A group of researchers and female politicians said Monday that they will start a campaign to help mothers with young children run in next April’s nationwide gubernatorial and municipal assembly elections.

The project, called “Kosodate Senkyo Hack!” (which roughly translates as "tackling elections while child-rearing"), aims to give a greater voice in local politics to the dwindling ranks of families with small children by having mothers become lawmakers, project members told a news conference in Tokyo.

The members — who consist of political scholars and women with experience campaigning in both national and local elections — will start offering free hands-on workshops once a month to people who are interested in running next April. They will offer tips on how to establish their brands, plan social media strategies, build campaign teams and come up with ways to juggle campaigning and parenting.