Report of Activities 2007 - Club of Madrid

CLUB DE MADRID: REPORT OF ACTIVITIES 2007region that is characterised by diversity and high levels of political controversy.SHARED SOCIETIES PROJECT, component: “Democratic Dialogue and Freedom ofAssociation in the Arab World: Study trip by Saudi Arabian municipal counsellors aspart of the activity “Sharing experience of democratic local government in Spain”Twenty elected municipal counsellors from Saudi Arabia took part in a study trip to Spain inthe month of July to learn about the democratic experience of Spain at municipal level. Thisinitiative by the Club of Madrid and the National Democratic Institute included a seminarproviding an overview of the Spanish political system and a strategic workshop on municipalmanagement. Both these activities were held in Madrid with the support of the SpanishFederation of Municipalities and Provinces.During their stay in the Spanish capital, the City Council of Madrid, thanks to the generalcoordinator of Madrid Globa , Mr Ignacio Niño, offered a meal for the whole delegation in itsClub de Campo headquarters.For one week, the Saudi counsellors travelled in two groups to the cities of Alcorcón,Barcelona, Córdoba (in collaboration with Casa Árabe), Granada and Zaragoza, where they metthe mayors and municipal counsellors and were able to analyse the exercise of democracy bythe municipal authorities, from both political and professional viewpoints. The trip ended inBarcelona, where the delegation had the opportunity to learn about municipal and provincialinternational cooperation in meetings with United Cities and Local Governments and the CityCouncil of Barcelona.Some of the subjects arousing most interest among the Saudi counsellors were strategicplanning, the setting of priorities for municipal policies, involvement of the community andcommunity activities.SHARED SOCIETIES PROJECT, component: “WOMEN’S POLITICALPARTICIPATION AND LEADERSHIP: Underpinning and Developing DemocraticElectoral Processes through the empowerment of women Parliamentarians and Leadersin Sub-Saharan Africa”In February 2007, the Club of Madrid set up the African Women Leaders Project (AWLP) withthe aim of providing high-level support for women leaders in Nigeria, Sierra Leone andUganda. This initiative, lasting 18 months and financed by the European Commission’sEuropean Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights and the Canadian government throughthe Canadian International Development Agency, will help strengthen women’s politicalleadership, and in the long term should promote public confidence in women leaders andincrease women’s political participation.The specific goals of this project are to provide political leaders with new resources tostrengthen their political leadership; to identify and share best practices at regional andinternational levels increasing women’s political participation, including gender quotas andpolicies for positive discrimination; to facilitate the exchange of experiences and dialogueamongst women parliamentarians in the three countries and other leaders from Africa and therest of the world, fostering the sharing of knowledge and resources; to promote greaterawareness of the obstacles to women’s political participation; to work towards egalitarianpolitical participation in order to ensure proper functioning of democracy; and to increasewomen’s political participation in these countries through relevant international strategies forsupport and through the identification and adoption of policies that work.7/17