In the presence of multi stakeholders, including ministries’ representatives, CSOs and women groups, the Central Election Commission, MoWA and the UN Women have inaugurated the launch of the newly Norwegian funded programme on the enhancement of the Palestinian women’s political participation. This new programme is marking a new step towards establishing a strategic partnership at national level to enhance the Palestinian women’s political participation and sustain their roles in public life spheres and in decision making processes. The inauguration has been made in West Bank and Gaza simultaneously since the programme will cover both areas.
Mr. Hisham Kuhail, the CEC Executive Director praised this initiative and expressed appreciation to the Norwegian Representative Office for the generous support of the Norwegian government and stressed the need for such an initiative to leverage the role of women in political participation and public life affairs.
H.E. the Minster of MoWA, Dr. Haifa Al Agha has stressed the need for this initiative and said that it lies in the center of the ministry’s Cross-Sectoral National Gender Strategy as one of the five strategic objectives of the strategy. H.E. thanks the CEC, the Norwegian government and the UN Women for this initiative and ensured MoWA engagement during the implementation process.
Dr. Sabine Machl, the Special Representative of UN Women in Palestine, commended the initiative and expressed gratitude to the Norwegian government, the CEC and MoWA for their engagement to make this initiative real. She added that the project will support reinforcing the capacity of elected women in local councils to effectively play a role, while contributing to changing perceptions of women in the political arena and mobilizing both men and women to increase women’s representation in decision making, and that among the key interventions of the project is to develop a comprehensive national framework of action to promote women’s participation and leadership in the political and public spheres.
While women’s participation has significantly increased in Palestine in the past years, their representation remains low. Women continue to face obstacles due to the political context, economic barriers, as well as traditional social norms and perceptions on women’s political and civic engagement.
CEC and UN Women have presented the framework of this project and open discussion with audience on the project framework and on the pressing need for women’s empowerment calls for increased participation and promotion of women’s political participation and leadership, mainly in local councils.
It is worth noting that the strong partnership between UN Women and CEC, as well as with others national partners under this project including MoWA aims to bring about this change.”
Under the project, CEC and UN Women will work jointly to tackle challenges facing women’s political participation through this off-elections intervention, starting with developing a coherent and comprehensive national strategy to enhance women’s presence and role in decision-making, and at the same time empowering women and future female leaders in local communities through providing small grants for local initiatives proposed by women’s groups at selected local communities, influencing the media and enhancing social awareness to promote women’s political participation and increase their active role in decision-making.