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| afghanistan | bahrain | brazil | cameroon | egypt | india | indonesia | iran | jordan | kazakhstan | kyrgyzstan | |
| lebanon | malaysia | mauritania | morocco | nicaragua | nigeria | pakistan | palestine | turkey | uzbekistan | zimbabwe |
English
Leadership & Empowerment
"If we don’t see ourselves as leaders, and are not discussed in the literature as leaders, then how will others see us as leaders?"
- Leadership workshop participant, Jordan
Leadership and empowerment are at the very core of WLP’s work.
We believe in leadership that is inclusive, participatory, and horizontal.
We conduct leadership training in 18 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East through interactive Leading to Choices leadership workshops, Regional Learning Institutes for Women’s Leadership and Training of Trainers, and eCourses (online distance learning courses). Training participants include women activists, academics, domestic workers, factory workers, NGO leaders, politicians, refugees, students, indigenous women, and women with disabilities.
| Leadership Training Curriculum |
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The manual also exists in |
Working in cooperation with grassroots partner organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, WLP has developed culture-specific leadership training curriculum, including Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women and Leading To Choices: A Multimedia Curriculum for Leadership Learning. The curriculum uses interactive exercises and real-life case studies to communicate the concept of participatory leadership and to enable training participants to develop personal leadership skills, such as communicating effectively, appreciating diversity, building consensus, creating a group vision, and developing an action plan. The Leading to Choices manual is available in 16 culture-specific editions, each of which has been adapted by an indigenous women’s organization to ensure both linguistic and cultural suitability for the intended audience.
WLP aims to empower women to take on leadership roles in their families, communities and societies in order to realize their own visions of a better future. Leadership skills enable women to participate fully in public life, shaping processes of social change and democratic development. We strive both for a quantitative change in the number of women in formal leadership roles, and a qualitative change in the type of leadership women exercise. Not only women, but all of society, will gain politically, economically, and culturally by leveling the power imbalance between men and women.
Our leadership workshops, National and Regional Institutes, and eCourses have empowered women to participate more fully in decision-making at home, at work, and in their communities. In many cases, workshop participants have mobilized collectively to address shared challenges. Participants have also gone on to accept formal leadership roles at the local, national, and international levels.
Resources on Leadership and Empowerment
- Leadership Facts & Figures
- Profiles of Leadership Experts
- Women and Leadership Bibliographies
- Organization Directories for Leadership and Political Participation, Civil Society Building
More Stories and Reports
WLP Partners Organize Women’s Day Activities and Leadership Workshops in India and Malaysia
On March 8, women across the world celebrated International Women’s Day through a variety of celebratory festivals, peaceful ceremonies, and political rallies to honor the long struggle for equality and freedom. WLP partners in India and Malaysia held special events to raise awareness of the rights of women and indigenous peoples in their communities.
Novib Celebrates 50th Birthday with Meeting on Transformational Leadership
On February 23, 2006 WLP attended Novib's expert meeting on transformational leadership, one of a series of special events held for Novib's 50th anniversary in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
( categories:
Leadership & Empowerment | Issue 14 (March) )
Mauritania: Moves towards political empowerment for women
IRIN
April 1, 2008
Mauritania is often held up as a beacon when it comes to the proportion of women elected to political office - a 20 percent minimum quota was instituted in 2006 - but experts told IRIN once in power many women are still sidelined from taking important political decisions.
“While the quota is a major step forward, changing the situation of Mauritanian women is still a slow process because their colleagues discourage them from leading on issues,” Aminettou Mint Ely, head of the local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Association of Women (AFCF), told IRIN.
2007 Arabic eCourse with participants from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine
Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP), in cooperation with WLP Lebanon/Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTD-A), conducted an online distance learning course (eCourse) for 25 women from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine from September 3 through November 22, 2007.
The course enabled participants to develop participatory leadership skills, encouraged cross-regional dialogue on rights, and emphasized peer-to-peer learning and cultural exchange. During online discussions participants explored the qualities of an effective leader, discussed challenges they face and their personal contributions toward realizing change, and developed a shared vision through engaging other participants. In discussions on the qualities of an effective leader, Nour* commented that leadership is "the art of cooperating and communicating effectively in order to reach a common vision." Laila* believes that leadership is the "flexible style of coordinating and cooperating with people."
Women's Activism: Malaysia and Jordan
Malaysia's Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) kicked-off Fiesta Feminista in mid-June with a three-day "fiesta" meant to celebrate, as the name suggests, the achievements of feminism, to synergize the efforts of women's and social justice groups, and to address the challenges and inequalities that remain. Over 500 women and men from all walks of life took part in workshops, lectures, presentations, exhibitions, performances, and films focusing on a variety of feminist issues with a thematic emphasis on diversity. JAG, which includes Sisters in Islam (SIS) and the All Women's Action Society (AWAM), plans to host a Fiesta Feminista event every two to three years.
WLP Partner Alumnae Spotlight: Past Leading to Choices Participants Reach High Positions
In July 2007, in Jordan, three WLP alumnae won seats in their municipal councils. Additionally, two alumnae of a regional training in Africa have gone on to take leadership roles in NGOs and in civil service. Christiana Thorpe and Daphne Williams were appointed as National Electoral Commissioners of Sierra Leone in 2005 and 2006 respectively, with Ms. Thorpe gaining the distinction of being the first woman to hold that position in the country. Elections were held in Sierra Leone in August 2007, with run-off election results still pending, and Ms. Thorpe and Ms. Williams were key players in overseeing the process.
Partner Focus: Jordan and Zimbabwe
At the Women’s Learning Partnership, we consider our greatest achievement to be the solidarity, strength, and dynamism of our Partnership based on relationships of trust, respect, and cooperation. Our shared vision, nurtured through six years of collaborative effort and sustained communication, has enabled 18 autonomous national and regional organizations on four continents, working in 17 languages, and functioning under diverse conditions, to work closely together, thereby significantly increasing our impact on the struggle to secure justice and equality for women. The partners inspire each other, learn from one another, and provide support and solidarity in our human rights advocacy. In this issue we spotlight our partners in Jordan and Zimbabwe.
( categories:
Jordan | Zimbabwe | Leadership & Empowerment | Issue 16 (Winter/Spring 2007) | Workshops )
Women in Iran Develop Participatory Leadership Skills in eLearning Course
WLP implemented an eight-week Persian online distance learning course on developing participatory leadership skills for women’s rights activists in Iran from January 3 - March 7, 2005. This was WLP’s first full-length online course conducted in Persian. WLP has previously conducted courses in English and is now testing a prototype Arabic course.
Eight women based in Iran participated, including heads of women’s organizations, educators, and experienced trainers. They participated despite a climate of government crackdown and imprisonment of internet activists and bloggers.
WLP and BAOBAB Convene Learning Institute for Women's Leadership and Training of Trainers in Sub-Saharan Africa
Twenty-five women from eight African countries met in Calabar, Nigeria for the Africa Regional Learning Institute for Women's Leadership and Training of Trainers. Co-organized by Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) and BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights, the five-day Institute aimed to strengthen participants' capacity to become better trainers and advocates in empowering grassroots women to become effective decision-makers in their families, communities, and societies. Participants were from Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Among them were Vabah Gayflor, Minister of Gender and Development in Liberia, and Hafsat Abiola, President of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy in Nigeria.
