The Women’s Leadership Accelerator (WLA) took place in Bucharest, Romania, 10-12 July 2026 and brought together young women from LYMEC’s member organisations to strengthen their leadership skills, exchange experiences, and develop concrete recommendations to improve women’s participation in (youth) political organisations.
The initiative builds on LYMEC’s ongoing Participation Reform, which aims to make the organisation more inclusive and representative. Through this reform process, we identified that women participate less frequently and often differently than men within our organisation. The Women’s Leadership Accelerator was created to better understand these barriers, learn from the experiences of our member organisations, and identify successful practices that can be adapted across LYMEC.
The WLA project was designed to equip young political actors with practical tools to turn commitments to gender equality into meaningful change within party structures and leadership practices.
Programme
The training included hands-on training in inclusive leadership, participatory decision-making, digital resilience, and applied policy development. Through this, the programme addressed the structural, cultural, and organisational barriers that continue to discourage young women from engaging in politics. By focusing on evidence-based solutions and practical implementation, the WLA contributed to strengthening gender equality, democratic trust, and a more inclusive liberal democratic culture.
The programme combined inspirational speakers with highly practical workshops.
The training Mapping Barriers to Women’s Participation and Voice in Political Youth Organisations with trainer Jasmina Mrso provided a powerful opening to the weekend. Jasmina's honesty about her own experiences and the realities faced by women in politics created an open atmosphere and encouraged meaningful discussions among participants.
Next on, the session Find Your Leadership Style with Ola Rymaszewska from the European Liberal Forum (ELF) discussed management styles and organisational structure. The practical methodology and interactive format was much appreciated by the participants.
During the session What Works? Building Confident Participation in Political Organisations , Andrei Constantinescu offered insights into how creating recognition of women's work in local politics can be done in practice. The session included a practical workshop on overcoming barriers, through naming actions on how to make women's work visible.
The session Taking Up Space: Resilience, Visibility and Speaking in Public Politics with Flavia Boghiu emerged as another highlight of the programme. Flavia’s personal story, openness, and practical advice inspired participants and demonstrated the impact authentic role models can have on young women entering politics.
Policy workshop
In addition to the training sessions, the programme included a policy workshop. Participants were eager to begin developing recommendations and demonstrated impressive analytical thinking, collaboration, and commitment throughout the process. Their work has laid a strong foundation for the Guideline Paper, which will be finalised in September. This Paper will contain practical recommendations for increasing both the quantity and quality of women’s participation in liberal youth organisations.
During two follow-up sessions in July and September, participants will refine the policy recommendations and complete the Guideline Paper. The final document will be presented to the LYMEC Bureau and the European Liberal Forum (ELF) for review before being introduced at the LYMEC Autumn Congress. The ambition is for these guidelines to become a practical toolkit for LYMEC and its member organisations, supporting the continued implementation of the Participation Reform and strengthening meaningful female participation across the liberal youth movement.
Conclusion
The all-women format of the event proved to be highly valuable, as it created a safe environment for honest conversations, peer learning, and confidence-building. At the same time, it became clear that future work should also focus on engaging men in these discussions. While empowering women remains essential, achieving lasting structural change also requires educating men, challenging ingrained biases, and encouraging them to become active allies in creating more inclusive political organisations.
Women's Leadership Accelerator