WEST AFRICA TRAINING OF TRAINERS WORKSHOP,

OGERE, NIGERIA,

JANUARY 12TH-19TH 2001

 

Organised by

Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) and Centre for Democracy & Development (CDD)

Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) is a pan-African, non-governmental development organisation and registered UK charity, set up in 1985 by women from different parts of Africa, resident in the United Kingdom. AMwA’s head office is in London, and there is an Africa regional office in Kampala, Uganda. Plans are currently under way to open a West Africa office in Nigeria. AMwA aims to provide development services for African women, serves as a resource and research forum on African women's issues, and provides a platform for African women to participate in policy and decision-making. AMwA is an international NGO in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

AMwA serves as a networking, information, advocacy and training forum for African women, and builds their leadership capacities to influence policy and decision-making. AMwA does this by:

  • Building the leadership capacities of African women and their organisations
  • Creating leadership development opportunities for African women at various levels.
  • Highlighting the skills, expertise and creativity of African women
  • Sensitising and empowering African women
  • Challenging sexist and racist stereotypes by emphasising positive images of African women.

AMwA’s STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WORK IN AFRICA

AMwA has a three strategic plan for its work in Africa over the next three years. The main features of AMwA’s work are as follows:

The African Women’s Leadership Institute: This is a regional networking, information and training program for African women. The African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) is a regional networking, information and training forum, which train African women in critical thinking on gender issues, organisational and resource development and strategic planning. The AWLI has two main features. First, the AWLI serves as a network of young African women (25-40) who aim to provide professional support, advice and information, and share expertise amongst one another. Second, the AWLI organises local, national and regional leadership development programs. 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 objectives of the African Women’s Leadership Institute are to:

  • Develop the leadership potential of African women leaders

  • 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 national and 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.

THE P.O.T. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

Akina Mama wa Afrika conceptualised a leadership-training framework for the African Women’s Leadership Institute, which is called the P.O.T. framework. The P.O.T. specifically addresses concerns of young African women activists, and is a holistic approach to leadership issues for the next generation. The POT signifies an inter-disciplinary and multi-faceted approach to feminist leadership development, and addresses the personal, political and contextual issues individual women face within their communities.

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 difficult to advocate for change. Self-empowerment, self-esteem and personal space are issues of concern for African women. Examples of issues we address include leadership strategies, self-development, and balancing personal and professional issues.

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AMwA has the unique 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. Issues such as NGO structure and management, conflict resolution, strategic planning and networking are covered under this theme.

TRANSFER OF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

The African Women’s Leadership Institute develops 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 knower and creators of knowledge within their communities, a fact which patriarchy usually ignores. Examples of issues to be covered are feminist theory and practice, mentoring and oral history.

 

THE CENTRE FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT

The Centre For Democracy and Development is a not for profit, Non governmental research, training and advocacy Institution concerned with democratic development in the West African sub region. CDD is a pan African Organization with headquarters in London and a regional Office in Nigeria.

Our Mission is to be the prime catalyst and facilitator for strategic analysis and capacity building for sustainable democracy and development.

For us the greater challenge is to locate the democratisation agenda within a development framework that reflects the organic link between politics and economy, and between fundamental freedoms and socio economic opportunities. This is the ultimate vision of the centre.

Our goal is to serve as the ultimate catalyst in the transformation of the West African sub continent into an inter grated, economically vibrant and democratically governed community that assures holistic security to the population and is capable of permanent peaceful conflict management.

Our commitment has seen us working in many countries in West Africa around issues of peace and conflict building as in Liberia, Cote D’ivore and in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. In the area of capacity building the CDD is working with vulnerable groups towards a re interpretation of issues of human rights and accessing and influencing the policy process, specifically women and youth groups in the area of strategic leadership training. The CDD in collaboration with AMwA has had three national women’s leadership training in West Africa (Nigeria and Liberia) within the last two years. A fourth is running simultaneously with this TOT.

This is the first regional TOT.

The Centre is working towards facilitating an information sharing, networking and the training of trainers is very strategic to our work of building capacities in the West African sub region. Because it facilitates the process of giving women strategic tools that can serve as a facilitator of other types of needs.

It is our hope that participants are able to connect with the process, learn new skills and knowledge and are able to transfer these to other vulnerable groups.

We would appreciate our participants give us feed backs on their work.. This helps us plan ahead

WEST AFRICA TRAINING OF TRAINERS

PROGRAM AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of the programme is to enable AMwA expand its pool of trainers in the West Africa region, and to enable CDD promote its strategy work of strengthening civil society institutions in West Africa. At the end of the one-week participants will be able to:

  • Understand the role and task of the trainer

  • Understand the training cycle

  • Apply an understanding of the adult learning process and group dynamics

  • Assess training needs

  • Set training aims and objectives

  • Structure, plan and budget for a training program

  • Plan the course content

  • Know the common challenges faced by trainers and strategies for dealing with them

  • Demonstrate knowledge of different training techniques and training aids

  • Understand and use various methods of evaluation and be able to assess learning

  • Understand the differences and similarities between generic training programmes and women’s development programmes

  • Have an understanding of AMwA’s feminist leadership development philosophy, and be able to share it with others.

GROUND RULES

  • Punctuality at workshop venue is important
  • All sessions must be attended, free time is indicated on the program
  • No derogatory remarks should be used in the course of the workshop
  • Share responsibilities
  • Willingness to share experiences and information
  • Confidentiality of information shared is paramount
  • Mutual Respect
  • Avoid disruptive behaviour
  • All opinions are valid
  • No ‘illegal sub-committees’
  • Please don’t take or make phone calls during sessions
  • The program is secular
  • Have lots of fun!

 


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