Women’s presence in decision-making positions and Advisory Boards is in very low numbers. The reasons often cited for this situation include the exclusion of women from the “old boys’ club” and lack of time to network and make informal contact. It is also claimed that women are not interested in leadership positions, lack self-confidence, are not ambitious, and concentrate more on concrete work.1
The Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights (WP&IR) project was designed on the premise that women are traditionally disadvantaged in relation to information, protection and demand for their property and inheritance rights. This project therefore focused on education and awareness creation at the community level with the objective of changing attitudes of the Kenyan people to respect women’s property and inheritance rights.
The rationale of the project is that the chiefs and the assistant chiefs [who are all hereinafter referred to as chiefs] represent the first level of government administrative structure at the community level. The chiefs handle cases on women’s property and inheritance rights almost on a daily basis. However, they lack adequate training on how to handle such cases. Education Centre for Women in Democracy (ECWD) therefore decided to build the capacity of selected chiefs and paralegals in six districts, namely, Baringo, Buret, Kajiado, Koibatek, Nandi South and West Pokot, to carry out education and awareness creation activities, handle cases and assist women to seek justice on their property and inheritance rights violations.
News & Events
ECWD HOLDS A WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN
ECWD held a three-day experience sharing workshop for women parliamentarians in Eastern Equatoria State, Southern Sudan on July 21-23, 2010. The workshop held at the Hotel Torit brought together 17 women legislators from the Eastern Equatoria State Legislative Assembly (EESLA) and the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA).
The workshop was based on the theme, “Enhancing the engagement of women in electoral politics in Eastern Equatoria State’ and was organized by the Women Parliamentarian Caucus in collaboration with IKV Pax Christi through the Sudan Integrated Peace building Programme (SIPP). The workshop had three-fold objectives: To provide space for the Legislators to share experiences; network with other legislators from the South Sudan Legislative Assembly as well as to affirm women’s leadership role in Eastern equatorial State.
Among the dignitaries at the workshop was the Deputy Governor of the Eastern Equatoria State, H. E. Hon. Nartisio Loluke, The Speaker of the Eastern Equatoria State Legislative Assembly, Hon. Emmanuel Ambrose Ocholimoi, Deputy Speaker, Hon. Paul Napon and the Commissioner of Torit County, Cde. Felix Siro.
read more... ECWD HOSTS A TWO-DAY REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON ANTI-CORRUPTION
The Education Centre for Women in Democracy in collaboration with Commonwealth Foundation is hosted a two-day conference on August 12-13, 2010. The Conference whose theme was “Civil Society Perspective of Anti-Corruption Mechanisms in East Africa”was held at the Sarova Panafric. The Key Note Speaker at the conference was Prof.PLO Lumumba, the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). Other speakers at the conference were Hon. Wanyiri Kihoro, Dr. Amollo Odundo and Mr. Humphrey Polepole.
The conference brought together leaders drawn from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The objective of the conference was to provide participants with a learning platform in preventive, proactive, multi-dimensional and institutional support strategies for improving accountability and other good governance practices in the three East Africa countries. The conference will look at the role of CSOs in promoting anti-corruption mechanisms for building integrity and accountability systems in the respective countries.
