Womanifesto: Combat Authoritarianism and Advance Participatory Democracy
Why Womanifesto?
Women’s participation and leadership in decision making at all levels, starting in the domestic sphere and extending to the highest levels of government, is a fundamental prerequisite for a just and equitable world and for participatory, accountable democracies. At present, not only are women under-represented in legislatures across the world, and particularly in Asia and the Pacific region, the socio-economic and cultural barriers make it difficult for women to fully exercise their democratic rights and political power.
Since the early 2000, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) has worked to build women’s capacity to increase women’s representation and transformative leadership in political and policy building processes. In 2018, based on the critical reflection of the state of women’s political participation and leadership, APWLD decided to adopt a new strategy called ‘Womanifesto’. Womanifesto–women’s agenda for change–has long been used for by women’s movements to ensure elections are fought around policies demanding just, equitable and transformative changes that shift power relations and uphold women’s human rights. In APWLD, the Womanifesto is envisioned as a critical organising tool for women to influence the electoral process, hold elected leaders accountable to their promises in advancing women’s human rights, equality and Development Justice, and advance feminist participatory democracy.
For details of the Womanifesto, please read the concept note.
Overall Objective
To advance women’s democratic rights and civic engagement in Asia and the Pacific by increasing women’s capacity to author and claim Womanifestos.
Specific Objectives
- Develop the capacity of women, their organisations and communities to elaborate women’s political agenda (or womanifesto) and thereby, engage in broader political processes and policy debates at local and national levels;
- Foster knowledge and resources on women’s human rights, particularly democracy methods and community organising tools;
- Establish electoral advocacy plans to share and support women’s political manifestos;
- Strengthen institutional development of partner organisations through leadership development and solidarity movement building.
Participants
Womanifesto will accommodate 8-10 partners of national and grassroot organisations led by women in all their diversities from marginalised communities, including women with disability, LBTIQ+, ethnic and religious minorities, indigenous communities. Each partner shall identify one grassroot woman organiser and one woman mentor. At least one of them should come from the community/constituent and be committed to community organising and feminist movement building. APWLD will provide the selected organisations with a small grant to employ a young woman community organiser and carry out the research including salary and on-costs with the approximate amount of US$ 13,000.
Deadline and Submission Information
To apply, download the application form, fill it in according to the instructions and send to Madhura at madhura@apwld.org by 14 June 2021. For any further queries please reach out to Madhura at the given email address.
Womanifesto Timeline
| Timeline | Activities | Description |
| May 2021 | Call for Application and Selection of Participants | Only selected participants will be intimated by June |
| August 2021 | 1st Regional Training on Women’s Human Rights and Democracy Methods | The first training will orient participants towards a better understanding of gender and politics through a human rights based approach. The training will also refine the participants’ skills in organising and bringing together women from their community using Feminist Participatory Action Research methodology |
| January 2022 | 2nd Regional Training on Drafting Womanifestos and Introducing Advocacy Skills | The second training will prepare participants to go back and start drafting the Womanifestos through participatory approach with the community. It will also help them formulate advocacy plans of how to engage with the political leadership and elected representatives of the government with the Womanifestos |
| July 2022 | 3rd Regional Training on Advocating with the Womanifesto and the Way Forward | We will take cognizance of the Womanifesto journey so far.Then we will move on to expand our advocacy skills further and plan for an advocacy phase |
| November 2022 – May 2023 | Advocacy Phase | The partner organisations going ahead with further advocacy will enter into contracts and execute the advocacy phase for six months. |
| July 2023 | 4th Regional Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Meeting | All the trainers and participants come together and reflect on the journey so far and the learnings from the successes and failures and evaluate the Womanifesto cycle |
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