Training Mauritian Women As Political Candidates

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told diplomats all over the world to find new and innovative ways to empower women to move into leadership positions in their countries.  Drawing on some political campaign training some colleagues and I did a decade ago for the ABQ Chamber of Commerce, I worked with the Mauritius Ministry of Gender Equality to create and run a program to train women to run successful political campaigns.

On July 18 and 19 we invited over 200 women who intend to run for public office in Mauritius in a training program to learn about public speaking, media relations, campaign planning, and other aspects of campaign managing. To assure future trainings, I asked Shelly to run a "train the trainer" program with over 20 coaches who will train candidates in the next four months.

 

The program turned out great, with lots of enthusiasm and great feedback.  We expect that dozens of the women will become candidates for local government offices later this fall.  They will be credible, hard working, self-confident, and organized.  That's what empowerment looks like!

Damon's girlfriend Jena worked on the program, and on the final day, Damon attended and helped us with A/V issues and taking pictures.  It was a real family activity, and it felt great to end so successfully.

One of the other good things about the program is that the US Government didn't spend a dime on it.  We recruited Embassy staffers, volunteer interns, and family members to augment the staff members from the Ministry, and asked the Mauritius government to provide the conference site and some food.  Contrary to the adage "you get what you pay for," we got a lot more than we paid for! And Mauritius will be the beneficiary with some great new political candidates who are raring to go.