AfricaPress-Tanzania: AS political pressure for the 2020 general election increases, women in Dodoma Region have expressed their readiness to vie for various political positions as a way of participating in decision-making processes.
This has come about after last year’s local government election showed that many women in Dodoma Region turned up in big numbers to vote and be voted for after vying for various positions, thanks to a public awareness campaign conducted by a non-governmental organisation, Women Wake Up (Wowap), before the election.
After receiving funds from Women Fund Tanzania (WFT), women were empowered to participate in electoral processes in Tanzania.
Recently, Wowap Executive Director Fatma Tawfiq met women in Chamwino District under the auspices of WFT to get feedback from them after local government elections.
At two separate meetings, the NGO wanted to identify the number of women who participated in the 2019 civic polls and those who managed to get leadership positions as well as those who lost in the elections.
Wowap also aimed at listening to challenges the women were facing as they decided to vie for political and leadership positions as the country envisioned attaining 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, among them goal No 5 which focuses on attaining a 50:50 gender equality.
In an interview with africa-press Ms Tawfiq said her institution had finished providing training and public awareness to over 700 women so that they could participate in the general election.
At the meeting, Ms Happy Komba, who vied for the post in last year’s November civic polls, but lost, said some politicians used illegal means to be voted for.
The Wowap coordinator of women leadership training, Mr Leonard Konjani advised women to be confident when it came to elections, saying they were able to lead.
“You need to understand that you have the ability to be leaders and know that you can beat men during elections,’’ he said when training women who turned up in big numbers in Chamwino District.
