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The Mainstreaming Gender in Institutional Practice of Political Parties (MGI3P) was set up in collaboration with UN Women in 2011, as a concretisation of the numerous projects DidiBahini has led over the years to mainstream gender into politics. Its ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality in politics, not only in numbers but also in meaningful participation.
Gender mainstreaming into society requires effort at all levels of decision-making, and alongside empowerment of women from below through the Women Forums and other grassroots activities, DidiBahini is now intent on working on the important sphere of participation and influence that are the political parties. The practices of political parties are crucial in the institutionalisation of gender mainstreaming, as well as effective policy-implementation.
Various workshops and meetings are held with district- and national- level governmental bodies, in order to exchange knowledge and ideas, as well as gain information and education relating to gender mainstreaming. The aim of these workshops is to improve the political parties’ institutional practice in regards to gender equality in politics.
DidiBahini has also released a number of publications relating to mainstreaming gender in politics, the latest of which was written in collaboration with UN Women and released at a book launch with all seven major political parties present. (see list of publications)
"Though a challenging issue for the traditionally male-dominated political parties mainstreaming gender is gaining acceptance and slowly being assimilated into party outlooks and mind sets thanks to programmes and books like this. This work is sowing the seeds for women political leaders to play an even bigger role at all levels of government and democracy." Ben Britton, Development Officer for the Mountain Trust