DEMOCRATIZATION  : :  19 Belgrade, 16‑17 October 2018. Participants at an ODIHR Conference on Political and Electoral Participation of Persons with Disabilities. (OSCE/Nemanja Knezevic) gender audits. These involved individual consultations with party leaders, data collection and the preparation of confidential gender audit reports by ODIHR, followed by the development of political party gender action plans, aiming to integrate gender aspects into internal party structures, processes and activities. Democratization and Human Rights in Belarus”, funded by the European Union and implemented by ODIHR, discussions focused on gender equality, on women’s participation in politics, the economic sphere and academia, on combating violence against women and on strengthening women’s networks. participation in Poland and explored ways to further strengthen women’s voices in politics. Held on a cross-party platform, the event benefited from the participation and contribution of women parliamentarians from all major political parties in Poland, highlighting that women are able to work across party lines. Networking and exchange of good practices among women leaders and advocates is crucial to strengthening women’s leadership and voice in decision-making. The International Forum of Women Leaders, which took place in October in Minsk, raised awareness and facilitated dialogue among 102 participants (93 women, 9 men) from 21 OSCE participating States, and responded to the need to strengthen networking among women leaders in the region. As part of the two-year project “Promoting The year marked the centenary of the granting voting rights to women in 15 OSCE participating States. The conference “100 Years of Women’s Suffrage: Honoring achievements and learning from Poland and Nordic countries” was co-organized by ODIHR in March at the Polish parliament in Warsaw. Seventy participants (55 women, 15 men), including parliamentarians, trade unionists, historians and diplomats from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden discussed women’s political Additionally, 50 aspiring women candidates strengthened their skills ahead of the 2018 local elections in Poland at to a training organized by ODIHR, the School of Leader, and the Association Polish Congress of Women, in March in Warsaw. A record number of women, 45.8 per cent of all candidates, ran for elected office in the October Polish local elections, and women won in around 30 percent of these races.