Gender and Elections Workshop in Sierra Leone

The SNEC-UNDP and NEC Sierra Leone launched a BRIDGE workshop, entitled Gender and Elections Workshop, took place in Freetown from 4^th -7^th September 2018.

The event tailored specifically for NEC staff, fifteen participants from NEC-HQ and districts offices attended this course.

The workshop module was customised from the gender module, introduction and the Voter Education Module of the BRIDGE curriculum. The workshop was part of the post-election activities highlighted by NEC in their Action Plan to strengthen the awareness of the staff in gender related terms and actions.

The agenda included: the source of international standard, Sex and gender definitions gender terms, women in politics, Special measures-CEDAW, electoral system overview, temporary special measures, gender mainstreaming strategy for EMB, women candidates Barriers, electoral awareness approaches for women voters and EVAW in election. All topics were covered successfully

The participant’s evaluation for the workshop was very good.

Below is the summary of the participants’ answers which gives a comprehensive view on the participants’ appreciation of the course.

What is the single most important/useful thing that you have learnt during the workshop?

• The meaning of gender mainstreaming special measures about CEDAW
• Temporary Special Measures/quota system
• Difference among many gender related terms
• The electoral violence against women in election and globally
• The role of women throughout the electoral cycle
• Barriers women candidates face in the electoral process including biased media
• The public outreach planning for election need more attention

 Learning Outcome

• The training is very key to my women activist because it enhances their knowledge in advocacy
• The training was very relevant to my daily work. I personally learnt a lot.
• The learning outcome achieved, the training reached its goal.
• I learned that the group work spirit is very important, as it came out with lots of idea, challenges and possible strategies and solutions
• Big appreciation to the facilitators team, the course was very well facelifted

 What can be improved on the course?

• More time needed for some topics-E-Systems and international standard.
• Providing soft copy of the materials to be used as reference in future

Facilitation/presentations

• It was impressive.
• Excellent facilitation methodology adopted by the trainers.
• The content was very relevant.
• I was eager each day to see what activities and learning approaches the day will give me. Well done
• Facilitators worked in team all the time, which represent a model to us.
• The participatory technique went very good.
• Interactive course indeed bring out lots of loud thinking and knowledge.
• Facilitators were flexible.

 Do you have any additional comments?

• All NEC staff in all levels need this awareness training –the course should be cascaded.
• It will be prefect to attend this course in the Pre-election phase for actual preparation.
• All ideas and notes coming out of this course should listed for consideration to prepare for the 2023 elections
• All presentations needed in soft copy.