Women Candidates’ School - workshop report

(Bizerte)

25th – 26th September 2014

Executive summary

Two international trainers, Oscar Mercado Cassianovich (international journalist) and Charlemagne Sophia Gomez Darchez (international Political Party Advisor) were deployed to Bizerte, which is approximately 65 KMs from Tunis. Eighteen candidates attended this training representing three different constituencies, namely Bizerte, Béja and Jendouba.

The trainers adopted their own approach and methodology and collaboratively ensured a harmonious and complimentary workshop. They developed their materials based on the agenda that was provided to them prior to their arrival in the country, and adapted this to the needs of the programme and the areas from where the candidates emanated from. The two-day workshop adopted a combined theoretical approach whereby each key module was accompanied by practical exercises and the trainers ensured that each candidate was able to articulate their ideas succinctly. The trainers’ methodology encouraged political neutrality, as well as ensuring that candidates did not highlight their ideological, social or religious differences. As a result candidates worked effectively well together and displayed mutual support and motivation for each other and encouraged all of their fellow candidates to perform to their best ability.

Given the high intellectual level of all the women, although some of the concepts were somewhat alien at first, they were soon able to grasp why and what it means to develop a strategy and how to communicate efficiently in front of the media. More detailed information on the legal framework would have proven useful, and although all candidates assimilated a great deal of information during the two

day workshop, an extra one or two days would have fined tuned the skills gained during the workshop and would have cemented even clearer ideas in their strategy and how to conduct a campaign.

1.0 Introduction

The two international trainers, Oscar Mercado Cassianovich (international journalist) and Charlemagne Sophia Gomez Darchez (international Political Party Advisor) were deployed to Bizerte, which is approximately 65 KMs from Tunis. Eighteen candidates attended this training representing three different constituencies, namely Bizerte, Béja and Jendouba. None of the candidates ran in the 2011 elections, and six of them were placed in second position in the list (There was nobody who was the head of the list) (Please see annex I for full list). In total, the three districts represent a voting population of approximately 1,017,1371 voters. The three districts differ quite widely with regards to their respective economic resources, with Bizerte being more urban and touristic than the other two districts. Béja and Jendouba have an important number of persons working in the fields and the districts are predominantly rural. In 2011 elections, the three constituencies had one of the highest percentage of blank and invalid votes in the country.2

The principal leitmotif behind the Women’s candidates’ school is to reinforce democracy, and to promote an equal playing field amongst men and women. Tunisia is currently in transition to democracy; therefore it is essential that women are afforded access to resources to promote their effective participation in politics. To this end, the trainers ensured that the workshop was orientated towards providing the candidates with the most practical tools using the least amount of resources in order to structure their campaign in the most efficient and effective manner.

The trainers adopted their own approach and methodology and collaboratively ensured a harmonious and complimentary workshop. This was especially difficult given the fact that the trainers did not have any previous knowledge of the candidates’ background or experience or the issues affecting the particular regions they emanated from. As highlighted above, the candidates came from three different governorates, which not only differed on a cultural level, but on an economic and social level as well.

The two-day workshop therefore adopted a combined theoretical approach whereby each key module was accompanied by practical exercises. The trainers ensured that each candidate was able to articulate their ideas succinctly. The trainers’ methodology encouraged political neutrality, as well as ensuring that candidates did not highlight their ideological, social or religious differences. As a result candidates worked effectively well together and displayed mutual support and motivation for each other and encouraged all of their fellow candidates to perform to their best ability.

The following report will outline how the trainers established and developed their methodology over the two days, it will also highlight the problems that arose and the solutions that were found to deal with any of the issues that ensued over the two day workshop.

1 This is the number of voters registered in 2011 2 See annex one

2.0 Aim and objectives of the women candidates school

The overall aim of the workshop was to build the capacity of individual candidates to conduct an efficient and strategic campaign whereby they would be taught about key concepts for developing a campaign and provided with tools in order to ensure that they are able to communicate their messages efficiently and appropriately. Particular emphasis was placed on developing the candidates capacity to identify strategic means of campaigning using the resources that they had to hand.

