Women's Leadership Development

THE AFRICAN WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE.

The Regional African Women's Leadership Institute

The African Women's Leadership Institute ( AWLI) is a regional networking, information and training forum, which trains women aged 25-45 in critical thinking on gender issues, organisational and resource development and strategic planning. The AWLI was established as a program of AMwA in 1996, as a contribution towards the post-Beijing initiatives in the Africa region. The AWLI has two main features. First, it serves as a network of young African women (25-45) for professional support, advice and information, and sharing of expertise. Second, the AWLI convenes an intensive three-week residential leadership-training institute every year.

The Sub Regional African Women's Leadership Institute

The sub regional leadership AWLIs were developed to address context specific issues in each of the African sub regions. There have been important political and economic developments at these levels over the past few years, which require the active participation of women. The sub regional institutes take place over two weeks, and aim to bring closer ties and working partnerships amongst young women activists in the various sub regional contexts.

The objectives of the AWLI are to:

•  Develop the leadership potential of young African women who would like to commit themselves to a progressive women's movement in Africa .

•  Provide leadership training for young African women who are in leadership positions in women's NGOs, mixed NGOs, government institutions or corporate bodies.

•  Empower African women living in fundamentally patriarchal communities with self-development and life skills training.

•  Initiate a forum for young women to meet and build alliances for individual and professional support.

•  Develop a mentoring and role modelling system in order to benefit from the knowledge, skills and expertise of older women.

•  Strengthen existing regional and sub regional networks through networking and solidarity and to build and sustain links with the international women's movement.

•  Improve the quality of gender analysis and research coming out of Africa , and give African women more access to international publishing.

Activities of the African Women's Leadership Institute.

•  Organising an annual residential leadership training institute, sub-regional institutes and specialist leadership workshops.

•  Supporting institute graduates to run training in organisational skills and development for organisations in their own communities.

•  Organising panels and workshops at regional and international conferences.

•  Publishing a journal twice a year to link institute participants and other women's organisations on the continent.

•  Publication of policy briefing papers and occasional research documents on gender, development and analysis in Africa .

The ultimate goal of the AWLI is to encourage and train significant numbers of women for informed leadership positions that will ultimately promote a progressive African women's development agenda. The development of a feminist constituency among the next generation of African women leaders is essential to the future of the African women's movement.

THE INSTITUTE PROGRAMS .
The main Institute activities include formal training sessions, Institute lectures, an inter-generational dialogue, simultaneous workshops, and group work. Participants come from a variety of professional and academic backgrounds, with a keen interest and understanding of gender issues and a desire for leadership skills to strengthen their work. During the selection process, the participants are asked to identify their training needs, and the AWLI training programs are designed accordingly. The training sessions are facilitated by a group of African women trainers based within and outside Africa , and all the training sessions are conducted in a lively and participatory manner.

THE P.O.T LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK.
The leadership framework, which is used to develop training modules and programs, is an analytical framework, which AMwA has conceptualised, and which is called the P.O.T framework. This framework specifically addresses concerns of African women activists interested in the next generation of leadership. The POT signifies an inter-disciplinary and multi-faceted approach to activism, and the various personal, political and contextual issues individual activists face within their communities. The resource persons and trainers for the AWLI design their training programs bearing this framework in mind.

PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT
This is crucial for African women activists to be able to commit themselves to challenging deeply oppressive systems, most of which are rooted in years of culture and tradition, and which makes it impossible to advocate for change. Self-empowerment, self-esteem and the ability to balance personal and professional issues have been a major concern of African women activists. Specific areas, which our training programs address, include self-development, balancing personal issues, leadership dynamics, etc.

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The ability to make effective use of organisations or institutions to promote a progressive agenda for women and advocate for fundamental change. This also includes the need to mobilise and manage resources needed to develop institutions. Organisational in this context might be autonomous and non-governmental, or might be governmental machinery set up to address gender concerns. Training topics in this area include strategic planning, managing change, NGO governance and structure in Africa , resource mobilisation and management, communications and information.

TRANSFER OF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
AMwA's leadership programs aim to develop inter-generational systems of knowledge and skills transfer. Through this process, younger women learn from older women and older women learn from younger ones. The ability to effectively transfer knowledge on an inter-generational basis is also crucial to the sustainability of a progressive development agenda. It is also important to affirm women as knowers and creators of knowledge within their communities, a fact which patriarchy never admits.