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DE RUEHGI #0046/01 0500734
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P R 190734Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BANGUI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1174
INFO RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI 1486

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGUI 000046 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR S/GWI 
S/WCI FOR JBIGIO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM AID CDC COM TRSY CT
SUBJECT: S/GWI PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 
 
REF: A. 10 STATE 12531 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In response to Ref A, below is Post's submission 
for S/GWI funding for the Central African Republic (CAR).  The 
program seeks to improve women's leadership capacity, provide 
technical assistance and capacity building for women's 
organizations, and promote women's political advancement.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked 
country of 4.5 million people.  After decades of coups, 
violence, and international neglect, the country initiated an 
Inclusive Political Dialogue (IPD) in December 2008 to provide a 
roadmap for peace leading up to national elections in April 
¶2010.  An encouraging recommendation by the IPD called for women 
to occupy 35 percent of posts in government ministries and 
political parties.  Currently there are 10 women in the 105-seat 
National Assembly and three in the president's 32-person 
cabinet.  There are no laws prohibiting women from participating 
in political life, but most women lack the financial means and 
knowledge of the process to compete in political races.  This 
causes women's engagement in the political process to remain 
extremely limited. 
 
¶3. (U) A core element of Embassy Bangui's strategic mission 
objective is to foster the fledgling democratic process in the 
CAR.  The engagement of the USG in support of the civic 
political participation of women seeks to ensure a peaceful 
democratic transition for the CAR and assist CAR in meeting the 
recommendations of the IPD.  It is imperative to not only 
increase the number of women involved in the political process, 
but also to improve the capacity of local women civic society 
organizations to promote electoral reform and other improvements 
in the electoral system.  In a country where civil society is 
weak and struggles from a lack of means, the U.S. has a major 
opportunity to bridge a vital gap and can empower those at risk 
of continued marginalization. 
 
¶4. (U) In 2007, there were no groups in CAR focusing on women's 
participation in the political process.  In order to increase 
female participation in politics, the UN's Office for the 
Central Africa Republic (BONUCA) assisted with the foundation of 
a women's political group -- the Group of 23.  Since its 
founding, BONUCA has provided G23 modest technical and financial 
support.  In order to increase the political enfranchisement of 
the vast population of female citizens, G23 must expand its 
activities and membership outside of Bangui.  The group's 
ultimate goal is to ensure that 30 percent of elected officials 
are female.  The organization has participated in civic 
education activities in the past, such as a 16-day campaign to 
end violence against women organized by Mercy Corps and BONUCA. 
They also organized a training workshop in December 2009 to 
encourage women to participate in the upcoming elections. 
 
¶5. (U) The Association of Women's Lawyers (Association de Femmes 
Juristes -- AFJ) is another organization which strives to 
increase women participation in the political process.  The AFJ 
provided training for female election observers for the 2005 
elections, and plans to do so again for the 2010 elections.  The 
AFJ's nation-wide reach is unique for civil society 
organizations in the CAR. 
 
-------------------------- 
PROJECT PROPOSAL 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Embassy Bangui requests USD 75,000 in S/GWI funding for 
the CAR to provide technical assistance, funding, and capacity 
building to the G23 and the AFJ women's organizations. 
Specifically, the funds will be used to initiate programs to 
improve women's leadership capacity and promote women's 
political advancement.  The goal of the project is to sensitize 
and build women's capacity to actively engage in the democratic 
processes and to initiate and promote good governance in the 
CAR. 
 
¶7. (U) Due to multiple disruptive social upheavals and poor 
educational infrastructure, civil society organizations remain 
nascent in their management and accountability practices.  They 
lack dedicated staff to oversee funds, have informal or 
non-existent procedures for disbursements, lack of safes to 
store petty cash, and are inexperienced with techniques for 
financial reporting.  Due to a lack of norms of best financial 
and management practices in many CAR civil society 
organizations, post proposes that the initial grant be conducted 
through the National Democratic Institute (NDI) whom will 
provide subgrants to G23 and the AFJ.  NDI has substantial 
experience working with subgrantees and managing women's 
 
BANGUI 00000046  002 OF 002 
 
 
political participation programs. 
 
¶8. (U) NDI recently opened an office in Bangui in order to 
manage a one million USD, nine month project for civic and voter 
education, training of domestic election monitors, and the 
deployment of regional observers for the 2010 elections.  Adding 
a component to the NDI program for the advancement of women's 
political and leadership capacities would be complementary to 
the current program.  NDI will disburse funding to the local 
partners in manageable tranches and provide direct financial 
oversight and support in order to minimize financial risks 
stemming from low local capacity. 
 
¶9. (U) Specific program activities would include: a workshop to 
train potential female candidates, a workshop on women's 
leadership, training on the electoral process and how to 
increase women's participation in politics, the production and 
distribution of educational materials on the importance of 
women's participation in politics and the process to run for 
office, and radio announcements on community radio on the 
importance of political participation by women. 
 
¶10. (U) The desired outcomes are: 
a)To increase the transparency of the electoral process by 
producing informational materials on the electoral process and 
how to run for office. 
b) To increase female participation in the political process and 
encourage more female candidates to run for local and national 
office. 
c) To strengthen the capacity of local women's civil society 
organizations. 
d) To increase women's leadership in the political and democracy 
building processes. 
 
¶11. (U) The performance measures are: 
a) The number of potential female candidates trained. 
b) The number of workshops completed on leadership for women, 
the electoral process, and how to increase women's participation 
in politics. 
c) The production and distribution of informational materials. 
d) The production of radio announcements for community radio. 
e) The increased financial and management capabilities of AFJ 
and G23. 
f) The ability to reach women outside of Bangui. 
 
¶12. (U) The proposed budget is: 
a) Workshops for potential female candidates, Leadership 
Courses, and Workshops on the electoral process and women's 
participation in politics USD 40,000.00 
b) Production and distribution of informational materials USD 
5,000.00 
c) Radio announcements USD 5,000.00 
d) NDI Technical Assistance and Training USD 25,000.00 
        Total -- USD 75,000.00 
 
¶13. (U) Post Management - This grant will be managed by the 
POL/ECON Officer with support from two local program staff and a 
rotating Presidential Management Fellow.  The POL/ECON section 
has similar management experience through the successful 
management of the Embassy's Self-Help and Democracy and Human 
Rights Fund programs. 
 
¶14. (U) Embassy thanks the Department in advance for its timely 
consideration of and response to this proposal. 
SMITH