The first Campaign School for Women was held in Cairns and Brisbane during the Federal Election campaign in 2007.

The 2008 program brought together twenty five (25) political practitioners from Asia and the Pacific to take part in an intensive training program for women political party campaigners, candidates and legislators.

The program was organised under the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program (APPDP).

We believe that the best way to achieve policy outcomes for women in Asia and the Pacific is to encourage women to participate in political party structures at every level, to use these as platforms to fight for government positions and to take an active part in public life.

The program focuses on the campaigns required to get women elected to office in our region. Special attention was paid to the building blocks of successful election campaigns, internal campaigns within parties to get more women into decision-making positions, advocacy campaigns for affirmative action measures, and the role of political parties and other organisations in getting more women into office.

As part of the program, Bob McMullan, the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, and Dame Carol Kidu, Papua New Guinea (PNG) Minister for Community Development, Women, Religion and Sports launched the Campaign School for Women Trainers’ Guide.

The practitioner oriented program included meetings and functions with senior Australian politicians and was timed to coincide with the Cairns sitting of the Queensland Parliament. Participants observed a Queensland Regional parliamentary sitting and learned about other innovative methods of community engagement and participation.

Course Director Lesley Clark, a former member of the Queensland State Parliament, is well known as a successful marginal seat campaigner and has contributed her campaign expertise to elections at all levels of government in Queensland. She has worked as an international trainer with women in politics from across Asia and the Pacific.

For further information on the the Cairns Campaign School for Women (Asia and the Pacific) 26 October - 1 November 2008 follow the links for coverage both in Australia and across the region.