Increasing women’s leadership
Getting into and staying in positions of power is difficult for women. In many countries where we work, barriers to leadership can seem insurmountable. Attitudes and beliefs that women are unequal to men at home, at work and in government are exacerbated by limited access to training and education and fewer opportunities for mentorship to develop leadership skills.
Crossroads International is working with local partners to build the capacities of women and girls to become leaders in the community, as business owners, advocates and in government.
Why this program
- Only 23% of Parliamentarians in Sub-Saharan Africa are women (2017).
- Burkina Faso (13%), Ghana (11%) and Swaziland (6%) are countries at the very bottom of the world-ranking of women in legislature.
Impact
- Staff and volunteers from partner organizations in Swaziland, Ghana and Tanzania are participating in a unique partnership with Crossroads and COADY International Institute that provides three-week global leadership training programs
- 400 Togolese youth learn about governance, peace and justice, gender equality and leadership
- Crossroads volunteers are working alongside members of TGNP Gender Leadership Institute in Tanzania to increase operational and organizational capacity
Testimony
“People have solutions to their problems. We just need to motivate them, to bring those out from them. These are techniques I learned with COADY.” Ayanda Sigudla is business-development manager with our local partner in Swaziland SWIFT. She attended the COADY International Institute’s Action Research for Citizen-Led Change training in Canada.
