MONROVIA – 25 emerging politicians who participated in the social media and digital marketing pilot training run by UN Women Liberia in partnership with the Orange Digital Center on April 18-20, 2023 are now eligible to use social media tools Media and digital marketing, Facebook, WhatsApp and Tik Tok to advance her political career, communicate and run effective campaigns ahead of the October 2023 general election.
Candidates from various political parties in Liberia took part in the training.
“I learned how to use WhatsApp to message a lot of people and how to use digital tools to create an event on Facebook,” says Siah McCarthy Hare, an aspiring contestant.
“I am pleased that we have completed the training and can show what we have learned. I want to assure UN Women and Orange Digital Center that what they have taught us will not go to waste. You will see the positive results. The digital skills I learned will help drive my campaign and help me reach people online across different platforms,” she said.
“Before training, I was unable to use some functions on the phone. I learned how to message a lot of people in a minute. I used to pay people to design flyers and plan events for me. With the knowledge I gained, I can now create events on Facebook myself,” said Ms. McCarthy.
Another participant, Victoria Torlo Koiquan, said she would use the digital skills she acquired to improve her campaign and show people that she is running for a senatorship in the upcoming election.
“I had never posted a message on my WhatsApp status before, but I posted a message during the workout and received more than 100 messages in response within minutes. This means that we can present our work in the community via WhatsApp. Some people are not on Facebook but they are on WhatsApp. I will continue to share messages on different social media platforms because I want more people to know I’m running,” she said.
Ms. Koiquan stressed that she learned many things during the training. “I learned how to post in my story, send messages via WhatsApp and create events,” she said.
Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Liberia Country Representative, applauded the female political aspirants for their decision to run as candidates and use social media as a tool to advance their political careers and conduct more effective campaigns and fundraisers in the upcoming elections.
“In today’s world, social media and digital platforms are critical tools to engage with constituents, build a strong campaign and share messages with a wider audience,” Ms. Lamptey said.
In addition, Zaza Mulbah, Senior Manager of the Orange Digital Centre, emphasized that his organization is proud to be associated with women who want to make a difference. He encouraged aspirants to use social media and lead by example so that their voices are heard and the training can be extended to women in other parts of the country. “If you aspire to get into politics and want to advance your career, you can’t ignore social media,” he said.
UN Women is working with the Orange Digital Center and the Swedish government to strengthen the capacity of women candidates to contribute to the equal participation of women candidates ahead of Liberia’s October 2023 elections. Women are severely underrepresented in the legislature, where only 10.7 percent of elected lawmakers are women.
