Under phase 2 of the project Women and Devolved governance: Building the capacity of Murang’a County Assembly Women Aspirants to vie for the 2017 General Elections, CEEC with support from GIZ/CPS carried out a five days’ training of 13 women from Murang’a who are aspiring to become Members of the County Assembly (MCAs). The aspirants were drawn from Gatanga, Kigumo, Kiharu, Maragwa and Kandara Sub Counties and it aimed at strengthening the candidates’ capacity to vie for the 2017 general election. The training was held between 26th February and 3rd March 2017 at S.A.C.D.E.P Training and Conference Facility, Thika.
Topics covered included understanding the electoral cycle, manifesto development, personal branding, resource mobilization, campaign management, IEBC timelines as well as grassroots mobilization and organization. The training was conducted within a gender framework in order to help the aspirants understand how the socialization process contributes to the challenges women face when it comes to political participation. This understanding will enable them come up with strategies of handling these challenges. The trainees also had a session with the Murang’a County Member of Parliament (Women Representative) who shared with them her journey in politics and how she deals with the challenges she encounters as a woman leader. The trainees came out of the training with enhanced confidence to face the electorate due to the knowledge and skills they had acquired. With the addition of the 13, the total number of Murang’a County Assembly women aspirants who are CEEC’s alumni is now 31.