Sister 2 Sister Talk: Taking a Walk within the Corridors of Power

This was the focus of Day 3 on 10 July 2009  of the 3^rd Women in Political Party Structures Training organized by Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) under the Theme: “Dancing to the Tunes of Democracy: Preparing for Effective Engagement in Politics”, held in Kampala, Uganda. 

Hon. Njoki Ndungu, a distinguished feminist activist and former Member of Parliament from Kenya left the Sisters of the “Women’s Republic” elated and with a new outlook on what women leaders can achieve through simple strategies.  For many centuries, men have kept women out of the inner sanctums of power where things are happening, deals are closed and life changing decisions are made, including those about women! The sisters’ eyes were opened to manipulative tools like “divide and rule”, being kept poor and discriminated against.

But it was not all doom and gloom. Women can push their women’s issues forward through solidarity with each other even if they are from different political parties. Other strategies include seeking bi-partisan support on women’s issues, understanding what men want and care about and making the most of this for the collective good of women. The sisters were fired up and re-energized to fulfill the various reasons that motivated them to join leadership in the first place.

Decoding the Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists

Session facilitator Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe explained that this was all about dissecting the charter in groups, to find out its core values, strategies, challenges and leadership skills that other women have adopted. It is an inspirational document that was adopted by the African Feminist Forum in November 2006 in Accra, Ghana and lays out the identity of African feminists, details the individual ethics for feminists, institutional ethics for feminist organizations and feminist leadership. This session was an exercise that involved a lot of discussion, disagreement, altercations and near fist fights. What mattered at the end of it all was that the sisters finally agreed on the key issues, values, respect for diversity and the need to disseminate it. This was a good lesson on effective internal lobbying and negotiation within the groups, listening to each other and making themselves heard as well as respecting diversity, choices and heterogeneity of women as leaders And the end result? People realized the need to disseminate the charter to others and would love to have it translated and printed into the 59 different Ugandan languages and used as a tool to evaluate their leadership within political party ranks!

“We should have this charter translated into the different Ugandan Languages so that all women, all our constituents down there know that it’s about us as women of Uganda, women of Africa and about organizing and the power of collective organizing in ending our oppression…. Actually before it’s translated, each one of us should go home and share it with at least 5 of our elite friends and pass on this wonderful piece of thinking…” Hon. Florence Naiga Sekabira; National Resistance Movement Party; MP Kayunga

Demystifying the Media

In a bid to understand the practicalities of media advocacy, an exciting question and answer session held with media expert, talk show host and experienced media consultant Mr. Gawaya Tegulle, revealed the importance of a good media and communication strategy for political parties. It transpired that no political party in Uganda has such a strategy. Of great interest was the issue of how the media balances politics, power and professionalism. It is also crucial that women maneuver on how to effectively engage the media through good public relations and long term strategies rather than mourning about how “the media hates them” as they are wont to do. But you must beware...the media is a double edged sword that can make or break you - the key to success lies in media monitoring and consultancy.

Towards the Future ………….

The final assignment before closing the training was for the sisters to envision for 2015 by envisioning an ideal woman leader at personal, political party, collective and community levels. Participants were told that one personal project they would like to take on should be forwarded to FOWODE within the next two weeks so as to define the support mechanisms.  The training concluded by “ A Letter to My Sister” where letters that were aimed at affirming, committing support and asking for support, mentoring, and bridging the gap were exchanged by the sisters. Truly a historical moment as sisters from various political parties “posted” their letters to each other, tears, joy, ululations and the appreciation that inspite of all the barriers created by partisan women, we are all women and ought to work together.

Quotable Quotes of the Day……

“Truly the Newly Created “Women’s Republic” will enable us Dance to the Tunes of Democracy…The three day journey has come to an end but the role of the sisters is just beginning, embarking on a journey to dance together as women across parties with a mutual belief and understanding of the power of the collective, the centrality of sex and sexuality in women’s oppression; the journey of working towards creating a critical mass; the journey towards trying to venture into the unknown and the journey towards creating personal space and time to reflect so as to renew and revive themselves. And above all, a journey towards Dancing to the Tunes of Democracy in Uganda as the Lead Dancers…!”

“I have been to so many Lobbying and Advocacy Training Sessions… As a lecturer in Law at the University and being around women’s work for sometime  I could not imagine that I would ever attend the kind of training that got me so connected with myself, what I do and enabling me to be more determined to do things differently…A training that had totally different methodologies, giving us power to resolve the complexities out there and in a non-threatening way…We surely need such spaces and trainings again and again… If we had such methodologies, we would be on top of things in all our political parties, communities and truly everywhere…”