Kabul, Afghanistan – More than 350 women registered as candidates for the 68 seats allocated for women in Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections on September 18, 2010. Immediately after the results were confirmed, WDN, with the assistance of the International Republican Institute’s Afghanistan program, conducted a leadership and governance training in Kabul for 16 newly-elected women representing 13 provinces. The workshop provided the parliamentarians with the tools necessary to perform their duties as elected officials, including how to build effective coalitions and legislative agendas. 

Trainer Karen Johnson, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Legislation and Congressional Affairs, began the first session by acknowledging the participants’ diversity, “It is clear we are from different geographical regions and ethnic groups. We come here to share experiences so we know more about ourselves by listening to others. It is a balancing act between staying true to who you are and reflecting your constituents’ views.” 

Johnson’s message resonated with the participants, as several had served previously as elected officials. In response, one participant said, “I knew that I could truly represent my constituency from the Helmand province. I was an activist and I had communication with my people and this provided an opportunity to continue to serve them, and I did not deceive them. It showed my constituents that women are effective legislators.” 

Another participant who also served her community was commended by local men who recognized that women, like men, could be effective legislators. This participant noted, “Tribal leaders would come to my home, recognize the good work I was doing and say that they wished I was a man – and that actually meant a lot to me.”

Throughout the first day the women discussed highly-specialized topics relevant to parliamentarians including the roles and responsibilities of elected officials, procedures for drafting laws, how to legislate effectively, and how to undertake collective action for political success. The women discussed how to organize town hall meetings as a way to listen to their constituents. 

Participants met with Dr. Taher Hashemi, a representative from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Justice and Professor of Constitutional Law at Kabul University, who provided instruction to the newly elected parliamentarians on Afghanistan’s parliamentary procedures, including how a bill becomes a law. Hashemi encouraged the women to remain energetic and positive when facing difficulty as “democracies take a long time to build and people do not always fully appreciate the power of their vote.”

On the second day, training topics included communications, constituent relations, needs assessments, public relations and organizational skills; critical topics for these elected women, as they will learn how to better connect with and serve constituents. Johnson asked participants to identify the issues that youth in Afghanistan care about most. Participants immediately raised their hands and reported that an education and a job were at the top of the list. 

Utilizing the skills they learned throughout the two-day workshop, the participants developed a legislative agenda and filmed a three minute video segment addressing the issues in their community. 

On December 2, WDN conducted a strategy session with the board members of the Movement of Afghan Sisters (MAS). The workshop focused on coalescing female political and civil society activists around shared causes and identifying opportunities for the two sectors to work together to successfully achieve their goals. Established in 2006, MAS is an independent women’s organization dedicated to building a national social movement that emphasizes the equality of citizenship, full participation of women as candidates and voters, and advocacy for women’s issues. MAS is active in all 34 provinces in Afghanistan and has approximately 30,000 members.

Prior to working on their strategic plan, the board members received an introductory address from the chairwoman of MAS, Humaira Haqmal, and completed a self-assessment of their communication skills. Following this exercise, board members reviewed their objectives and discussed several ideas for future activities that would help them achieve these goals. 

The MAS board members then met with their assigned committees – external and public affairs, legal affairs, cultural and social affairs, and finance and administration – to propose the duties their committees would manage for each activity. A representative from each committee presented her committee’s responsibilities to the rest of the board members and then highlighted how the unique expertise of each member would help them achieve these goals. 

After the training Chairwoman Haqmal said, “I would like to thank the WDN for its interest to support MAS and the vulnerable women of Afghanistan.”