The Increased Political Participation of Women in Samoa (IPPWS) programme is a joint programme between UN Women and UNDP, in partnership with the Government of Samoa, with funding from the Australian Government.

It was launched in March 2015 and works across four main areas: (1) Facilitating space for discussion and awareness at a community level on the importance of women’s participation in politics, gender equality and good governance; (2) Building the capacity of women in parliamentary processes and procedures in preparation for the elections; (3) Working with political parties by making information and analysis available as well as strengthening internal governance processes to support women candidates, gender equality and women’s rights; and (4) Providing post-election mentoring support to all members of parliament on activities including responsive budgeting and the preparation of gender-sensitive legislation.