Over 100 local women leaders gather in Stockholm to Advance Women’s Leadership and Political Participation for Feminist Governance and Renewed Democracy

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Over 100 local women leaders gather in Stockholm to Advance Women’s Leadership and Political Participation for Feminist Governance and Renewed Democracy

Leaders and representatives from local and regional governments (LRGs), alongside key partners, came together in Stockholm, a long-term champion of equality, to strengthen solidarity, intergenerational alliances, and inclusive governance. The convening reinforced the global Feminist Municipal Movement ahead of the 2026 UCLG World Summit of Local Leaders in Tangier.

Reaffirming the importance of building inclusive democracies and advancing gender equality in local governance

On 23 and 24 September 2025, UCLG, together with the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), convened LRGs to mark an important step in advancing women’s political participation and democratic renewal. Under the motto ‘Reshaping Power for Equality: Women’s Political Participation and the Future of Democracy’, the International Conference stood as a key achievement within our joint work under the WYDE Women’s Leadership programme, funded by the European Commission and led by UN Women.

The dialogues reaffirmed the importance of building inclusive democracies and advancing gender equality in local governance, to localize the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 30 years after its adoption. Anchored in the Feminist Municipal Movement, the event informed our shared contributions to Beijing+30, the Second World Summit for Social Development, and the 2026 UCLG World Summit in Tangier.

SALAR, a long-term global champion of gender equality, care-centered policymaking, and democratic renewal, hosted the conference. Anders Henriksson, President of SALAR, highlighted: “Real democracy needs equality. Local governments can drive global change.”

The conference was made possible thanks to the support of the WYDE Women’s Leadership initiative, co-funded by the European Commission and UN Women. In the opening session, Florence Raes, Director of the Brussels Liaison Office, UN Women, underscored the broader context of multilateralism and women’s leadership, noting: “Since Beijing, we have made progress. We see more women at the local level, in parliaments, in politics. Yet, we are regressing over time. The setbacks we face go way beyond political participation—they concern women in general. If we want democracies and multilateralism to thrive, we need to go back and strengthen them together.”

The Feminist Municipal Movement’s agenda to enhance women’s leadership and transform governance

Participants shared practical examples of how feminist leadership is crucial to:

Transforming social norms and institutional cultures to end violence against women and promote equality and care.
Shaping local policies and global advocacy agendas to ensure inclusive governance anchored in participation and local democracy.
Promoting intersectional approaches to include women from marginalized communities.

The conference emphasized that feminist municipal leadership, intergenerational alliances, and locally elected women’s networks are central to transforming governance and realizing democracy. Young local leaders and representatives from strategic networks, including Aissata Bâ, Deputy Mayor of Sebkha and member of the Network of Young Elected Local Officials of Africa (YELO); Kanungwe Kanyanyamina Chota, Mayor of Kanchibiya; and María Marjorie Martin-Chan, City Councillor of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, representing the Club de Madrid and their Network of Young Decision-makers established under WYDE Civic Engagement, actively contributed to discussions. Their participation illustrated the crucial role of youth engagement and intergenerational solidarity in driving local democratic transformation, with María Marjorie Martin-Chan noting that “young people bring a fierce sense of equality and justice to the table.”

Raising the ambition: Solidarity, mentorship, and collective action to push for transformative change at the local level

Speakers emphasized that solidarity and mentorship are essential to advancing women’s leadership. Rohey Malick Lowe, Mayor of Banjul and REFELA President, highlighted that “solidarity is the recipe of women; we cannot do it alone,” while Pascale Labbé, Vice-President of Seine-Saint-Denis in charge of Gender Equality and the Observatory on Violence against Women (OVF), stressed the importance of networking, sharing experiences, and supporting each other.

Swedish cooperation on gender equality was highlighted through international experiences. In Ukraine, SALAR International supports the creation of the national network “Women in Governance”, strengthening women’s political leadership in a context of war and democratic recovery. From Iraq, participants stressed the urgent need to enhance the exchange of local feminist knowledge and build solidarity networks in the MENA region, in the face of a growing backlash against women’s rights.

Local leaders from Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Asia shared strategies on transforming governance, preventing gender-based violence, and mentoring the next generation of women leaders.

