Women’s Involvement in Local Leadership: Facilitating Effective and Sustainable Participation in Community Organizations and Democratic Culture Building

The Women’s Involvement in Local Leadership (WILL) research program was designed to examine the factors believed to contribute to the cultivation of sustainable and credible women’s leadership at the local level in conflict-affected communities in Colombia, Iraq and Serbia. The research focused particularly on:

1. project formulation and implementation aimed at promoting greater and more democratic participation among women in local and community organizations; and
2. the respective roles that men and women play within the observed economic and social settings, and the impact of these roles on women’s participation and leadership.

The research was designed to examine the impact that CHF International’s programmatic approaches for enhancing the skills, experience and confidence of women have had on their ability to contribute effectively as leaders in organizations that built sustainable, representative and democratic change in their communities. Interviews in the three countries studied confirmed previous findings in the literature and the research team’s assumptions that while the path to leadership for women is facilitated by a range of factors, particularly critical are access to education, some level of economic independence, and the existence of programs designed to give women leadership roles in their communities. 

Read the full report here.