Women’s Voices Initiative for the Local Councils

Press Release

Women’s Voices Initiative for the Local Councils
The local councils are thecornerstone of political life, as they are directly responsible for all the services and the living conditions of citizens.
Given the importance of the local councils, the 2014 Constitution granted new powers and parliamentary monitoring tools, so that themembers of the local councils can effectively monitor the executive authority and ensure their accountability.
The 2014 Constitution allocates that 25% of the local councils’ seats for women and 25% of seats for young people (young men and women) under the age of 35. This means women are allocated 13,000 seats, which is almost one third of the local councils.
Therefore, it is necessary to unite the efforts of all societal organizations, including political parties, civil society organizations and initiatives to build the capacities and support women to become members of the local councils.
From this perspective, ECWR launches an initiative titled “Women Voices for the Local Councils.” This initiative seeks building the capacities and coordinating the efforts of active young women in the society in order to prepare a generation of young women leaders.
The initiative aims to:
• Build the capacities of1000 young women leaders from all Egypt’s 27 governorates to become members of the local councils.
• Raise the awareness on the importance of the local councils.
• Raise the awareness on the importance of women’s participation in the local councils
Female candidates would be selected according to the following criteria:
• The age between 21 to 35
• Young women active in public work through either being a member of a political party, NGO, youth initiative and are clearly active in their governorates.
• To be provided with a Training of Trainers (TOT)
• Each village, city, and governorate will be represented during the selection process
• Educational attainment of the women should be a minimum of a diploma
Thereby, ECWR welcomes any nominations from political parties, civil society organizations, or initiatives for women with the aforementioned criteria.