Women in Burkina Faso have ascended in political prominence across local councils, both rural and urban, and now they’re working to increase their reach on the national level.

Over the past three years, Burkina Faso has seen tremendous growth in local government as a decentralization process created councils for small regions, called communes, across the country. Women, who were largely spectators in the past, now occupy 35 percent of those new seats.

The shifting landscape has not only benefited aspiring women leaders but the Burkinabe population as a whole. An evaluation completed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), which has funded NDI’s work in Burkina Faso, found increased roles for women could positively impact intra-party political dialogue, gender relations and poverty reduction.

A new quota passed in April in the National Assembly could accelerate gender changes. It requires that women make up at least 30 percent of candidate lists for National Assembly and local elections.

Additionally, there is a substantial monetary incentive for parties that can claim 30 percent of their elected representatives are women. Political parties that reach 30 percent of women elected to the National Assembly or local councils are rewarded with double the financing they would normally receive from the state. Parties that do not respect the quota will lose 50 percent of their allocated public funding for election campaigns. The increase in public financing for any party meeting that standard is designed to keep parties from burying women at the bottom of their candidate lists, which makes it less likely they could actually earn a seat. The bill, which passed with 87 votes in a 111-seat chamber, was the second iteration of a similar bill that failed in 2007.

In the last two months, with funding from the Mel and Bren Simon Charitable Foundation, NDI helped bring together a large coalition with all of the important players in the women’s rights debate. Early this year, Burkinabe women activists from civil society and political parties had launched disparate and largely uncoordinated advocacy efforts around the gender quota law.  NDI worked with coalition members to develop a common agenda and coordinated action to advocate for passage of the law. 

The coalition developed and proposed amendments to the draft law, several of which were included in the version of the bill that finally passed. Coalition representatives held meetings with the General Institutional Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the National Assembly, and NDI assisted in the organization of press conferences and information sessions that helped gain support from the public.

The chance for women to become leaders on the local and national levels represents both a stark change and a significant opportunity.

“Previously, women’s opinions weren’t asked; they weren’t taken into account when making decisions,” said Aminata Kassé, NDI’s resident director in Burkina Faso.  “But now women who are elected can express their opinions on things like clean water and health, and other domains as well.”

In the past, political parties were reluctant to nominate women, effectively keeping them out of the political process because it is nearly impossible to run independent of a party. Now parties are seeking NDI’s help to find more women candidates. The Institute is working with a new Sida grant to help parties strategize on ways to recruit potential women candidates. In addition, NDI will train local women candidates in 2011 and legislative candidates in 2012.

Programs will also be expanded geographically as the Sida fund will enable NDI to open an office in the eastern part of the country, in Fada Ngourma, where it previously did not have a presence.

• More:
  An interview with Kassé offers her perspective on the work that has been done in Burkina Faso on elevating women’s role in the country as well as the challenges they still face. | Read the interview »

Pictured above: Women elected to local councils meet at a training session in Ouagadougou.

–

Published on May 19, 2009