AS political temperature for the 2020 general election rises, women in Dodoma Region say they are well-prepared to vie for different political positions so that they can participate in decision-making processes in the country.
The new development comes as an assessment of the just concluded local government elections show that many women in Dodoma Region turned up in big numbers to vote and to be voted for after vying for various positions, thanks to a public awareness campaign conducted by a nongovernmental organisation – Women Wake Up (Wowap).
After receiving funds from Women Fund Tanzania (WFT), women were empowered to actively participate in local and national electoral processes in the country.
Recently, Wowap Executive Director Fatma Tawfiq met women in Chamwino District under the auspices of WFT to get feedback from them after the local government polls.
At two separate meetings, the NGO wanted to identify the number of women who participated in civic polls, those who managed to climb to leadership positions and those whose votes were not enough at the ballot-box.
Wowap also aimed at knowing the challenges women were facing when they decided to vie for leadership positions as the country envisioned attaining 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030, among them being Goal 5 which focuses on attaining 50:50 gender threshold.
In an interview with the ‘ Daily News’, Ms Tawfiq, who doubles as Special Seats MP, said already her organisation had finished the first round of training and public awareness for 410 women so that they could participate in the general election.
“In phase II , which will kick off next year, we intend to train about 800 women to instil self-confidence in them so that they may participate in the 2020 general election,’’ she noted.
At the meeting, Ms Happy Komba, who participated in the just concluded civic polls, but could not receive enough votes, said many leaders who won the polls bribed voters that was why they could not vote for her as she couldn’t bribe them.
Wowapa Women Leadership Training coordinator Leonard Konjani advised women to be confident when it came to elections, saying they were able to win.
You must understand that you have the ability to be leaders and know that you can beat men at the ballot-box,’’ he said when training the women who turned up in big numbers for training in Chamwino District.
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