Case Study on advocacy, influence and political participation in the Philippines: constituency-building and electoral advocacy with grassroots women in the Philippines

This case study describes how the membership federation of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP) has used advocacy to organise and advance the interests of grassrootsÆ women within the political arena. The advocacy experiences in this story range from local level denouncements in cases of domestic violence, to legislative reform, and to electoral organisation establishing a womenÆs political party and field women candidates for the Party List Law in 1998. The study is primarily a description of how a national federation mobilises its membership to advocate at different levels. The experience from DSWP provides lessons about organising the power of numbers and responds to a number of questions: how grassroots members are incorporated into and ultimately drive the advocacy agenda; how decisions are made at the community level and in the organisation so that the process is empowering and owned by the members; and how women and other disadvantaged groups have created alternative forms of political strategy and organisation in order to engage in politics and at the same time, transform political culture. The study was an initiative of the Asia FoundationÆs Global Women in Politics Program (GWIP) supported by USAID (United States Agency for International Development).advocacy, influence, Philippines, domestic violence, women, gender, legislation, election