A) Advocacy for increasing the number of women in decision-making roles and politics
Political accountability to women begins with increasing the number of women in decision-making positions, but cannot stop there. What is required are gender –sensitive governance reforms that will make all electoral officials more effective at promoting gender equality in public policy and ensuring their implementation
One of the pillars of United Nations women’s work is advancing women’s political participation and good governance to ensure that decision-making processes are participatory, responsive, equitable and inclusive. Efforts are focused on strategic entry points that can advance the status of women by catalyzing wide-ranging, long-term impacts.
Support is provided to equip women to translate the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, now ratified by the majority of the world’s governments, into legal guarantees of gender equality in political participation and decision-making. Another strategy is through working with multiple stakeholders, like women’s organizations, government and non-governmental organizations, and the private sector, to bring more women into government, train women leaders, and boost women’s skills to actively participate in elections as candidates and voters.

The advocacy activities will focus on:

• Conduct public seminars on women’s political participation toward gender-responsive democratic governance in Ethiopia
• Conduct voter education working at the village level
• Mobilize a media campaign encouraging women’s political participation
• Facilitate a discussion between women from different political affiliations to develop a cross-party women’s political plat form
• Initiate the establishment of a gender resource center under the national parliament, which will build awareness of parliamentarians on gender-related issues
• Initiate a debate on gender-based violence and women in politics, and run workshops for women members of political parties
• Conduct a dialogue between national women leaders and women representatives at the district level an opportunity for women in the district to interact and raise their concerns with national’s women leaders representing government ministries, non-governmental organizations, and women parliamentarians. The dialogue led the participants to agree on the strategies to improve linkages and support systems between national and local women leaders
• Consolidate the advocacy of the principles of transformative leaders

B)  Round table discussion

Round table discussions will be undertaken with different stakeholders quarterly on how to increase women’s political participation and decision-making.

C) Annual Regional and National Conference

TIMRAN has planned to organize annual regional and national conferences on Ethiopian women’s political participation and decision makings.