Grassroots women deepen democracy by building leadership, organizing collectively and partnering with local government to develop joint solutions

Turkey

In Turkey, the government is highly centralized, and while there is a formal commitment to gender equality, practical mechanisms for women's participation don't exist. There is a very limited political culture for citizen participation and community involvement which is a big barrier for women's participation in civic life.

Foundation for Support of Women's Work (KEDV) in Turkey, has founded women and children centers to create a common and public space that is run by and for women. They have built women's cooperatives to help women build and sustain livelihoods, generate collective information on communities, and use their resources and information to engage local authorities. In addition, they have piloted gender budget analysis to support women's organizations to engage government on their priorities and needs and relate them to the local budgets and government decision-making.

Peru

Servicios Educativo el Augustino (SEA) and the communities of El Agustino and Quinta Francia have organized and worked to learn local budgetary and planning processes to make proposals and impact local decisions and resources. Decentralization laws in Peru have mandated local government to build participatory processes for citizen involvement in decision-making. The NGO SEA and the grassroots women's organizations they partner with in the Lima Este district have successfully used these participatory processes. For example, the district consultation process now includes diverse community representation including women, grassroots organizations, NGOs and government representatives.

Kenya

In Kenya, the network of thousands of women's self help groups and community organizations that make up GROOTS Kenya have built a strong grassroots platform to lobby for delivery and access to public services in nine provinces. These organizations have established innovative approaches to ensure implementation of a number of affirmative actions as part of the larger ongoing decentralization process. Grassroots women's organizations have undertaken many activities that include income generation, asset building, commodity marketing, home-based care for people affected by HIV/AIDS, governance, human rights campaigns and advocacy.