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Good practice Imported

Kiribati's Women's Practice Parliament: Slow, Steady Gains in the Maneaba After Two Decades

Kiribati · Tarawa · See the Kiribati profile · See the Tarawa profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 67% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since Kiribati's first Mock Parliament for Women in 2011, the Maneaba and UNDP have run recurring Women's Practice Parliaments to build candidates' confidence. Progress is real but slow: women held 8.6% of seats last term, an estimated 3-4 of 45 in 2024.

4 of 45 (8.6%) %
Women's seats in Kiribati's parliament in the last term (last term)
3 MPs
Women MPs (2007)
4 MPs
Women MPs (2011)
3 MPs
Women MPs (2015)
18 candidates
Women candidates running nationally (August 2024)
51 %
Share of Kiribati's population that is female (current)
Kiribati's Women's Practice Parliament: Slow, Steady Gains in the Maneaba After Two Decades Kiribati's Women's Practice Parliament: Slow, Steady Gains in the Maneaba After Two Decades

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Maneaba ni Maungatabu (Parliament of Kiribati), with UNDP Pacific's Parliament Portfolio
Period
2011–present (most recent cohort: 2023)
Keywords
political leadership, capacity building, parliament, women in politics

Context

Since 2011, Kiribati's Maneaba ni Maungatabu (national parliament) and UNDP have run recurring Women's Practice Parliaments, providing women with hands-on experience of parliamentary procedure, governance and public campaigning to build candidates' confidence.

Results

The programme has produced traceable individual outcomes: 2023 participant Ruta Babo-Nemta won parliamentary election in 2024 and became Deputy Speaker at age 35, and other beneficiaries include Teima Onorio (Vice-President) and Tangariki Reete (Kiribati's first female Speaker). Progress overall remains slow: women held 8.6% of seats in the last term (4 of 45), with historical counts of 3 women MPs (2007), 4 (2011) and 3 (2015). For the August 2024 election, 18 women ran nationally — double the 2020 field — though researchers predicted only 3-4 would win. Women make up 51% of Kiribati's population of roughly 116,000.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — No budget figures published for this programme
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Recurring practice-parliament cohorts since 2011; most recent cohort in 2023
Staffing & skills
Organised jointly by Kiribati's Maneaba ni Maungatabu (national parliament) and UNDP

Conditions for success

  • Hands-on practical experience with parliamentary procedure and public campaigning, delivered to build candidates' confidence
  • Sustained multi-year programme (running since 2011) enabling repeated cohorts

Common failure modes

  • No cohort-level tracking of participation-to-candidacy conversion rates, so overall effectiveness remains unproven

Where it fits

Governance type
national parliament with international donor (UNDP)
Scale
national
Income level
lower-middle income (Pacific small island developing state)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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