Training Young Women In Political Activism

With technical assistance from Women in Development Europe (WIDE), CAFRA was able to access European Commission funding for a workshop aimed at continuing work on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

The workshop was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad, from June 12-19, 1999. The focus was the development of advocacy and lobbying skills.

One of the highlights of the workshop was the presence of 14 young women from across the Caribbean. It was a kind of initiation to CAFRA, a sort of “big sister-little sister” scenario. The aim was to sensitize young women on the women’ s movement in the Caribbean and to develop leadership skills in them. Each National Representative became the “godmother” of the young woman from her country and gave her “godchild” a symbolic present.

CAFRA Chairperson, Margarette May Macaulay told participants that the session sought to begin the process of creating a space for young women to discover their “political selves” and to help them recognize they had a role to play in shaping their societies. Macaulay also noted that the women’s movement has had difficulty in attracting young women to its ranks and it was necessary to harness the energy of young women and prepare them for leadership.

In working groups, the young women identified issues of critical concern and developed projects around these issues. CAFRA has given a commitment to develop the ideas into project proposals and to bring the young women together again, possibly in the next six months.

In the session on resource mobilization, members of CAFRA’s Regional Committee discussed proposals for a regional domestic violence training program for police officers. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) are committed to seeking the funds required to conduct the training program, support for which is being sought from Caribbean Police Commissioners.

It is hoped that training would begin towards the end of March 2000. Priority would be given to police officers, followed by social workers and other front line workers in domestic violence intervention.

Session three looked at (a) advocacy and lobbying information and (b) communication.
The key elements for lobbying were identified as:

• sense of purpose

• knowledge and information

• understanding of context including the cultural and historical dimension

• ability to do effective networking

• good communication skills

This session also looked at case studies of lobbying and advocacy strategies used by Caribbean participants at the International Conference on Population and Development (1994), World Summit on Social Development (1995) and the Beijing Conference on Women (1995)

Among pointers offered were:

• know the issues as well as who makes the decisions on the issues

• know what the position is and have the language that represents it well

• form coalitions; do not work alone

• caucus daily to evaluate the strategy and modify as necessary

• know when to lobby assertively and who are the best persons to argue a particular issue.

Fro a while, the microscope turned in on CAFRA with some very searching questions:

• Has the organization been in a position of influence?

• Have Position Papers been prepared to lobby specific institutions?

• Issues on men are now being supported by powerful organizations – is CAFRA ready to defend the women’s agenda?

• Will CAFRA prepare a shadow report for the upcoming Beijing + 5 Review?

Overall, participants outlined actions that had been taken in their respective countries towards implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. They also identified situations where conditions had worsened. They saw a great need for continued advocacy and lobbying work.