Day one: 25th September 2014: Your Road Map to Success

Objectives day one of the Candidate School How to build a strategic campaign by targeting voters and individual messages

Candidate School Methodology: Day one Active participation by the candidates; Sharing of information and experiences; Establishing working groups; and Presentation of work accomplished by individuals and working groups

Time Topic Facilitator 8:00 - Registration 9:00 - Official opening and Overview 9:15 - Keynote Plenary: What Women Candidates Need to Know International political party trainer

10:15 – Coffee Break 10:30 10:30 – Your Road Map to Success: International political party trainer 11:15 Research and Goal Setting 11:15 – Targeting the Voters 12:15 12:15 Lunch 13:15 Developing the message and getting it out International political party trainer 14:15 Voter Contact Planning 15:15 Role play 16:15 Coffee break 16:30 Presentations International political party trainer 17:00 Re-Cap and Brainstorming 18:30 Evaluation and closing

Day Two: interactive media training

Objectives day two of the Candidate School To build capacity of individual candidates to present themselves via social and traditional media; To empower individual candidates to strategically plan an online campaign

Candidate School Methodology: day two One-on-one exercises that include how to look poised and professional on camera, staying on message, and public speaking techniques one-on-one mock interviews and on-camera practice sessions

Time Topic Facilitator 8:30 - Registration and coffee 9:00 - Official opening and Overview UNDP SEPT 9:15 - Create a social media campaign international journalist 10:15 Coffee Break 10:30 Design your message International journalist 11:15 - Developing your stump speech 12:15 Lunch 13:15 Dealing with media International journalist 14:15 Debate Simulation International Journalist and International Political Party Trainer 15:00 Coffee Break 15:15 Debate Simulation Contd International Journalist and International Political Party Trainer 16:00 Evaluation of the workshop UNDP/SEPT team 16:30 Official closing

3.0 Training methodology

The programme anticipated the participation of two diverse trainers, an international political party trainer and an international journalist to provide capacity building to 18 female candidates emanating from the three constituencies, namely Bizerte, Béja and Jendouba. The two trainers developed their materials based on the agenda that was provided to them prior to their arrival in the country, and adapted this to the needs of the programme and the areas from where the candidates emanated from.

Both trainers adopted a participatory approach, whereby the programme consisted of lectures with the use of flipcharts and power point presentations; hand-outs, role plays and exercises; the trainers emphasised and encouraged the active participation of all participants. The majority of the hand-outs were translated into Arabic in order to facilitate comprehension of the materials. Given that both trainers speak French, the participants were asked if they would prefer for the training to be delivered in French or English. The participants requested that the programme be delivered in French, as there were only two candidates who could not understand French, and thus required a direct translation into Arabic. These two participants used the headsets to follow the two-day programme. Nevertheless, during the discussions and all of the exercises, many of the participants preferred to speak in Arabic, and therefore questions were posed both in French and Arabic, there was also one candidate who spoke in English. Everything was simultaneously translated.

The trainers agreed amongst themselves to adopt a theoretical and practical approach. In practice, this meant that the morning sessions were dedicated to the theory, and afternoon sessions were to recap the main concepts of the first modules and then followed by practical exercises to ensure that all

participants not only understood the concepts but were also able to apply them to their respective campaign in their particular area.

As one will note from the evaluations that were received by the participants, this complimentary approach was highly appreciated by all. They particular benefitted from the interactive sessions and the complementarity between the two trainers domains.

The following hand-outs were distributed to all candidates.

 Power point presentation on Strategy of the Campaign (Arabic)  The three types of voters (Arabic)  Overview of relations with the media (Arabic)  Table on Effective Resources (Arabic)  Paper on Proportional Representation (French)  Various Laws and Regulations on Campaign (French)  Election Results and turnout from the area in 2011 (Arabic) See annex II

4.0 Summary of the Training session 4.1 Day one sessions and activities

Day one was split into three main parts. The start of the day commenced with the trainer welcoming the candidates to the programme. The candidates were then asked to introduce themselves, stating their name, their political party, their constituency, their position in the list and what they expected from the course. The trainer then set ground rules for the following two days that included:

1. To raise their hand to ask a question 2. To Listen to whoever speaks 3. To turn off the mobiles 4. To be as participative as possible

The trainer then proceeded to let the participants know what they would learn over the next two days, indicating that the first day would discuss the strategy behind a campaign and day two would be more practical and allow them to hone their communication skills. Finally the participants were asked why they thought it was important for women to run for parliament.

