nassor didn’t have political aspirations, but life had bigger plans for her. Today, she represents the Konde constituency of Northern Pemba, where the Representative seat had previously only been held by men. 

Through roundtable discussions, capacity-building workshops, and seminars targeting women from across Sudan, UN Women Sudan empowers young women to learn skills in alliance-building and participation in political processes.

International IDEA Sudan’s programme celebrated the graduation of the first batch from the Young Women Democracy Academy (YWDA) on 9 August 2022. The event took place in the International IDEA office, and it was attended by the Swedish Ambassador to Sudan, Signe Burgstaller, who gave the opening remarks.  Members of the Sudanese civil society and academia and people of interest were also present at the event.

On this International Youth Day, the IPU congratulates all the young MPs making a mark in their respective parliaments. They are the future of democracy but with less than 3% of MPs under 30, young people remain severely under-represented. Increasing their ranks continues to be a major focus for the IPU.

I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament! campaign

Honorable Rose Obigah is a politician from Uganda and a newcomer to the legislature. During the just completed 2021 Uganda general elections, she was chosen to serve as a woman member representing Terego district.

Rose had worked as a social worker and government official, and her desire to join the Ugandan parliament was pushed by the struggles that the women in her region experienced and how they overcame them.

A nationwide rollout of training on sexual and gender-based violence has recently concluded across Kenya to better equip law enforcement officials prevent and mitigate sexual violence during the country’s 2022 General Election.

A joint project from UN Women and OHCHR Kenya entitled has trained 141 police commanders on election security management. This four-day training specifically highlighted electoral-related sexual and gender-based violence and their specific role when dealing with these cases.

Research shows that female political leadership directs countries to adopt more robust climate change policies. Even though women globally are just 26.3 per cent of all parliamentarians, they are able to make a disproportionate impact.

On the eve of the International Day of Parliamentarism and the IPU’s 133rd anniversary on 30 June, a snapshot of the state of parliaments and parliamentarians offers mixed results.

According to the latest IPU figures, some parliaments are becoming more representative, with the proportion of MPs who are women and who are young on the increase. However, IPU data also shows that the numbers of functioning parliaments and sitting parliamentarians have decreased slightly.