Context
The Huairou Women and Governance Campaign recognizes that the current global political climate presents unprecedented opportunities for the inclusion of women’s voices in decision-making processes as well as the harsh reality that many institutions and governments remain closed to the formal inclusion of grassroots women’s contributions and experiences. While global institutions have acknowledged that grassroots women are an essential partner in development, they are still seen as clients and beneficiaries of public services versus participants in sustained and effective delivery of services and programs to communities. The Women and Governance Campaign strives to reverse these assumptions and enable women to be effective participants in the development of their communities.

The Women and Governance Campaign affirms that grassroots women can use their knowledge of family life and communities to contribute to policies and programs which are both realistic and effective. Grassroots women work to deepen and secure democracy at the local, national and international levels by organizing community priorities and concerns, monitoring the effectiveness of local initiatives, discouraging corruption, working in collaboration with local authorities and introducing solutions developed by grassroots groups in other parts of the world.

The greater grassroots women’s capacity for governance, the more the whole community benefits. Consistent with the Millennium Development Goals, Agenda 21, the Platform for Action, the Habitat Agenda, and the International Union of Local Authorities’ Worldwide Declaration on Women in Local Government, the Huairou Commission, has supported its members’ participation in governance by:

• Providing opportunities for women’s groups to collaborate with state and other institutional actors
• Building capacities of men and women in elected office to be more responsive to women and the needs of their communities
• Building women’s capacities to articulate their priorities and demonstrate their capacities to control and manage resources and services
• Promoting alliances between grassroots women and individuals in positions of power
• Enabling women to influence the delivery of resources and services such as education, water supply, sanitation, healthcare and credit
• Educating institutions to encourage women’s contributions by providing space for them to meet, childcare during meetings and safe transportation to and from public events
• Building strong alliances between grassroots women’s groups, private sector and state actors. This includes encouraging and strengthening women’s participation in multi-stakeholder negotiations.

The Huairou Commission and its member organization continue to create, pilot, evaluate and make available new strategies in good governance.