Training program for meaningful participation of political party’s women representatives of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality in the upcoming local election

CWAD conducted a one-day “training program for meaningful participation in the upcoming local election with the women representatives” in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality on the 16th of Falgun 2078 (28th of February 2022). A total of 34 political party women representatives participated in the training program. Deputy Mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality Anjana Madhikarmi appreciated CWAD’s support for encouraging women’s political participation in the upcoming local level elections. 

In the first half of the session, CWAD’s Advisor Prof. Dr Shashi Adhikary presented about following topics (1) the constitutional provision on women’s rights (2) the state structure of Nepal as per the prevalent constitution (3) the reality of women’s representation in the state infrastructure with statistical evidence and necessary data (4) bringing women’s participation and dialogue in the core decision making/mainstream positions for their meaningful participation (5) the concept of advocacy and how to exercise it for political party women representatives, etc. Dr Adhikary also encouraged the attendees to nominate women’s representatives from political parties regardless of their political affiliation to ensure that their local representatives are competitive and motivated women leaders. Some participants also showed interest in running for the highest-ranking posts, such as Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

In the second half of the session, CWAD’s Chairperson Dr Anita Shrestha presented about leadership, negotiation and presentation skills. Dr Shrestha conducted a leadership game session for the conceptual clarity of the participants on the leadership qualities of a woman through group sessions. Post-interactive activities, Dr Shrestha asked the participants to brainstorm about the lesson learned from the games and group sessions. The participants replied that they learned about various leadership qualities such as (1) Patience (2) Clarity (3) Confidence (4) Diligence (5) Problem-Solving (6) thoughtfulness (7) Proactive decision making. Dr Shrestha also encouraged them to brainstorm about their leadership vision. 

Deputy Mayor of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality Anjana Madhikarmi expressed her thanks to CWAD for organizing the program which will be very useful for the political party’s women representatives in the upcoming and future elections for meaningful participation.