On April 16, 2021, the "Public Service Improvement" Project held its final online consultation as part of the "Leadership School for Local Councils’ Women Candidates" for women participants from the two project regions. This meeting was aimed at summarizing the results of the election processes, congratulating those who successfully won the elections, as well as supporting those women who fought well but did not get enough votes to be elected to local councils. The meeting was attended by 26 women.
During the meeting, the participants shared their general impressions of participation in the electoral process, elaborated on what difficulties they faced during the entire campaign period, as well as their observations of violations on election day. They emphasized the fact that they were successful due to the knowledge and guidance provided by the trainers and did not resort to such measures that went beyond the legality of the campaign. According to their comments, they were able to gain the trust of the population through competent campaigning, through correctly presenting their electoral programs to their voters. Even those women who were not elected to local councils, noted a significant number of their voters who voted for them sincerely, believing in their good intentions. Despite their loss, the women expressed their gratitude to the project for the knowledge and experience they gained, which will be useful to them in the future. It is worth noting that, unfortunately, a number of women from the younger generation (ages 28-35) with promising plans were not able to get enough votes. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to keep the created Whatsapp groups, so that women could continue to share their experiences during their work as deputies.
It is to be reminded that "Leadership School for Local Councils’ Women Candidates" is organized in terms of the "Public Service Improvement" Project, financed by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Helvetas and the Development Policy Institute. It is worth noting that the number of women candidates who successfully registered was 56 (86%) out of 65 contestants. Nine women (14%) refused to participate in the elections for various reasons. According to the results of the elections to date, 34 women successfully won the elections and became members of the local councils in their municipalities. One of the participants, who passed to the deputy, gave up her seat to the younger generation, who went as a team and surrendered her mandate.