An icebreaker was then used whereby the candidates were asked to memorise certain elements which they had been exposed to two minutes and write down what they had seen from memory. The exercise taught them that it is important to be specific when describing things, to look at things in more detail and that it is necessary to write things down.

The six elements which were covered in day one were the following:

 Do necessary research to prepare for the campaign

 Setting a strategic campaign goal of how many votes are needed to win  Analyzing and targeting voters  Developing a campaign message  Developing a voter contact plan  Implementing that plan

4.1.1 Session I

Research and Setting Goals

The first session aimed to teach the participants about the importance of research, and the setting of their goal.

The issues which were discussed were the following:

• What is the type of election and what are the rules?

• What are the characteristics of the districts?

• What are the characteristics of the voters?

• What has happened in past Elections?

• What are the main factors affecting this election?

• What are your main strengths and weaknesses?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of all your viable opponents?

In this session, it was evident that many of the candidates were not very familiar with the electoral law, and therefore an additional session was added about the electoral law. Furthermore, the role of the mandataire was also discussed in the second day of the course by the international journalist.

In order for the trainer to highlight the importance of research, the trainer prepared various handouts which are attached as annex II. This included election tables that illustrated the results from the previous 2011 elections, as well as the percentage of blank and invalid votes, and the importance of looking at each individual delegation/district, and looking at what are the type of issues that concern these particular areas.

The candidates in this particular session realized that the issues that they wanted to deal with in the campaign differed from each other and learnt how to identify the key issues that were more important to them and their potential voters.

Various candidates were then asked to highlight their strengths and weaknesses, and some of the candidates were at first hesitant to outline their weaknesses. This particular exercise emphasized the

importance of being aware of the candidate’s own strengths and weaknesses and how a political campaign can use this either to strengthen their strategy or weaken it.

4.1.2 Session II

The second session aimed at informing the candidates about the importance of targeting voters and ensuring that they knew how to calculate approximately how many votes they would need to win. (A morning session was given on the system of seat allocation in the morning of the second day. (Given the fact that this is complicated to explain and to translate, it was decided to do this part of the session directly in Arabic. The example of the 2011 elections was used, and the real results from Bizerte’s 2011 election were used).

The session then discussed why it is important to target voters, the three type of voters and how to target the voters using a demographic and geographic approach. The concept of targeting voters was an alien concept to many of the participants, and it took a few hours for all of the candidates to understand why it is important to target their messages to a specific audience as many had intended to target everybody.

4.1.3 Session III

The afternoon session covered the key concepts of developing a message and how to organize an effective field operation and get out the vote. This was followed by an interactive session on how to target a particular audience using research that they had previously done. The participants were split into three groups, those emanating from Bizerte, Beja and Jendouba. Each group was asked to choose two delegations within their constituency, and present to the group why they choose that particular group and what type of campaign methods they would use to reach this particular target group and what type of message they would deliver to this audience. All three groups presented their ideas and this was discussed amongst the whole group.

The day finished with an overall evaluation of what each participant had learnt, and if there were any pending and additional issues they would like to cover in day two. A request was made to explain the system of allocation of seats according to the number of votes, and it was asked to have a small session on the electoral law. Other issues such as communication issues were also asked to be elaborated upon.

4.2 Day two activities 4.2.1 Session I

The morning session was dedicated to train the candidates on the importance of social media as a main component in an electoral campaign, especially in urban areas. They learnt how to use Internet as a powerful tool to reach a large audience. Candidates were also taught the differences between social media and other Internet tools such as web pages, Google profiles and e-mails. The Trainer emphasized and encouraged the use of Facebook and Twitter as the most practical tools in order to build a social media campaign. Most of the candidates already use social media to cover their campaign activities.

The message design was an important component of the campaign strategy and candidates learnt how to create short, original, and credible messages and how to use them in different circumstances and places where they will develop their campaign.

But the most important thing for them was to understand that the promotion of social media of the candidate is a basic issue that candidates should deal with through flyers, posters or inside cyberspace, participating in blogs, sending e-mails and of course using any opportunity they have to face media coverage of their activities or in an interview.

