Consultative Forum on Increasing Women’s Political Participation at the local level in Sri Lanka

A meeting was held in Jaffna with the objective of increasing women’s political participation in local level decision-making bodies. It was organized by Vilithu and Women’s Development Centre,Jaffna in collaboration with Women and Media Collective and sponsored by the UNDP. 50 women participated in this event including women activists contesting in the Jaffna Municipal Council election.
 
Some of the areas discussed at this meeting were, challenges to women’s political representation, experience of contesting for local government, governance, democracy and women’s political representation, women’s initiatives such as monitoring local government bodies, using the media to promote women’s political participation, etc. Relevant recommendations were compiled by the participants.
 
The meeting concluded with a press conference during which the participants presented their recommendations to the media.