Bandung, 8-10 June 2012
Kemitraan has formed partnership with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as well as the Indonesian Women’s Coalition (KPI), Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER) from Malaysia, the Women’s Caucus from Timor-Leste, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), and the Center for Popular Empowerment from the Philippines to work together on strengthening the political rights of women and democracy by advocating the promotion of increased women’s political representation through regional partnership initiatives.
The first workshop was conducted in Bandung (on 27-28 October 2011) with main purpose of providing support to the network of women caucuses and the women NGOs in enhancing capacities as politicians and as decision maker, including provide a forum for them to conduct learning exchanges with other countries’ experiences on how political parties’ structures have accommodated affirmative action for women in their platform.
As a follow up to the Action Plan agreed in the first workshop, Kemitraan conducted the second workshop on 8-10 June 2012 aimed at formulating strategic approaches and steps for increasing women’s political representation in Southeast Asia. The important outcomes from the second workshop are (1) commitment for cooperation among IKAT US Component 1 Regional Partners and its affiliation, Women Members of Parliament, Women Political Actors, Local Government Women Organizations from all ASEAN Countries, CSOs, NGOs , and ASEAN organization, through a network, (2) capacity building/development for the women’s caucus or networks members or leaders attended in the workshop, and (3) more efficient and stronger network of women’s caucuses and women NGOs.