The importance of Human Resources and their organisation, as the campaign team, were also explained and candidates learnt how to build a campaign team and get the best benefit out of it. The trainer would like to highlight the fact that candidates were not aware of the financial parties regulation and the main role of the Mandateur. Moreover the current report will explain how we addressed this issue.

Candidates were also trained on how to develop and improve a stump speech. This was a crucial issue since candidates did not know how to distinguish between a stump speech, a message and a campaign slogan. At the end of the session, it was clear for the candidates, and they illustrated in their evaluations, that they understood what is a stump speech and the importance for it to be in compliance with the political party programme. They were also taught on how to develop a message addressing the key issues reflecting voters concerns and how to distribute it in the right way. Furthermore, it was explained to them how to create a short, positive and inclusive slogan to reach a large range of voters.

Candidates also learnt how to use messages and slogans in a classical political campaign and in a social media campaign. The trainer also clarified how to make a more effective impact on the voters’ perception of them working their sound bites during an interview or in a public meeting. As part of the methodology, newspapers were used to show how other candidates are using messages and slogans to catch the media attention and reach a large national audience.

Session II

The afternoon session was dedicated to interaction with the candidates in order to examine how they would use the knowledge acquired that the trainers gave them during the previous sessions. During the exercise, candidates and trainers made remarks and suggestions on the performance of the candidates in order to further enhance their communication skills. The trainers not only gave comments on the content of the presentations, but also their body language and how they would be perceived by the audience.

Two exercises were developed. First, a simulation of a TV interview with a few questions from the trainer. Candidates had the time to address some issues, which were not necessarily related to a political domain. The interviews were projected onto a big screen while the other candidates followed the exercise as if they were watching a TV programme.

The second exercise was a classical presentation of a candidate in a public meeting. During two minutes candidates explained the main lines of their political parties program, their own concerns and messages for the local population. They were also encouraged to promote their social media address, political party symbol and web page. They also practiced how to finish their speech with a nice slogan reflecting the candidates’ vision of the future of the country.

As candidates highlighted in their evaluation, the interaction exercises were one of the most appreciated points of the training. Both trainers worked together and helped candidates to improve their attitude in front of the camera, a microphone or a voter as well as how to address the audience with a concrete, credible and well articulated speech using simple and clear language.

5.0 Challenges and Recommendations

5.1 Challenges

The biggest challenge that the team of trainers had to face was to train persons with whom the team had no prior knowledge. The trainers were not aware of the individual candidates experience, or knowledge of their profession or the level of understanding of key terminology. Nevertheless, after a brief introduction at the beginning, the trainers were able to gauge the level of knowledge and expectations of all the participants, and they were therefore able to pass the messages and transfer the knowledge of key concepts to all candidates.

The request for receiving training on campaign strategy and communication skills was actually initiated by the candidates, therefore the responsibility and the onus on the trainers was an important one. In order to facilitate the training, participants were asked which language they preferred to receive the training in, and they all preferred French, as the majority of them could at least understand French. This allowed the trainers to build a better rapport with all candidates and enabled them to directly address individual candidates, despite many of them choosing to answer the questions in Arabic. All role plays and practical exercises were conducted in Arabic, in order to hone the individuals skills in speaking and tone.

The length of the training session which was only limited to two days, meant that there was very little time for the trainers to transfer their knowledge. Although key concepts were transferred and candidates had undergone a substantial learning curve, three or four days would have been far more practical, to ensure that all messages were drummed into the candidates and for even more practical examples to be used, in order for them to apply their newly acquired skills.

5.2 Recommendations

1) In order to homogenise the trainings, it is essential that all trainers use the same source of information, such as the manual on Women’s Candidate Campaign Training Manual and that a finalised agenda with key modules is identified in advance to allow sufficient preparation time. Modules should include –

 Introduction to the Electoral Law and Campaign Regulations  The importance of Women’s’ participation in politics  How to organise a strategic campaign using the main concepts in the manual emphasising the importance of research and targeting voters as well as describing the different types of campaign methods available and what is appropriate for each type of audience taking into consideration the human, financial and time resources available.  Developing a key message, including dealing with the media, organising a stump speech, the importance of distinguishing between a speech, message and a slogan.

