Gender Concerns International was invited to participate in the Sixth Global Elections Organization (GEO) Conference from Oct. 14 in Seoul, South Korea. The GEO conference is an international forum for election stakeholders and professionals, and it aims to facilitate networking and sharing of information.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted this year’s event that was the largest ever gathering of electoral management bodies and professionals, with more than 300 representatives from around the world that came together under the theme of “sustainable Electoral Processes, Strengthened Democracy.” The three-day conference focused on areas including capacity building, electoral integrity and processes, and professional development of electoral officials.
Director Sabra Bano of Gender Concerns attended the conference to share experiences gained in the Gender Election Monitoring initiative, and to connect in further broadening awareness of fair and equal gender inclusion in electoral processes. “It was exciting in Seoul to see representatives and election commissions from these many countries coming together with a common purpose of strengthening cooperation working toward fair and democratic electoral processes,” said Ms. Bano.
In addition, the conference hosted an inaugural assembly of the Association of World Electoral Management Bodies (A-Web). The proposal for A-WEB is to have a global platform for knowledge exchange and collective learning for national election bodies and central bodies in charge of nationwide elections of all countries. Gender Concerns welcomes opportunities to interact even more globally with election commissions and groups to promote transparent, gender-inclusive electoral processes.