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Choosing the type of electoral system is one of the most important institutional decisions for any democracy. Electoral systems can be classified into groups based on the processes by which they translate votes into seats. The three main groups are plurality/majority systems, mixed systems and proportional systems, as well as others that do not fit easily into these categories.

Different electoral systems and laws can result in different outcomes in terms of the representation of women. The type of electoral system is, therefore, a key variable in accounting for why some countries have higher levels of female representation than others do. This Web site contains documents explaining the advantages and disadvantages of different electoral systems and how they can be used in combination with quotas to increase the representation of women and facilitate their participation.

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Gender, Poverty and Employment: Information, analysis and strategies for poverty reduction through decent work for women and men

This course, based on the ILO “Gender Poverty and Employment” approach, will help you gain a better understanding of the dimensions of poverty, and formulate gender sensitive strategies to address them. Gender-based inequalities differentiate the processes that lead women and men into poverty and out of it, and interact with race, ethnicity and other possible grounds for discrimination. Poverty can also be traced to problems in the world of work - unequal access to employment opportunities, poor working conditions, powerlessness, and economic and social insecurity.

This programme will lead you through the linkages between poverty, lack of access to and control over productive assets, and gender-based discrimination. You will see how the gender-based inequalities and discrimination in the world of work play a role in the circle of poverty and how their elimination has to be part of an integrated poverty reduction agenda.

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Online Courses on Decentralization and Governance

The UNPAN Online Training Centre delivers courses on various topics in public administration. The main objective of the UNPAN Training Centre is to increase the opportunities for government officials from all over the world to access training materials on e-government.

UNPAN online training courses are available to anyone with Internet access and are provided free of charge. UNPAN on-line training courses are available in English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Arabic.

For further information concerning these courses, including information about course availability, registration, enrolment and pre-requisites please click on the URL below.

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E-Learning Course: Getting to the Gate

Equal Voices present 'Getting to the Gate', our online campaign school for women interested in getting into politics. This course is free of charge; however, all users must register to access the course.

This online course aims to increase the number of elected women by providing practical tools for women of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life interested in running for public office.

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UNESCO & IGNOU - Gender Training Kit

This gender training kit brings you resources on gender and development drawn from the World Wide Web and audio/video/print materials. There are seven gender training modules in the kit. They are designed in self-instructional format and include lessons, self assessment and tests for evaluation. The content areas include:

Module 1: Dimensions of Empowerment and Gender Training
Module 2: Gender-sensitive Policies, Interventions and Institutions
Module 3: Media, Methods and Approaches in Gender Training
Module 4: Education and Research
Module 5: Leadership
Module 6: Governance
Module 7: Entrepreneurship

To find out details about the training kit please visit the URL below.

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E-learning Courses: Anti Corruption

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark - Competence Centre has recently launched the E-learning Portal, which is a new edition of our web platform for distribution of e-learning courses and related online activities. This notice informs external users about the changes while more general information about the launch can be found in a separate notice on the e-learning portal. External users in this regard are defined as everybody, who are not registered as MFA staff.

The access to the E-learning Portal and the new design might be the first noticeable change for external users. External websites like the Train4Dev website now links directly to the new E-learning Portal and you can use your existing username and password to access your e-learning courses.

Please click on the URL below to access information about the ecourses and the process of signing up.

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BRIDGE Civic Education Development Project

The BRIDGE Civic Education Development Project (CEDP) is a professional development project to build capacity in people working in areas of democracy and governance.

This project developed from the concept of establishing a civics and governance component within the umbrella of BRIDGE. BRIDGE stands for Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections and the CEDP aims to expand the current BRIDGE elections (E) curriculum to include the Democracy and Governance (D and G) of BRIDGE.

To find out details about the program please click on the URL below.

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Gender Training Wiki

The UN INSTRAW Gender Training Wiki is intended to provide a centralized resource centre for gender trainers, academics, gender mainstreaming, knowledge management & development experts and practitioners , as well as individuals and organizations in general looking for gender training opportunities and resources and funding for their activities.

UN INSTRAW staff regularly updates the information in the Gender Training Wiki. However, the Wiki is a participatory resource centre and the intention is that this site will be self sustaining and the community of registered users will upload and comment on content as well as benefiting from content uploaded by others.

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eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance

The European Commission (EC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) are pleased to announce the arrival of the pioneer eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance. The Course has been developed within the Train4Dev initiative and in collaboration with International Organization for Migration (IOM), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Organization for American States (OAS) and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affiars.

The overarching objective of the eLearning Course on Effective Electoral Assistance is to make the electoral assistance community to deliver more effective assistance in line with the main principles informing the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) regards ownership, alignment, harmonization, results and accountability. Development of the capacities of electoral assistance providers (multilateral and bilateral agencies and international organizations) as well those receiving assistance (national electoral management bodies and other electoral stakeholders) is vital in improving assistance effectiveness.

The eLearning Course is developed on the basis of the face-to-face Joint EC-UNDP-IDEA Joint Training on Effective Electoral Assistance. The first training of this type was organized in September 2006 in Brussels and since then the training has developed tremendously in terms of the audience, the experts contributing and the curriculum.

