The two day workshop took place at Utopia Hotels and Apartment Enugu on 24th – 25th September 2017. The was organized by Alliances for Africa (AfA) with support from UN Women Funds for Gender Equality. The training targeted the various political parties Apex Leaders and INEC Rec from the 5 states in South East Nigeria. It was aimed at bringing together key decisions party leaders and INEC REC under same roof to understand the Gender; Gender mainstream and how it has quantifiable impact in addressing the gender gap in Politics in Nigeria, secondly, its impacts in achieving the full Implementation of 35% Affirmative Action. The training objective was aimed at Sensitizing and Mobilizing Male political party Leaders in furtherance of conscious effort to increase women actors in political spaces and achieve the full Implementation of the 35% Affirmative Action.

TRAINING CONTENT: Gender and Elections/Electioneering using International and Local case studies to analysis the Nigerian Context; Exposure to Key International Legal instrument and the Rights to Political Participation; Affirmative Action as a Means of Increasing Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision-making; Party Politics: Best Practices as it relates to Gender Equity in Governance and Decision-Making and the National Gender Policy: Impact and Integration of Women into Leadership Positions.

At the end of the two day intensive training, participants capacity were increased on understanding of Gender, Mainstream and Gender Sensitivity. They understood the need to accommodate the voices of female politicians in political party administration as a way of ensuring equity and women inclusion in decision making; the need for political parties to include relevant provisions in their constitutions and manifestoes that engenders the implementation of affirmative action; and address prejudices against the women which has been seen and accepted as a norm were corrected as the politicians had full understanding of Gender stereotypes.

In conclusion, a communiqué was drafted and signed by participants. They also called for more platforms of engagement at the local government, State, Geo-political Zones as well as National levels to ensure sustained enlightenments of the citizenry on the goal of Affirmative Action. The training produced the Draft CHARTER ON IMPLEMENTATION OF 35% AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (CIAA) as a tool for more advocacy engagement towards ensuring more participatory politics and inclusive democracy in meeting the aspirations of the generality of citizens for good governance.