amazing woman dialogues word presentation

AMAZING WOMAN DIALOGUES

KENYATTA UNIVERSITY LADIES MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

JULY 14, 2014

INTRODUCTION

Amazing Woman Leadership Forum is a unique project initiated by Kenyatta University Student

Association (KUSA Gender Secretary). It is meant to empower and encourage our female

students to get out of their comfort zones and aim high in career advancement as well as in

leadership.

The project was initiated after realizing that many ladies in Institutions of Higher Learning are

shy and few embrace leadership responsibilities. This project is therefore meant to equip them

wholly, on their Gender, role in communities, Women Leadership and generally encourage them

to be agents of change to their peers and those younger than them. They will therefore be

required to identify High Schools and Primary Schools to mentor as part of the program.

After four weeks of self-discovery forums, they will proceed to a higher level where practical

Business and Civic Leadership Skills will be instilled. An Executive Breakfast will mark this

transition where they will dine and network with established and prominent women personalities.

General Overview

Since time antiquity, women have been known to be the backbone of the Community in African

set up. They not only take care of their families but a whole society as well. Over the years, that

has been the primary obligation of women. They were simply the custodians of the family and

communities at large.

The Gender Affirmative Action in 1980s saw a change in this. Women began advocating for

their rights and Gender Equity was born consequently leading to the birth of the modern career

woman. Initially, the objective was to fight for their rights and eliminate Gender-based

harassment in work areas. The scope has since been widened to cover a number of areas.

Two decades later, the cause is still valid and the desire is still burning. Gender Equality is being

propagated for. However, in the midst of all these, there is a contemporary career woman. She

Inspired by the Proverbs 31, Virtuous woman

does not fully understand the reason why she enjoys such amicable treatment at the workplace.

Those who envisioned the current society fought the war for her enjoyment two decades ago.

To ensure continuity and even further understanding of the place of a modern woman,

mentorship with such milestones in mind are necessary. Indeed the modern woman should

understand the path through which the society has travelled. This is probably the best way to

claim their entitlements.

Kenyan Perspective

Our society took a considerable long time to understand the role of women. It was not until, the

spirited fight put in place by revolutionists such as Prof. Wangari Maathai who enlightened on

the need to integrate women in our society took center stage. Such people and many more who

foresaw the place of society with women efforts would wish for the continuity of the mentorship

process.

The modern society has a different dimension for empowerment. The modern woman is faced

with a number of dilemma. Understanding of such is the first step to understanding their active

roles.

Figures and Facts

Out of the graduates who are produced from Kenyan institutions of Higher Learning, about 38.9

% are females according to research done by USAID in 2013. When the progress of this

population is traced, a meager 18.9 % is realized to occupy a number of leadership positions as

corporate chiefs or other successful careers in either government or private sector, according to

local media reports. These figures leave out a 20% deficit showing the disparity and a disconnect

between the ladies graduating from Institutions of Higher learning and those who actually go

ahead to make their contribution in different expected areas. This therefore leads to questions

and concerns; what could have caused the 20% deficit? Could they be married and hence opted

to suspend their Career goals and other objectives due to the same? Or are they not confident

enough to lean in?


Kenyatta University’s Perspective

Despite the overall population of female students currently standing above 50% mark

(Admissions Office), not much has been realized in terms of the ladies participation in a number

of instances. Take the Kenyatta University Students’ Association(KUSA) congress for instance,

Out of 74 Congress Members, only 13 are ladies, all of whom are representatives of areas with

exclusive ladies’ jurisdiction such as ladies hostels. No lady, either contested or won a Faculty

congressperson or other areas where the two gender are allowed to compete. Added to this, the

Executive members’ composition does not show any difference in facts, out of the 13 members,

the ladies representation stands at 2. The percentages stand at 20% for the former and 15% for

the latter. This representation, again attests to the earlier national picture of approximately 20%

of women participation in active roles.

What could we do to ensure that the women are not handed the positions as a matter of need to

fulfill the Constitutional a third representation requirement? There is need for a platform to

mentor, prepare, nurture and deliver women of purpose, those who understands themselves

perfectly, those who understand their roles and those who balances the Career goals, family

goals, social challenges and all the expectations bestowed on them. This is where Amazing

Woman Dialogues comes in.

Need for Mentorship-Amazing Woman Dialogues

From the foregoing revelations, it is therefore critical to formulate a mentorship strategy to

connect the missing link in women. Such culture needs to be nurtured at early ages so as to

instill the values and ingrain such in their systems. The few women who have realized their goals

should go back and provide the avenue for other young women to prosper as well. This fact

brings to fore the relevance of Amazing Woman Dialogues.