To find further details please visit E-Learning Portal.

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Making Governance Gender Responsive

This online course is composed of ten modules on the theme "Gender Responsive Governance". The modules are developed by the Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP). The funding for the module development was provided by APGEN, the United Nations Development Programme's Regional Gender Program (UNDP-APGEN) .

The course seeks to develop the public's understanding of the link between gender and governance as well as to increase the awareness of gender biases in governance.

Each module has an introduction; a pre-test that users must take to analyze his/her initial understanding of the lessons covered in each module; the lessons proper; and a post test to evaluate what the users have learned from each module.

To find more details on registration and the course please visit Online Women in Politics.

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Gender, cities and local governance in the Arab world

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2010-03-18 13:05
2010-04-14 00:00
2010-04-15 18:00
Etc/GMT
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Cairo
Country: 
Egypt
Description: 

The symposium « Gender, cities and local governance in the Arab world and in the Mediterranean region» aims to study urban development by focusing on gender issues and the role of women in this process because social norms related to gender are linked to the internal transformations within any given society. The symposium will discuss the role of women in urban planning and management. Women’s daily experience and activities within the public space are different from men’s own perceptions about the city: social activities, social interactions, employment or the daily schedule for example vary greatly and also depend on norms and social values. We contend that studying urban spaces through the lens of gender is a relevant approach to enrich the existing literature focusing on social, cultural, economic and political issues inside the city. While there is a growing body of research focusing on gender in the field of urban studies it is important to broaden and deepen the scope of the research on these issues.

To find more details please contact Safaa Monqid and visit conference website.


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Ghana: Official appeals to women to participate in politics

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2010-03-18 12:54
Summary: 

Mrs. Melonin Asibi, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the Department of Women, has appealed to women to get actively involved in district assembly elections. She said since women were in the majority, there was the need for them to get active in politics especially at the grassroots level.

She expressed concern about the low participation of women in the region in district assembly elections and said only 234 women contested in the 2006 district assembly election and 58 were elected.

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To read the complete story please visit The Ghanaian Journal.


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Women in Leadership Forum India

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2010-03-18 12:46
2010-05-06 00:00
2010-05-07 19:43
Etc/GMT
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City & Province/State: 
New Delhi
Country: 
India
Description: 

Where would the world be with more women leaders?
As the topic suggests, this session will address how decision making can impact differently under women’s leadership on key issues. The root of the global crisis will be highlighted while discussing the path followed by women leaders: is it cost cutting or is it an investment? Women leaders from the political, business and social fields share their thoughts and success stories on the topic and how their strategies make a difference. Could there be ‘Lehman Sisters’?

Expanding the role of women in society is essential to build strong economies
• Discuss promoting women entrepreneurship.
• Identify the right business sector to start with.
• Discover support of family and society.
• Learn about your financing options.
• Get statistics from the industry and registrations.
• Encourage and promote competitiveness.
• Discover the difference between working for public or private sectors.

Moving up ladder to top management
• Address the ways in which organisations can enhance women leadership.
• Experts share their perspectives on policies and approaches that encourage increase retention, strengthen job satisfaction, promote competitiveness and brace work-life balance.
• Discover which types of organisations are hiring more women in senior positions.

To find further details please visit Women in Leadership Forum India.


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Gender Equality and sustainable development in the attainment of Millennium Development Goals

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2010-03-18 12:41
2010-04-18 00:00
2010-04-21 19:30
Etc/GMT
Click here
City & Province/State: 
Benin City
Country: 
Benin
Venue: 
Banquet Hall University of Benin, Benin
Description: 

In this era of globalization there is need to investigate gender in all its ramifications; in the areas of technology, education and development. It has become imperative that gender and its related disciplines or scholarship be integrated / incorporated in all areas of education and development.

Development is about people and emphasis on gender will help to enforce or evaluate the Millennium development goals, their success and failure levels. This intervention through this international conference will have relevance in bringing together various researches, gender policy formulation, improve skill acquisition and capacity building.

Download the Bronchure here...and here
Registration information here
Contact Information: Prof. Abigail Imogie.


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World: Open Forum: Will the U.S. follow India's example?

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2010-03-18 04:07
Summary: 

The leadership of women in politics took a new turn in 1993 when India put into place a 50 percent quota for women at the level of local governance. From 1993 onward, more than 1 million women have served on Indian village, block and district-level councils.

On March 8, the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, a bill was proposed in the Indian parliament -- and successfully passed the next day -- imposing a 33 percent quota for women in India's federal and state assemblies.

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To read the complete news piece please visit SFGate.


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Philippines: Reproductive Health Tests Candidates’ Political Guts

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2010-03-17 20:35
Summary: 

Filipino voters who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for their next president are being advised: look at each aspirant’s stance on reproductive health to help them gauge the candidate’s leadership mettle and political guts.

A candidate’s position on issues like reproductive health, which has a long history of opposition from the Catholic Church in this mainly Catholic country, reveals clues regarding his or her capacity for governance, says Ramon San Pascual, head of the Philippine Legislative Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD).

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To read the complete news piece please visit IPS News.


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