Overview : Papua New Guinea Practice Parliament Session for Women 6 March to 11 March 2017, Port Moresby Background: A range of international and regional commitments have been made to promote women in decision-making in the Pacific, including in national parliaments. Papua New Guinea has also made the same commitments. Despite this array of international and regional commitments to advance women in political decision making, Pacific women are still grossly under-represented in parliament. In PNG, only 3 women are MPs in the 111 member National Parliament. To support more women to participate in elections and be elected to Parliament and raise awareness on increasing women’s partcipation in politics and leadership roles, UNDP has been running Practice Parliaments for Women across the Pacific. In April 2012, 50 PNG women participated in the first ever Practice Parliament for Women in the country. The idea of a Practice Parliament for Women provided a practical forum to expose participants to the realities of policy-making and being a parliamentarian. While a range of training opportunities have been provided to PNG women, it has been a criticism that these have not often resulted in concrete impacts in terms of leading to women actually engaging in parliament processes. This activity seeks to directly address that concern by training women on parliamentary engagement and then immediately providing them with a forum to apply the skills they have learnt. The Activity: 5 days of skills training + Practice Parliament for PNG Women The National Parliament of PNG, the Department for Community Development and Religion, the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties and UNDP are collaborating on this activity. The programme will consist of three parts: - Monday 6 March to Wednesday 8 March – 3 days of skills training to develop participant’ understaning of parliamentary processes, as well as key policy issues that voters may want to discuss with them while they campaign;
- Thursday 9 March – 1 day Practice Parliament for Women, which will see all participants participant in a pratice session where they will engage in a mock Question Time and debating a mock Bill.
- Friday 10 March to Saturday 11 March - 2 days of skills training on campaigning
The programme will be developed in a robust and participatory way. It will include sessions with key local stakeholders, including current parliamentarians who will be invited to participate. Participants will be exposed to issues that affect them and their communities, including principles of democracy, election processes, parliamentary processes and development issues. Participants will also have an opportunity to acquire/improve upon and then apply skills such as public speaking, debate, presentation and research. The media will also be invited to participate, both as resource people on the role of the media during and in the lead up to the elections, and in order to cover portions of the week long workshop in print and radio. Who is eligible to apply: This workshop is primarily directed at: - Women who are considering standing for the 2017 national elections or local elections in 2018;
- Women community leaders who wish to develop their leadership, advocacy and policy skills;
Workshop arrangements: - The training and Practice Parliament will be held in Port Moresby from Monday 6 March to Saturday 11 March.
- For successful applicants travelling from the provinces, a return economy airfare will be purchased by the organizers for your travel and accommodation provided.
- Other workshop arrangements will be made available to successful applicants in due course.
How to apply: There are only 40-50 spaces available for this training. In order to be considered to be a participation you can follow the link to our website and download these forms or pick the forms at UNDP PNG Country Office. http://www.pg.undp.org/content/papua_new_guinea/en/home/operations/procurement.html 2017 Practice Parliament By hand delivery or post to: UNDP Papua New Guinea Country Office Level 14, Deliotte Tower P O Box 1041, Port Moresby. NCD By email: procurement.pg@undp.org |