Mexico, Gender, elections and civic education, 17-19 October 2022 UNDP

BRIDGE PROMOTING WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION TOGETHER WITH CSOS IN MEXICO

In the framework of the National Program to Promote Women’s Political Participation, the UNDP country office in Mexico and the National Electoral Institute (INE), in collaboration with the UNDP Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, organized two online BRIDGE workshops: “Gender, elections and civic education” and “Gender and political financing”, from 17 to 21 October 2022. A total of 56 participants (47 women and 9 men), representatives of civil society organizations (CSO) and women’s groups selected to be part of the 2022 version of the “National Program to Promote Women’s Political Participation” attended the workshops. 

The facilitation team in both workshops was composed by three BRIDGE facilitators: Gabriela Nones, Isabel Otero and Jorge Guzman (accrediting facilitator), supported by an IT team who managed the online platform, the virtual classroom and digital tools: Wilmer Castaneda, Lizbeth Teresa and Carla Cano from the UNDP Country Office in Mexico, which additionally offered administrative and logistical support, liaised civil society organizations and were in charge of ensuring that the needs of all participants were considered. The coordination carried out between the UNDP, under the leadership of Monica Eden, and the INE, represented by Alberto Bueno, was key to achieve the workshops’ goals. 

Mexican experts contributed to the workshops; Javier Aparicio’s presentation on “Women political representation in Mexico”, in the first workshop, and Karolina Gilas’ presentation on “general overview of the political financing in Mexico and Latin América” in the second, contributed to the success of the workshops. Participants evaluations of the workshops were very positive regarding both the utility of the contents and the facilitation.

The two workshops started with a presentation of the main elements of BRIDGE methodology as well as discussions on the main concepts involved: gender, elections, civic education, prevention against violence and political financing. Also, the workshops focused on the role of different electoral actors and particularly of the CSO to promote women participation, strategies to prevent and counter violence against women in politics and elections and how to overcome different barriers to advance toward gender equality in the political realm. 

Since the first BRIDGE workshop in Mexico held in 2018, electoral authorities have used this methodology more and more to strengthen electoral capacities and foster political dialogue in the country. These two new workshops have shown the potential of BRIDGE to build strong civil society networks and promote democratic values and political participation of women. In close partnership, the INE and UNDP are setting the basis for a longer-term capacity building strategy based on the national ownership of the BRIDGE project.