Existing development partner approaches to supporting women candidates, which have included providing technical support for temporary special measures; women’s candidate training aimed at improving women’s understanding of electoral processes; and programs to build the leadership skills of individual women, have not resulted in the gains expected or desired.

Despite sustained activism and development partner support, women remain grossly under-represented as candidates and typically perform poorly in elections in the Pacific.

In this research brief, the authors argue that existing development partner approaches to supporting women candidates have not resulted in the gains expected or desired. They also identify a number of issues that better-targeted support strategies would ideally engage with.