2) Where possible, candidates should undergo the training at least six weeks before the campaign is due to start. 3) Where possible, French/Arabic speaking trainers should be used. 4) Ensure at least two days in country before deployment to the constituencies in order to allow for the trainers to adequately prepare – This should include a full day briefing, which should include the legal context, as well as key statistics and more explanation on the type of election and its implications on the results. Key issues in the legal framework affecting the elections. An afternoon session could also include individual 20 minute sessions to brief each group on the issues affecting their respective constituency. 5) A briefing pack with the type of election, key figures, such as how many female candidates won seats where in the last elections, and a breakdown of key facts per constituency. 6) A second day should be used by the trainers to prepare the training adequately, and for UNDP staff to be on hand should they require any new information. A session should also be held to ensure that all trainers have harmonised their training, so that all candidates receive the same information and no candidate is put at an advantage having received a more comprehensive training than in other constituencies. 7) Training should be at least three days, ideally four days, and dates should encourage women to be able to participate. 8) All trainers should be encouraged to adopt a mixed methodology approach ensuring that full participation of each and every candidate is encouraged and that there is a good balance between theory and practical exercises. 9) Winning candidates should definitely undergo an induction course at the beginning of their tenure in the parliament. (This should include what their role will include, how to analyse a state budget, gender sensitive budgeting, understanding laws, analysing laws from a gender perspective and presentation skills to name but a few.)

6.0 Conclusions

The training took place in Bizerte with the participation of 18 female candidates over a course of two days. The trainers ensured that all candidates were able to adequately participate at all levels of the workshop, and given the diverse background, age, political affiliation and experience of all candidates,

they were able to learn from each other, and individual skills were honed based on their individual needs.

Given the high intellectual level of all the women, although some of the concepts were somewhat alien at first, they were soon able to grasp why and what it means to develop a strategy and how to communicate efficiently in front of the media. More detailed information on the legal framework would have proven useful, and although all candidates assimilated a great deal of information during the two day workshop, an extra one or two days would have fined tuned the skills gained during the workshop and would have cemented even clearer ideas in their strategy and how to conduct a campaign.

The trainers would like to take the opportunity to thank not only the candidates, who demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm, motivation and assimilation of information, but would also like to thank the key staff who helped the workshop take place. This includes UNDP/SEPT project which were always on call when the need arose. Alice Events, were also key in ensuring a smooth training, and ensured that the set up the room was done on time, and hand-outs and the needs of the trainers as well as the candidates were catered for at all times. The trainers would also like to say a special thank you to the two translators who worked throughout the day, and were always keen to help and get involved where they were needed. They also kindly did some translations of texts during their spare time in order to ensure that candidates had all materials in Arabic.

Annex I

Constituency Delegation/Dist Registered Voters 2011 Turnout % Number rict Voters 2011 of Polling Centres 2014 Bizerte Bizerte Nord 102706 40999 39.9 17 Zarzouna 19581 11793 60.2 6 Bizerte Sud 31391 15488 49.3 22 Sedjnane 28892 13028 45.1 28 Djoumine 22486 7755 34.5 26 Mateur 35144 15529 44.2 19 Ghezala 19697 7380 37.5 18 Menzel 47729 25281 53 12 Bourguiba Tinja 16010 8479 53 6 Utique 13212 5800 43.9 11 Ghar El Meleh 13772 7475 54.3 7 Menzel Djemil 35926 17488 48.6 9 El Alia 18917 10472 55.4 10 Ras Djebel 40318 23636 58.6 16 445781 4210563 47.2 207 Béja Béja nord 66795 27148 40.6 26

Béja sud 26754 14031 52.4 13 Amdoun 16370 7761 47.4 16 Nefza 39755 20099 50.6 19 Teboursouk 17566 8049 45.8 13 Tibar 8829 4205 47.6 6 Testour 23857 12789 53.6 20 Goubellat 11007 3832 34.8 10 Medjez El Bab 28290 14727 52.1 18 239223 112641 47.1 141 Jendouba Jendouba 82309 27967 34 27 Jendouba 27218 12947 47.6 23 Nord Bou Salem 29188 15475 53 18 Tabarka 37218 18935 50.9 26 Ain Draham 29634 13064 44.1 30 Fernana 34930 13289 38 31 Ghardimaou 48163 17903 37.2 35 Oued Meliz 15932 5867 36.8 15 Balta -Bou 27541 9296 33.8 26 Aouane 332133 134743 40.6 231

