The Centre for Democracy & Dialogue (CDD) successfully conducted its two-day Election Candidate Preparatory Training – Phase II on 13–14 October 2026 in Suva, bringing together prospective women and youth election candidates from different political parties.
Organised under CDD’s Empowering Fiji’s Women in Politics programme, with funding support from Misereor, the training aimed to strengthen participants’ knowledge, confidence and readiness to participate in Fiji’s electoral processes, while contributing to efforts to address the underrepresentation of women in political leadership and Parliament.
The two-day programme commenced with the official launch of CDD’s Electoral Integrity Toolkit: AI & Your Campaign and the Empowering Fiji’s Women in Politics (EFWIP) Candidate Hub, officiated by the Chief Guest, Ms. Ana Mataiciwa, Supervisor of Elections, Fijian Elections Office.
The Electoral Integrity Toolkit provides practical guidance on the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence in political campaigning, including addressing misinformation, deepfakes and AI-related risks. Meanwhile, the EFWIP Candidate Hub serves as a resource platform offering prospective candidates access to electoral information, campaign-planning tools and guidance to support their political participation.
Following the launch, participants engaged in a series of expert-led sessions covering essential aspects of electoral participation and campaign preparation.
Dr. Shailendra Singh, Pacific Media Development Specialist, facilitated an online session on Candidate Visibility, Media Engagement and Political Communication, focusing on effective public communication, media engagement and building candidate visibility. Mr. Nilesh Lal, CEO of CDD, led a session on Understanding the Electoral and Legal Framework, covering key electoral requirements, candidate responsibilities and campaign compliance.
Ms. Emele Duituturaga, Director of the Centre for Gender and Social Justice at Pasifika Communities University, facilitated an interactive session on Developing Your Policy Voice as a Candidate, exploring how community concerns can be translated into credible and inclusive policy priorities, with consideration for gender equality and social inclusion.
Ms. Pamela Anderson, CEO of EMILY’s List Australia, facilitated an online session on Building an Effective Political Campaign, providing practical guidance on campaign planning, organisation, establishing priorities and preparing for the demands of political campaigning.
The training also featured hands-on sessions introducing participants to three practical campaign-planning tools available through the EFWIP Candidate Hub: the Campaign Budget Builder, Campaign Strategy Builder and Campaign Message Builder. These sessions enabled participants to develop realistic campaign budgets, identify priorities and target audiences, formulate campaign strategies and craft clear, positive campaign messages..
Reflecting on the training, Ms. Veronica Malani, Party Leader of the Liberation of Fiji Party, described the two-day programme as “very impactful”, particularly highlighting the practical campaign-planning tools as valuable resources that candidates could utilise to plan and manage their election campaigns more effectively.
Similarly, Ms. Amelia Tagicakibau of the Unity Fiji Party described the training as “well and thoroughly presented for the candidates”. She particularly highlighted the importance of developing credible and inclusive policies as a valuable aspect of the training, recognising its relevance to prospective candidates preparing for political leadership.
The programme concluded with participants reflecting on their learning and how the knowledge and practical tools gained could be applied to their individual campaign preparations.
Through the Empowering Fiji’s Women in Politics programme, CDD continues to support greater participation of women and youth in Fiji’s political and electoral processes by equipping prospective candidates with the knowledge, confidence and practical skills needed to prepare for the upcoming election.
