Working for Women Worldwide - Embassy of the United States

Success Story
Training Women Leaders
to Make a Difference
Many women around the world dream
of running for office so they can help build
a better future, not only for themselves and
their families, but for all the people in their
village, their region, and their country.
Too often, these dreams are dashed by laws or
cultural norms that bar or restrict women from politics
and government service, or by the lack of the education
and skills successful candidates possess.
Thanks to the United States, however, scores of
these women—women like Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez,
a Miskito Indian from the northern town of
Sandy Bay, Nicaragua—have made their wishes come
true. Henríquez was elected mayor for the municipality
of Bilwi on November 7, 2004, using skills she
acquired in municipal candidate-training sessions
offered by the International Republican Institute (IRI),
with funding from the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the U.S. National Endowment
for Democracy.
“These training sessions have empowered women
by giving the indigenous communities the confidence
to express their rights and opinions, and ensure leadership
positions in local governance,” Henríquez says
of the program conducted by IRI.
A nonpartisan, nonprofit U.S. organization dedicated
to advancing democracy worldwide, IRI sends
expert volunteer trainers, elected officials, and staff to
more than 50 countries around the world to teach men
and women how to build strong and lasting democracies
in their countries. IRI, like its counterpart, the
National Democratic Institute, is one of many nongovernmental
(NGO) and private organizations that
draw on generous U.S. funding to offer a multitude of
programs and specialized training to encourage
women’s political participation and strengthen their
leadership qualities. In 2004, IRI received more than
$25.5 million from USAID and more than $7.8 million
from the National Endowment for Democracy
for all its programs.
Henríquez, a council member for eight years for
the Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua’s poorest
area, attended IRI training in June 2004. Other
participants in her group, women between the ages
of 17 and 70, included representatives from AMIKA
and KIMAT, the two main local indigenous women’s
associations in Puerto Cabezas and Waspan; representatives
from the local branch of the Autonomous
Region Human Rights Office; and members of the
Association of Judges, an NGO that fights abuse
against women.
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