Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership (CIWIL) was established in June 2005 at a meeting in Antigua and Barbuda organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat with participants from Caribbean women's organizations, political parties from across the region, and representatives of UNIFEM and CARICOM. Its main goal is to train and support women in politics and decision making to hasten the transformation of politics and governance in the Caribbean towards the achievement of sustainable development. At this meeting a regional Steering Committee was established with representatives from governments and NGOs, and has been active in organizing activities to develop the institution while maintaining a support network for women in politics through virtual discussions with its members.

CIWILs work is ongoing and the Directorate of Gender Affairs of Antigua & Barbuda, which is the current coordinating institution of the CIWIL Steering Committee, will convene the 2008 regional meeting to officially launch CIWIL and to prepare a plan of action for 2008 - 2011. As an input into the proposed meeting, UNIFEM is collaborating with the Centre for Gender and Development Studies - Nita Barrow Unit, of the University of the West Indies, to provide a rapid review and assessment of the scope and impact of interventions to support women's political participation in selected electoral processes in the Caribbean in the period 2006-2007. The review will be based upon an assessment drawn from a review of available literature (reports, newspaper reports, political analyses), as well as targeted interviews with a limited number of persons who piloted in and participated in the interventions reviewed, as well as with selected successful and unsuccessful women, members of political parties, women's organisations and women's rights activists.

Caribbean Working Group on Masculinities, Gender Equality and Social Policy

A Working Group on Masculinities, Gender Equality and Social Policy has been established. Meeting on 27 June 2008, the participants agreed on the mandate and objectives of the Working Group as follows:

To provide a framework for critical analysis, technical advice and evidence based policy support on issues of masculinities, social justice and gender equity in the Caribbean both nationally and regionally.

The Working Group will undertake

" Policy-oriented work on masculinities
" Evidence-based social policy advocacy
" Networking to share policy and research thinking and best practices
" Monitoring and evaluation of response initiatives related to masculinities programming

The Working Group is comprised of key individuals and/or organisations actively engaged in policy, research and or intervention programming in the fields of masculinities and will work closely with the Caribbean Masculinities Network in collaboration with the Centre for Gender and Development Studies, UWI, St. Augustine Campus.