Friday, September 05, 2014

Ghana Women: ‘Adopt Collective Leadership Style’
Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu (middle) and other dignitaries with the
participants.  Those with them include, Madam Esther Cobbah
(4th right) and Mr Girmay Haile (arrowed), Country Director, UNAIDS.
By Efia Akese
Ghana Daily Graphic
Friday, 05 September 2014 13:40

The Executive Director of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), Mrs Theo Sowa, has called on women leaders to adopt a collective leadership style as that was a better option to individual or self-centred leadership style.

She said the idea of promoting women’s agenda and advocating  women’s right would be much easier to achieve if women leaders worked as a team and focused on a particular goal at time.

Speaking at a function to mark the 10th anniversary of the Women’s Manifesto in Accra, she said though a lot of progress had been made in promoting women’s rights and gender equality in national affairs, there were still some major challenges which could be dealt with if women leaders worked collectively.

She said 10 years after the launch of the Women’s manifesto which created a road map for achieving its agenda, there was still a challenge of under-representation of women in politics, policy and decision making,

Mrs Sowa also encouraged the present leadership to include young people in their advocacy programmes so they could learn ahead of time.

She, however, commended the Abantu for Development and the Women’s Manifesto Coalition for initiating the Manifesto as it had helped empowered a lot of women, who before could not stand for their rights and compete against their male counterparts.

The anniversary celebration of the Women’s Manifesto for Ghana was on the theme, “Women’s Manifesto at 10: Enhancing Women’s Voices in Policy Spaces.”

Launched in September 2004, the Manifesto focused on the insufficient attention given to critical issues affecting women.

It  thus, created a platform for advocacy on a common set of demands for the achievement of women’s right, gender equality and sustainable national development.

Some of the targets of the Manifesto are, women’s economic empowerment, women and land issues, social policy and  development, women in politics, decision making and public life and women, human rights and the law.

Others are discriminatory cultural practices, women and media, women, conflict and peace,women with special needs and establishing institutions with a mandate to promote women’s right.

So far, progress made include the passage of legislations such as the Domestic Violoence Act, the Anti-trafficking Law and the Persons with Dissability Act.

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/30064-adopt-collective-leadership-style.html#sthash.kYMWSiAC.dpuf


African women participate in leadership training

By Lydia Ezit & Ruth Ewurama Darkwa
Wednesday, 16 July 2014

The Moremi Initiative has launched the 2014 MILEAD Fellows Leadership Institute to train young women to develop their talents to create a change in their societies.

Twenty-eight young women from 26 different African countries, including Sudan, Benin, Gambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ghana, are participating in the programme.

The participants would be engaged in a three-week intensive training in human rights, communication skills, leadership skills, politics and entrepreneurship.

The training, which is being hosted by the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, is to enable young women to acquire knowledge to develop their talents.

Moremi Initiative

The Moremi Initiative is a non-governmental organisation which recruits young women every year from African countries to participate in leadership programmes and conferences with the aim of helping them to cultivate the skills that women need to excel in leadership positions, and to expand advocacy of women’s issues.

A total of 180 young women across Africa have benefitted from leadership training programme under the Moremi Initiative since 2008.

The launch

Speaking at the official launch and opening ceremony in Accra on Monday, the Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa, Madam Esther Cobbah, charged women to rise through all odds and boldly develop their talents.

Barriers

She noted that few women were in leadership positions, and indicated there was the need for women to confront cultural practices, religious and economic barriers that often prevented them from occupying leadership positions.

Madam Cobbah challenged the participants to identify problems in their societies and develop solutions that could change situations.

She mentioned maternal and child mortality, poverty, illiteracy, reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS in Africa as challenges that could be confronted if more women would take up leadership positions.

Speakers

In her Speech, a Former Attorney General, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, said: “Participation of women in leadership is a prerequisite for positive change and development in Africa.”

“This form of training is a kind of transformation that will enable women to affect the lives of other people in their societies”, She added.

The Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr John Alexander Ackon, said the training would provide young girls with knowledge that could change issues such as gender inequalities and negative practices, including female genital mutilation, early marriages and illiteracy.

He commended the organisation for making the initiative a wider access to other African countries and said Africa stood the chance of winning the fight against poverty, diseases and other situations “if we as Africans work together to develop a strategic approach to deal with all the problems.”

Lack of funding

The Co-Founder of Moremi Initiative, Mr Mawuli Dake, said: “The organisation seeks to empower women and girls to take up leadership roles in their communities to ensure a positive change and development in Africa.”

- See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/27144-african-women-participate-in-leadership-training.html#sthash.iUPL4tgT.dpuf

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