Emilia Saiz, UCLG Secretary General, framed these practices as a daily commitment, inviting participants to take the lessons learned from the conference and carry them everywhere “as if in a little perfume bottle,” applying empathy, care, and collective action in their communities to strengthen democratic renewal.

Empowering international partnerships and cooperation to support Feminist Leadership

Within the WYDE Women’s Leadership initiative, UCLG is supporting strategic dialogues, mentorship initiatives, and capacity-building sessions, reinforcing the global reach and impact of the Feminist Municipal Movement, as a renewed commitment from the LRG constituency to further work with the international community, including the UN system and its agencies so that women leaders in local and regional governments are visible, connected, and equipped to drive feminist governance worldwide.

Key participants included strategically positioned women leaders such as Chioniso Michelle Murinda, Councillor of Chegutu Rural District and Co-Chair of the African Women Leaders Network Youth (AWLN); Jannelle Dadineth González Logreira, President of the Association of Local Governments of Panama, Co-President of FLACMA, and Mayor of Pinogana; Mamounata Ouedraogo, Vice-President of Ouagadougou Council; Fatimata Sao, City Councillor of Tevragh Zeina; and Viktoriia Mozgacheva, Deputy Mayor of Bishkek. Rumbidzai Kandawasvika‑Nhundu, Principal Adviser for Democracy and Inclusion at International IDEA, also participated in the international conference in the framework of our strategic partnership with WYDE.

Participants shared how their networks provide technical expertise to governments, foster intergenerational collaboration, and create spaces for young women to be recognized, build capacity, and shape local and global agendas. Jannelle González, President of FLACMA and Mayor of Pinogana, emphasized that where women govern, “things are done differently,” while Chioniso Murinda, Councillor of Chegutu Rural District and Co-Chair of the AWLN, highlighted that these networks are solidarity platforms that strengthen resilience and continuity. Viktoriia Mozgacheva, Deputy Mayor of Bishkek, shared that transforming local systems through measures such as safe spaces, staff training, and civil society partnerships enables women not only to participate but to actively shape governance and strengthen democracy.

The event also featured the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD), represented by its Secretary General, Johan Lilja, and Kanungwe Chota, Mayor of Kanchibiya and participant in the ICLD Women Leadership Development Program. Reflecting on her experience as the youngest female mayor in Zambia, Kanungwe Chota shared: “Today I can say I am the first woman on the vice president board association, and I told the director I would be the last one to be the first. We want people not just to vote, but also to sit on the board. Challenging norms on my own is a lesson: I am young, and I have young children. I live by myself; my husband lives in a different city.”

Renewing the commitment of LRGs to reshape power for equality: the Meeting of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality

A key moment was the meeting of the UCLG Standing Committee on Gender Equality, chaired by Fatimetou Abdel Malick, President of Nouakchott Region and UCLG Co-President. The Committee reaffirmed our municipal movement’s commitment to:

Women’s political participation in local governance and intergenerational feminist leadership.
Advancing caring local democracies as part of the high-level political commitments under the UCLG Local Social Covenant.
Embedding equality, local care systems, and democratic renewal in global advocacy and upcoming milestones, including Beijing+30, the World Social Summit, COP30, and the 2026 UCLG Congress in Tangier.

Looking Ahead: From Feminist Leadership to Continued Action

The impact of the Stockholm conference was further reinforced by the WYDE programme’s support for the 6th UCLG Culture Summit in Barcelona, held just days later. There, the session on Care, Wellbeing, Creativity, and Sustainability highlighted how cultural rights can embody care-based approaches, challenge social norms, and leverage local action for gender-responsive strategies and renewed masculinities—building directly on the debates from Stockholm.

Overall, the UCLG-SALAR conference reinforced the centrality of feminist municipal leadership, solidarity networks, and intergenerational alliances in advancing democratic renewal and gender equality. As a key milestone in the localization process of the Beijing+30 Platform for Action and fundamental contribution to the equality priorities of the UCLG Local Social Covenant, this International Conference set the stage for continued action and enhanced collaboration ahead of the upcoming United Nations seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW70) foreseen in New York in March 2026 with the central theme on Women’s Political Participation, and in the perspective of the UCLG World Summit of Local Leaders to be held in Tangier in June 2026.

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