this was discovered during the znwl s recent local government conference where it was established that about per cent ofthe women that won local government elections were firsttime politicians the znwl is ofthe view that the newly elected women leaders should be trained in the following areas local government systems and mechanisms gender and gender mainstreaming transparency accountability and good governance effective service delivery in the ward understanding democracy and community participation and decisionmaking skills bargaining power and networking skills advocacy problemsolving skills and building alliances these are some ofthe topics suggested by the newly elected women councillors themselves most of these are highly experienced women who still have the potential to be active in politics