How mentoring can help promote gender parity in LG

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum has begun a “Month of Mentoring” to support female councillors and encourage women to stand for office.  

“Mentoring is a proven peer-to-peer methodology that supports women leaders to navigate the political environment, increase their confidence, and build their political network,” acting CLGF Secretary-General Lucy Slack said last week.

“While there are a number of effective training initiatives to help officers and politicians in local government to improve their technical skills and build capacity, this is unfortunately not the case with encouraging women to stand for elected positions, and providing support once they are in office,” she said

The Month of Mentoring campaign – which the CLGF is implementing through the Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network (ComWLG) – responds to this need.

Through dialogue, information exchange sessions, and social media, the ComWLG is seeking to draw attention to good practice and lessons from existing mentoring programs across the Commonwealth, encourage national and sub-national dialogues on what local governments and local government associations can do to support mentoring, and to share the experience of mentors and mentees in working to increase gender parity in local government.

Go to the CLFG webpage for more information, or contact networks officer Janine Xavier-Cross.