Women’s Parliament Forum

VROUWEN PARLEMENT FORUM

WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT FORUM

Address:
Frederik Derby straat 64

Paramaribo – Suriname
Women’s Parliament Forum was founded on the initiative of Projekta in 1993. Although it has no formal relationship with the National Assembly, in 1994 it began to act much like a shadow parliament by holding meetings and hearings that gave women a greater role in the decision-making process on national issues. As a focal point for women’s issues and organizations, it receives strong participation from grassroots groups.
The Women’s Forum has held seminars on issues important to women generally, and Forum staff conduct gender policy studies and offers training. The Forum was quite active in the 1996 and 2000 elections by publicly debating issues that were before the National Assembly, thus bringing public attention to the work of the Assembly. The Forum places particular attention on working with the Members of Parliament to set budget priorities that are “gender sensitive” or, priorities that benefit women. In the 2000 elections the Forum also ran a voter education campaign targeting women voters and trained women candidates from all the contending parties (9 women were elected to the National Assembly in 2000). The Forum has provided training for local elected authorities on issues of community development and gender inclusion in development policies. The Women’s Forum receives some funding from the Government of the Netherlands.
Source:Governance in Suriname, 2001 (IDB Economic and sector study series) /

Library Anton de Kom University of Suriname