Bosnia February 2010 Workshop

For more information about Inclusive Security's other February 2010 activities in Bosnia and Hercegovina, please click here.

Ambassador Hunt and participants listen as a participant describes her political background.Continuing our collaboration with the National Gender Agency of Bosnia and Hercegovina and its Director (and Women Waging Peace Network member) Samra Filipovic Hadziabdic, Inclusive Security hosted a multi-day workshop for 16 representatives of different political parties from both Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina from varying levels of govenrment. These women politicians, many of whom had been in National or Entity Parliaments or have served at various levels of executive power, represented diverse political parties, ethnic and religious groups, and geographic constituencies.

Early in the workshop, participants revealed that although many of them hold the positions of head of the women’s section in their respective parties, and some served in government concurrently, they had never before met together as a group. Most participants had previously not even met each other. 

The workshop provided the first opportunity for the leading women politicians in Bosnia and Hercegovina to work together.As a result, Inclusive Security tailored the workshop to emphasize building trust and a coalition to continue to work after the workshop ended. Each participant was asked to develop her own story explaining why she chose to enter politics. Later, women worked in small groups to build a common narrative of a need for increased women’s participation in political life. After they indentified some key challenges that women face in upcoming elections, the participants progressively built trust and confidence throughout the workshop. They discovered many common issues that unite them as women politicians, amidst divisions stemming from different political parties and ethnic backgrounds.

Following the presentations on coalition building and the continuing challenges to increasing the number of women in government, the workshop focused on moving from discussion to action. For an entire day, women worked in small groups to identify more than a dozen short- and long-term priorities to ensure women’s active participation in politics, especially within political parties and in the electoral process. 

Discussion further narrowed the list; interestingly, the only idea to receive the support of all women in the room was to create a training institute for women politicians.

The February 2010 workshop was the first time the 16 most powerful women politicians in Bosnia and Hercegovina had ever met or worked together.The women leaders also decided to focus on: creation of a coalition of women across the political parties, a media strategy to promote women’s leadership and involvement, efforts to increase women’s visibility within the parties, implementation of the “Gender Equality Law” (which mandates a 40% electoral quota) and changes in the Electoral Law, and favoring closed party lists likely to elect more women politicians.

Finally, in a planning exercise, participants formed small groups and appointed a point person responsible for each area; we also specified the deadlines as well as brainstormed possible outputs and outcomes for each of the activities.

Read the outcome of the workshop.


Workshop participants included:

  • Samra Filipovic-Hadziabdic, Agencia za ravnopravnost spolova BiH
  • Gordana Sukalo, PDP
  • Alma Bandic-Drndo, BOSS
  • Amela Tupkovic, HNZ
  • Ivana Perutina, HNZ
  • Jelena Sehovac, SDS
  • Tina Trivic, DNS
  • Nada Putica, BPS
  • Marija Zelenika, HDZ
  • Danijela Injac, SNSD
  • Alma Cardzic, NS Radom za boljitak
  • Maida Cehajic, Agencia za ravnopravnost spolova BiH
  • Ivana Gligorouska
  • Stevarovic Mirny, SP
  • Amra Seleskovic, VESTA
  • Adnan Kadribask, ARS BiH
  • Mladen Sain, ARS BiH
  • Kristina Mijatovic, ARS BiH
  • Rada Surara

Since February 2010, Inclusive Security has continued to coordinate with the Gender Agency and other local partners to support implementation of the efforts planned there. Significantly, all the participants agreed that the workshop was a success just for gathering 16 leading women politicians to appear and spend two days working together. The participants, and others, stated it would be very unlikely such a workshop would have taken place without Inclusive Security's facilitation of the event.

This workshop built on a 2009 workshop for 25 government officials, parliament members, and representatives of international community and civil society leaders, which resulted in a creation of a task force to develop a National Action Plan.  Composed of representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs and Human Rights and Refugees, and several representatives from civil society, the group drafted the first National Action Plan of any country in South Eastern Europe to implement UNSCR 1325. 

The women who participated in the February 2010 workshop also held a joint press conference on March 8, International Women’s Day, announcing a public campaign to invite more women to get involved in the upcoming elections. This summer, they also plan to hold several “leadership workshops” for young women to attract them into political arena.

For more information about Inclusive Security's other February 2010 activities in Bosnia & Hercegovina, please click here.

For more information about Inclusive Security's work in Bosnia and Hercegovina, or Inclusive Security trainings or consultations, please contact Erin Hutchens.

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