From April 14th to 16th 2016, Moroccan women representing eight of the country’s major political parties came together from all corners of Morocco for the “Elections 2016: Women @ the Forefront” Conference to share successful strategies for increasing the percentage of elected women and to discuss how women can advocate for greater leadership roles within their political parties.

This highly interactive three-day conference, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and facilitated by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), welcomed 120 women from different political affiliations and regions across the country as well as political experts from Morocco, Spain, France, and Mexico to exchange experiences while working together to develop internal advocacy strategies. The women participated in a number of panels, where they heard from experts about their experiences in increasing the role of women in political parties and public life. The conference also included a series of workshops on message development and delivery; building resources; and social media use and policy development.

In addition, the program included a briefing from the Women’s Democratic Association of Morocco [Association Democratique des femmes du Maroc - ADFM] on global quota systems and offered workshops on social media, building campaign resources, the role of women in party policy development, and message development and delivery. The conference also provided participants with opportunities to meet within their caucuses and openly brainstorm strategies to create more support for women candidates within their party leading up to the upcoming October 2016 elections. Following the meetings among the caucus groups, the women debated recommended actions and the final conclusions were presented at the closing ceremony.

Some of the key recommendations made by the participants included increasing the number of women candidates on the national, regional and local lists; implementing clear, fair candidate recruitment and selection criteria; dedicated funding to support women candidates; adopting voluntary party quotas to increase opportunities for women at all levels of the internal party structures and committees; and establishing a national multi-partisan committee of women dedicated to gender parity pursuant to the 2011 Constitution.

As the conference drew to a close, the women spontaneously broke out into song and dance to celebrate all that they have achieved and  their proposed roadmap towards increasing the number of elected women in Morocco and their opportunities within their political parties overall. While the conference ended on a positive note, the women participants understand that the hard work still lies ahead: now is the time to engage their political party leadership and secure the necessary changes to work towards greater political equality for women in Morocco.

USAID and NDI remain committed to helping the women in their journey to equality.