PRACTICAL FRUIT OF EFFICIENT MENTORSHIP

Prof. Olive Mugenda, the Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor who has made a number of

practical changes in the lives of many in Kenya and beyond, is one perfect example of efficient

and focused mentorship. One of her long time mentors is Prof. Leah Marangu, the Vice

Chancellor, African Nazarene University. From such mentorship, the lives of many have been


permanently transformed. Such focused Mentorship is what Amazing Woman Dialogue, foresee

for young girls, mature ladies and women in general. To this end, the old adage that when a

woman is empowered the whole community is, will come to pass in our contemporary society.

Relevance of Amazing Woman Dialogues

The Amazing Woman provides the platform to nurture women leadership and foster

understanding of women among themselves. At an early age, the program will show the Kenyan

lady what the society expects of her and the dynamics which she has to comply with. Such

platforms will be created in form of an interaction and sharing table. The results will be self-

awareness at an early age and increase in confidence to face the different expectations lined for

the ‘Amazing woman’.

CONCEPT AND FRAMEWORK

Proposed Work Plan of the Project

This project proposes a leadership learning platform for the young women inform of an

interactive forum with established and prominent women personalities. Such forums will be

exclusively meant for women interactions and learning from established women leaders. The

proposed forums and the stages of learning will be conducted according to the schedule provided

herein. A student population of 50 ladies will be mentored in each shift. The ladies will be

grouped in cohorts of 5each resulting to ten tables and teams. The ladies will be encouraged to

work together and foster strong bonds among one another.

Each table will have one mentor. The training will take place for 3 weeks, with conduction of 2

classes per week. Here are the flows of categories for the whole package:

WORK PLAN

The training will be a month-long progressive undertaking, which will take up young female

students under a training platform for different levels with the preliminary levels involving


induction and female potential uncovering while the latter stages will involve further unmasking

and finally corporate placement for the young women. The higher levels have not been script

written as the first level as we’d like them to be creative and a mind-blowing challenge for the

ladies. The levels of the program will include:

Silver 1

Gold -

Platinum-

SILVER 1 PROPOSED PROGRAM

Date Topic Prospective facilitator

24/06/2014 Gender Identity and Awareness Dr. Nyawira Gitonga

Director, K.U Band

Ms.Minky Wanja

Gender Secretary, KUSA

26/06/2014 Women and the world of business Joyce Muthoni

Lead Consultant,

Proteque Consulting

01/07/2014 Women in leadership and

networking

Prof Wangari Mwai (PhD, EMBA,OGW)

Director ACTIL K.U

03/07/2014 Women and resistance to change Dr. Hellen Oduk.

08/07/2014 Let’s talk about “me” Mrs.Jecinta Wanjiku.

10/07/2014 Competitive Career Woman Mercy Njoroge

15/07/2014 Network with me (The skills) Violette Wambua,

CEO and Founder,


Networking in Heels.

17/07/2014 Networking session with all the

mentors.

25/07/2014 Graduation, Certification and

Adjournment Ceremony.

Way forward upon Training and Interaction

The students who shall have participated in the intensive interaction and the training with the

established women will have the obligation to act as ambassadors of the project and the means

through which other young ladies will be reached. They will therefore be expected to

recommend Primary and Secondary Schools of their choices where they will mentor other young

girls regarding the project and nurturing leadership at an early age. The student mentors will also

remain to be mentees of the original Career and Achieving women.

If implemented, the Project will be able to achieve:

(i) The Student Mentees will be able to get a firsthand leadership and empowerment

experience from the Prominent Personalities-this will influence them to rise up to the

occasion.

(ii) The Student mentees will be able to pass the same leadership admirations to the

young girls in primary and Secondary Schools, thereby influencing their thoughts

towards women empowerment early enough.

(iii) The young girls in primary and Secondary schools will be able to have someone

[student mentees in this case], to look up to and share their experience. Such platform

is likely to shape them and increase their need to join their mentees [in institutions of

higher learning] hence accomplishing the first step to empowerment-education

(iv) The Personalities will be encouraged to become life mentors of the students.

(v) Overally, the project will ensure there is a chain of mentoring process for young girls

to ensure the achievement of their objectives and the overall fulfillment of women

goal.


GENDER IDENTITY AND AWARENESS

Above is the first session, Gender Identity and Awareness. We used art as a form of expression. The ladies were asked to depict their role in a community.

This will be used to evaluate their growth while in the program.


amazing woman dialogues word presentation

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