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Women's Leadership As a Route to Greater Empowerment

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Women's Leadership As a Route to Greater Empowerment WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AS A ROUTE TO GREATER EMPOWERMENT DESKTOP STUDY OCTOBER 30, 2014 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Mona Lena Krook, Darcy Ashman, Layla Moughari and Milad Pournik of Management Systems International. WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AS A ROUTE TO GREATER EMPOWERMENT DESKTOP STUDY Management Systems International Corporate Offices 200 12th Street South Arlington, VA 22202, USA Tel: + 1 703 979 7100 / Fax: +1 703 979 7101 Contracted under IQC No: AID-OAA-I-10-00002, Task Order No. AID-OAA-TO-13-00046 USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative: Julie Denham, DRG Center DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. CONTENTS ACRONYMS .................................................................................................................................................................................. II EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 KEY FINDINGS OF THE DESKTOP STUDY ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE PROGRAMMING .................................................................................................................................. 3 I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................................... 5 RESEARCH BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 DEFINITION OF WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND EMPOWERMENT ............................................................................................................... 7 II. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 PROGRAM SELECTION ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................................... 9 III. KEY FINDINGS: PROMOTING WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT ..................... 10 EXTENT OF USAID PROGRAMS ................................................................................................................................................................. 10 OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMMING AND NOTABLE PROGRAM ACTIVITIES ................................................................................................ 14 PROGRAM RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE ................................................................................................................................................. 22 IV. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE PROGRAMMING .......................................................................................... 32 KEY WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT ACTIVITIES ...................................................................................... 32 PROGRAM PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................................................................... 34 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................................. 37 ANNEX 1. KEY QUESTIONS FOR THE DESKTOP STUDY ............................................................................................. 38 ANNEX 2. PROGRAM SUMMARY TABLE FOR DESKTOP STUDY ............................................................................. 40 ANNEX 3. SUMMARY OF TRANSITION PHASE ACTIVITIES ...................................................................................... 46 ANNEX 4. SUMMARY OF PRE-ELECTION PERIOD ACTIVITIES ................................................................................ 48 ANNEX 5. SUMMARY OF ELECTION PERIOD ACTIVITIES.......................................................................................... 52 ANNEX 6. SUMMARY OF POST-ELECTION AND GOVERNANCE PERIOD ACTIVITIES ...................................... 56 ANNEX 7. PROMISING OUTCOME INDICATORS ............................................................................................................ 59 ANNEX 8. PROGRAM SUMMARIES ..................................................................................................................................... 60 AFRICA ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61 ASIA ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 78 EUROPE AND EURASIA ................................................................................................................................................................................. 90 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ................................................................................................................................................... 101 MIDDLE EAST .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 107 GLOBAL ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 113 WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AS A ROUTE TO GREATER EMPOWERMENT i ACRONYMS CEPPS Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance DRG (USAID) EPT Elections and Political Transitions GII Gender Inequality Index (UNDP) IDEA International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance IPU International Parliamentary Union MENA Middle East and North Africa MP Member of Parliament NGO Non-Governmental Organization PMP Performance Monitoring Plan PR Proportional Representation UNDP United Nations Development Program USAID United States Agency for International Development WAG Women’s Action Group WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AS A ROUTE TO GREATER EMPOWERMENT ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The “Women’s Leadership as a Route to Greater Empowerment” project seeks to map and assess selected USAID programs dedicated to enhancing women’s leadership and political empowerment. This desktop study covers 56 programs identified by the Elections and Political Transitions (EPT) team of the Center of Excellence on Democracy, Rights and Governance (DRG), carried out in more than 50 countries between 2008 and 2013. The report provides an overview of program approaches and results globally; it is supplemented by five country case studies (Cambodia, Georgia, Kenya, Mexico, and Jordan) which offer an in-depth assessment of the women’s political empowerment context and the program results achieved in each country. Two other studies include collecting data for 20 countries on the extent of women’s leadership in elected and appointed government positions and mapping work on women’s leadership and political empowerment in other USAID offices and bureaus. A two-day workshop in Washington DC with other donors, academics and implementing partners is being convened to discuss and disseminate the results. Key Findings of the Desktop Study USAID/DRG/EPT-supported programs reach women leaders in politics globally The selected USAID programs to promote women’s leadership and political empowerment reach 55 countries in five regions, with more than half of the programs concentrated in Africa and Asia. In most cases, women’s political empowerment is a secondary objective of broader transition and democratic strengthening programs. This made it difficult to track the overall funding for the women’s empowerment program activities. However, information was available for the women- focused programs which showed that they were relatively small. Five of the ten were under $150,000 each. All of the women’s political empowerment program activities operated over relatively short time frames, usually one to three years. No single definition of leadership or empowerment; a holistic approach The concept of “women’s leadership and political empowerment” is applied broadly across USAID programming, reflecting a relatively holistic approach to the political process. It recognizes that women may play a variety of political roles —voters, activists, candidates, elected officials — and thus the need to empower women in all ways. Activities are organized in this report according to four moments of intervention — transition, pre-election, election and post-election phases — that vary in terms of content and focus, related to the different imperatives
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