Cartagena, Colombia – Women’s Democracy Network (WDN) members from nine Latin American countries gathered for a two-day conference to discuss ways to promote WDN’s mission of women’s empowerment on a regional scale. After initially meeting at a 2009 WDN conference in Peru, members from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela reunited in Cartagena, Colombia November 27-28 to create an inter-regional association of WDN members in Latin America.

The participants, who committed their own financial resources to the conference, each presented the efforts they have undertaken to increase women’s participation in politics and to encourage more women to pursue leadership positions in their political parties and civic organizations. Network members in Argentina, Guatemala and Peru conduct their activities through their WDN country chapters, but felt the desire to create a regional initiative to maximize their individual country initiatives and to pursue a common agenda on a larger scale.

Former parliamentary advisor, Silvia de Souza from Brazil shared her individual experience of encouraging young women to become more active in politics in her country. De Souza mentors women congressional staffers and trained local elected officials on transitioning into national level leadership positions for the 2010 parliamentary elections.

Through debates and roundtable discussions, participants discovered their collective vision for WDN Latin America (WDNLA) and listed the numerous opportunities for regional collaboration. As Rubiela Valderrama from Colombia pointed out, “We are fortunate to have many tools to assist us in solving our problems. We are not the victims; we are the actors and the women who hold the solutions in our hands.”

The participants developed a mission statement for WDNLA along with country-specific action plans that are to be implemented in the coming year. Their mission declares: “We, the Women’s Democracy Network Latin America, will direct our work towards women’s political and civic empowerment to achieve substantial exercise of their human rights, their access to equal opportunities and gender equality. We emphasize the promotion of democratic maturity as a way of life in our countries to advance democratic consolidation in the region.”

The new initiative will serve as a regional and international benchmark of experience, information and comparison on women’s political participation and legal rights within Latin American countries. To achieve their mission, WDNLA developed projects the members will organize in their respective nations, ranging from creating a network database with statistics, legislation and best practices concerning women’s political participation in the region to conducting women’s leadership trainings in rural communities.

The WDNLA members are aware of the challenge ahead of them. As WDN Guatemala Country Chapter member Karina Flores stated, “We [WDNLA] will not have control over the rate of human development as the state is the guarantor of many of the situations that affect women’s welfare and position in society. Our Network must serve as a caretaker, complainant and promoter of our mission in order to be one step closer to gender parity in Latin America”.

The initiative of WDN’s Latin America members, who contributed their time and financial resources to meet to establish a regional mission and network, is an inspiration to WDN members around the world and a reminder of what the Network can accomplish.