Political Party Bizerte Béja Jendouba No de % No de % No de % Votes Votes Votes Ennadha 80,576 38.3 30,870 27.4 33,150 24.6 CPR 15,532 7.38 6,834 6.07 5,602 4.16 Ettakatel 13,174 6.26 6,912 6.14 8,258 6.13 Petition Population 9,970 4.73 8,281 7.35 12,455 9.24 pour la Liberte P.D.P. 10,262 4.87 7,519 6.68 6,378 4.73 P.O.C.T. 2,409 1.14 2,367 2.1 1,787 1.33 L’Intiative 0 0 1,186 1.05 1,052 0.78 U.P.L 2,027 0.96 1,488 1.32 1,361 1.01 P.D.M. 5,493 2.61 1,979 1.76 3,378 2.51 Mouvement des 0 0 1,885 1.67 3,606 2.68 Patriotes Democrats Afek Tones 3,895 1.85 0 0 0 0 M.D.S 517 0.25 553 0.25 2,010 1.49 Mouvement 10,353 4.92 520 0.46 567 0.42 Population Elmostakel 0 0 0 0 0 0 P.S.D 0 0 0 0 0 0 Partie de la nation 0 0 0 0 0 0 culturel unioniste Partie de l’equite et 0 0 0 0 0 0 de l’egalite Parties de la Lutte 0 0 0 0 0 0 Progressiste Partie de la nation 734 0.35 1,045 0.93 0 0 Democrate Social Parti Liberal 425 0.2 165 0.15 518 0.38 Maghrebin El Wafa aux Martyrs 0 0 0 0 0 0 El Amal 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sawt et Mostakbol 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lutte Social 0 0 0 0 4,739 3.52 Pour un front national 404 0.19 0 0 0 0 Tunisien L’Equite 0 0 0 0 828 0.61 El Wafa 1,974 0.94 0 0 635 0.47 Autres 38,825 18.4 27,653 24.6 31,695 23.5 Bulletins Blancs 4,760 2.26 5,054 4,49 6,961 5.17 Bulletins Nuls 9,233 4,38 8,330 7.4 9,763 7.25 Total 210,563 112,641 134,743

Constituency Delegation/ Voters Number % Number of % District of Blank Votes Invalid Votes Bizerte Bizerte Nord 40999 919 2.2 426 1 Zarzouna 11793 466 4 271 2.3 Bizerte Sud 15488 869 5.6 390 2.5 Sedjnane 13028 1202 9.2 639 4.9 Djoumine 7755 703 9.1 427 5.5 Mateur 15529 867 5.6 541 3.5 Ghezala 7380 725 9.8 301 4.1 Menzel 25281 1022 4 505 2 Bourguiba Tinja 8479 339 4 158 1.9 Utique 5800 222 3.8 166 2.9 Ghar El 7475 222 3 193 2.6 Meleh Menzel 17448 554 3.2 218 1.2 Djemil El Alia 10472 454 4.3 197 1.9 Ras Djebel 23636 669 2.8 328 1.4 210563 9233 4.4 4760 2.3 Béja Béja nord 27148 1611 5.9 912 3.4 Béja sud 14031 815 5.8 449 3.2 Amdoun 7761 711 9.2 533 6.9 Nefza 20099 2189 10.9 1406 7 Teboursouk 8049 677 8.4 385 4.8 Tibar 4205 306 7.3 208 4.9 Testour 12789 985 7.7 540 4.2 Goubellat 3832 364 9.5 115 3 Medjez El 14727 672 4.6 506 3.4 Bab 112641 8330 7.4 5054 4.5 Jendouba Jendouba 27967 1454 5.2 859 3.1 Jendouba 12947 975 7.5 580 4.5 Nord Bou Salem 15475 926 6 557 3.6 Tabarka 18935 1452 7.7 1068 5.6 Ain Draham 13064 1004 7.7 763 5.8 Fernana 13289 1410 10.6 1377 10.4 Ghardimaou 17903 1381 7.7 870 4.9 Oued Meliz 5867 401 6.8 413 7 Balta -Bou 9296 760 8.2 474 5.1 Aouane 134743 9763 7.2 6961 5.2