Preparing women in Longford for 2024 elections campaign

If you are planning on running in the 2024 Local Elections or know a woman who would make a great County Councillor, then a series of free ‘Fast Track to Election’ workshops from See Her Elected aimed at women in rural Ireland will help with the necessary skills and knowledge.
The ‘Fast Track to Election’ workshops are open to women from all over rural Ireland and the first workshop begins on the week September 18 – 21.

There are seven workshops in total, running until mid-December 2024. All workshops are free of charge and run online at three different times per week to fit in with women’s lifestyles and to offer better choice and flexibility.
You just need to commit to one hour per month to get set for the next Local Elections which will be in early June 2024.
See Her Elected supports women across rural Ireland to become county councillors and to be part of their campaign teams.

Programme Manager with See Her Elected, Dr Michelle Maher explained that this is a great opportunity to get ready for the 2024 local elections.
“With only nine months to the next local elections in June 2024 our ‘Fast Track to Election’ series of workshops offer a high level of very practical support to women in monthly workshops with See Her Elected.

“Registration for the workshops is now open – you can sign up on our website www.seeherelected.ie or drop us an email on admin@seeherelected.ie or phone us on 086 0320455.

“By the end of the ‘Fast Track to Election’ series of workshops every woman participating will have a solid foundation in place for their campaign, canvassing, communications and social media strategies.
“They will be able to hit the ground running as candidates or as campaign team members to help get a woman in their area elected.

“There will be continuous support available from See Her Elected both between and after the workshops end in December, right up to the local elections.,” explained Dr Maher.
The workshops will also help equip women with practical skills as Mairéad O’Shea the Communications Manager with See Her Elected explained:

“As well as focusing on campaign and canvassing strategy our workshops will also equip women with the practical skills, they will need to develop a communications strategy so we will look at topics such as writing a press release, public speaking, radio tips, social media strategy and using paid social media promotions.”

The workshops run once a month on Mondays at 8pm, Wednesdays at 7am and Thursdays at 1pm- you simply pick the day and time that suits you best.
All participants will also receive a free hard copy of the See Her Elected Guidebook to Running in the 2024 Local Elections.

Currently women only hold about 26% of council seats around the country.
The 2019 local elections reveal a notable urban-rural divide in the likelihood of women being selected and elected for the council.
Women accounted for 35 per cent of candidates contesting for seats in urban areas but just 23 per cent of candidates in more rural areas, according to research by the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI).

“We want to see more diversity in our rural county council chambers. As it stands, there are very few women councillors and virtually no representation of minority communities.
“Our aim is to increase the numbers of women in local politics in rural counties where anything from 78% to 95% of the elected local authority councillors are men.

“We need our chambers to be more reflective of society and we need to see more women in politics in order to have more balanced decision making,” said Dr Maher.
See Her Elected is a grassroots organisation built on the ethos of women learning and supporting each other with a specific focus on rural Ireland.

SHE is a collaboration between Longford Women’s Link and 5050North West and the programme is funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Registration for the workshops is now open – sign up via www.seeherelected.ie or email admin@seeherelected.ie or phone 086 0320455.