EISA Madagascar

EISA opened an office in Madagascar in 2007 with a specific focus on encouraging greater participation by women in public life. The project's focus includes:

• a campaign to lobby for the inclusion of 30% women in decision making process;
• facilitating capacity building programmes for women’s empowerment;
• strengthening the capacity of women representatives at local level;
• establishing & maintaining a documentation and resource centre.

EISA Madagascar works closely with the Vondrona Miralenta ho an’ny Fampandrosoana (VMLF), an association of women supporting and working towards increased female representation in Malagasy political institutions.

In February 2011 EISA expanded its scope of activities in Madagascar with the introduction of the Strengthening Electoral and Democratic Processes (SEDP) programme.

The primary objective of this programme is to contribute to the enhancement of electoral and democratic processes by:

• strengthening the capacity of the election management body, civil society organisations and political parties to play a constructive role in the electoral process;
• supporting the legislature and civil society organizations and their formalised interactions;
• reinforcing the capacity of political parties to be effective and internally democratic.