IRI Hosts Making Changes Conference for Women Leaders

October 10, 2003

IRI hosted its first annual conference in Macedonia for female elected officials, politicians, and activists. Entitled "Making Changes," the conference assembled a diverse group of women from across the ethnic, political and professional spectrum to examine and share solutions to obstacles to greater representation of women in the Macedonian political process. Expert trainers from the United States and Ukraine taught the women to improve their ability to interact with their male counterparts as peers. The women also learned to more aggressively advocate for their issues within their political parties and to the government and citizenry at large.

Kerri Houston, Vice President of Frontiers of Freedom, single mother, and experienced citizen's advocate presented training in communication skills and lobbying. Lidiya Kononko, director of women's programs at IRI Ukraine, and founder and former president of Ukraine’s first women's NGO, trained participants to organize and develop women’s auxiliary branches. The event concluded with a roundtable discussion chaired by Lydia Popovska, Deputy Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament.

The Women’s Association of the governing Albanian party subsequently asked IRI to help them raise the position of women in local elections on the party slates. With the assistance of IRI’s Valmira Istrefi, the women’s forum of the PDP party will use the conference as a model to organize similar events at the local level. Hank Jones, IRI’s resident program officer, was approached by the leadership women's auxiliary of the DPA party to boost the power and representation of women within the party and local government.

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